More Racking of the 2009's

On Saturday we were back in the winery to finish up on racking two more 2009 red wines. First stop is usually the bathroom after the long drive and I took this picture walking back to the cellar. It was a beautiful day at Chaine d'Or.

We had two wines in tank that needed to go back into barrel. The first racking is critical for the way we make wine. I like to get a decent sulfur amount into the wine so that we don't have to add more than a little at a time for the rest of the wines stay in barrel. It also gives us a chance to let more of the 'gunk' settle out of the wine.

Here is our assistant winemaker getting her gloves on and getting ready to get started.

We had our 2009 Split Rail Vineyard Syrah and our 2009 Crimson Clover Cabernet Sauvignon to get into barrel. As usual we were very busy during the racking process and I didn't take any pictures. A big part of that is I have to carefully watch the barrels fill up and stop the pump at just the right moment to not over run the barrel.

It's harder than it seems, especially when you reach the bottom of the tank and air starts to get into the hose. That air then burbles out in the barrel and makes judging the last inch or two very difficult.

The last step is clean up. I clean the pump and we both do the hoses. I also get all the equipment away and everything picked up. My shoulders don't fit through the tank opening so Stefania gets the job of cleaning the inside of the tank.

The tank has to be rinsed then she scrubs and disinfects the inside. There's just no way to not get wet so Stef always brings extra shoes.
Then we are done. We leave all the valves and seals open so the tank can't retain water. That might lead to mold. Next up we'll do the 2009 Haut Tubee and then start prepping the 2009 Chardonnay for bottling.