Cabernet press 10/16/08

I arrived as Burt was finishing pressing his Hesterman Estate Concord wine. The press tasted of well rounded pineapple guava. Yummy.

Cabernet free run
Light, bright fresh nose - blackberry and plum wine.
Prominent acid, dusty tannin. Has the "smoky" quality of green-when-ripe tomatoes. (Yes, tomato geeks have their own set of descriptors.) Blackberry, red plum, hint of tangerine, sawdusty finish.

Midpress
Nose - darker, fuller dark fruit with a citrusy edge.
Sharp bite, dark rich fruit, moderate tannin. Good balance, perky, excellent!

End of press
Nose - feisty cherry plum.
Forward acid and tannin. Very complex fruit: blackberry, red plum, lime, pineapple guava, mandarin, raspberry, mango, guava. Very floral: orange blossom, white flowers, slight touch of lavender, purple basil, rosemary, marjoram and thyme.

The end of press is just fantastic! Looking forward to this wine. Hope we don't screw it up.

Burt and I had been discussing, in general, extending maceration (the time of skin contact) to maximize the skin characteristics. May have been a good idea with this wine. Another way to accomplish this goal would be to simply remove some juice at crush time, which would increase the skin:juice ratio. Or this can be done during early fermentation, with that excess fermenting juice producing a rose (this process is called saignee). Maybe next year...