Was hoping to get some advice regarding “handling” pinot or anything similar (Grenache?).
Father and I have 4 full barrels of pinot from 3 different vineyards (Santa Rita Hills and Edna Valley) and am looking to bottle two possibly at the 11 month mark since they are drinking great now, this is all home wine. So far I have racked nothing. All 4 pinots were pressed and went dirty into the barrel (on lees) and have remained there since. I’m curious if I should give it a good rack and return (and clean out barrel) now? Or, rack at time of bottling into tank, allow to settle (final SO2 additions), and then bottle? I’ll admit, I have sort of just gotten lazy and distracted with my wedding coming up in two weeks and planning our honeymoon. I’ve at least been consistently topping and measuring SO2 levels monthly, just haven’t thought about rackings yet. Any thoughts as to why I may not want to rack until bottling or why I may want to rack now to prepare for bottling? It might help to describe a little about both barrels I plan to bottle soon. One is tannic as hell (40% whole cluster inclusion, martini clone) but I sort of dig the mouthfeel and the awesome aromatics. The other barrel is higher pH (3.87) softer ready to drink now pinot, 777 clone (no whole cluster inclusion since the pH was so ridiculously high at time of harvest. How would u handle these wines?
thanks
Brandon