lees stirring

Oct 15, 2003 5 Replies

I have a rose' made from pinot gris grapes fermented on the skins for a week along with the "seignier"(sp.) from a batch of pinot noir. After pressing it has now set for 4 days in carboys and there is about 3 inches of white lees on the bottom of each carboy (11 gal carboys) The stuff has a wonderful pink color and I am thinking I want to stir these lees every few days for awhile before letting them settle and racking off. Is this taking a risk? PH is about 3.3, and acid was 7 gms/liter. I innoculated it with ml on the second day of fermentation. Usually I make this into a "picnic" wine, no ml,



1% residual sugar to balance the acid and those have been good, but I wanted to try something a little different this time. What would you do next? Did I screw up? Thanks in advance for the help!

Sounds pretty good to me so far! I'd stir it every couple of days until I'm sure ML is complete, sulfite it and leave it on the lees for at least 6 months before doing anything else. Then I'd probably rack it, fine it and bottle it unfiltered and unsweetened after the fining lees settle out. Should be a nice wine for Summer.

Tom S

That sounds ok so long as it doesn't look like a bunch of grape matter and is mainly all light lees. Just stir it every couple days and give it a sniff. Any signs of trouble rack it off the lees immediately. You seem to be on the right track so far. Good luck John Dixon

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