There's definitely a distinction between working at a winery, helping to make wine, and making your very own concoction. So you can imagine my excitement when my fellow Cellar Rat Ari suggested that I collect the precious juice that was dripping from the bottom of the sorting table. Apparently the juice isn't of a high enough caliber to be used by Deerfield, but it's perfect for the experimentation of a fledgling winemaker. And so I happily filled up two empty water cooler jugs with the Sauvignon Blanc must (must is the industry term for unfermented juice). Robert explained to me that the jugs were referred to as carboids and Ari showed me a clever way of filtering all of the grape leaves and other junk out of them by siphoning more must in to force the waste out. I stowed my treasure in the safety of the cave and asked Robert what the next step was. He told me I should add bentonite and sulphur dioxide. He explained that the bentonite causes the sediment to settle on the bottom and makes the juice clear. Further research shows that, more specifically, it is capable of absorbing large amounts of protein. The SO2, as I explained earlier, scavenges the dissolved oxygen. For now, the wine is sitting quite still, waiting for the bentonite to to it's job. In a few days I'll rack it into another container and add the yeast to start fermentation.
I'm going to update this post as my wine continues its journey so check back here to see how it's progressing!