German Wine Lovers

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Comment by Antonio Trujillo on January 12, 2009 at 10:02am

Happy to announce that I received a Silver medal for the Riesling and a Bronze medal for the Gewurztraminer wines at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Festival.

Comment by Antonio Trujillo on January 1, 2009 at 3:00pm

As we begin a New Year, I pray that these words will find you in good health and happiness. I just wanted to give an update about our wine that is finishing up beautifully. Just had the wine anaylized and the good news is that I don't have any bacterial problems like brett. As for the rest of the results, the Riesling had a pH of 3.01, TA of 8.9, Alcohol of 12.4 and Residual Sugar of 1.03% As for the bouquet there are pineapple and lime notes. The taste is citric and mineral. It is very Austrian in style, which is to say that it is very dry and mineral. I am very tempted to send this wine off to the Alsace Wine Competition to compete with other Dry Rieslings. As for the Gewurztraminer the pH is at 3.04, TA of 8, Alcohol of 11.8 and Residual Sugar of 5.4%. The bouquet has gala apple and peach notes. The taste is very fruity with clove and anise notes. I am very happy with these wines. I have sent both off to the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Will let you know how I place in them. As for the Muscat, I am only making 10 cases, since I had little fruit. Because I had little fruit I have higher concentration of melon and pear flavors in the wine. My pH was 3.2, TA is 8, Alcohol is at 12 and the Residual Sugar is at 6. So it is very much a dessert wine. Anyway, I thought I would let you know what is up with my batch of wine.

Comment by Antonio Trujillo on October 29, 2008 at 1:17pm

Hi Patrick,Dustin, and Lovers of Riesling, Gewurz, and Muscat,
Just finished my first racking of Riesling, Gewurz, and Muscat. We had a bountiful harvest of 3 tons of Riesling, 2.5 tons of Gewurztraminer, 1/2 ton of Muscat. We harvested the Gewurz and Muscat on September 27, 2008, and the Riesling on Oct. 4, 2008. Harvested the Gewurz at 25 brix, pH at 3.3 & TA at .8. Muscat at 26 brix, pH at 3.3, & TA at .9. Riesling at 21 brix, pH at 3.1 & TA at .9. There is a nice acidity to all three. I fermented these wine at 58 degrees F. I did a soft press to only get mostly free run juice. So didn't get too much yield in juice. Because of the acidity I stopped fementation for both Gewurz and Muscat at 10 brix, after 3 weeks of fementation. I will probably get a residual sugar of 6% to balance the wine. As for the Riesling I stopped the fermentation at 6 Brix to get a RS of 3%. I will not know the exact % until I send the wine off to get analized. I am getting a nice bouquet of gala apple on the Gewurz, Melon on the Muscat, and pineapple on the Riesling. Taste is harder to recognize due to the yeast residue. Taste is similar to the bouquet. So far no off ordor or taste. Things are looking good for so far. Because of our hot summer and cool nights, I am definitely getting a different profile than last year that tended to more citric and green apple. Will try to keep you posted as time goes on. Right now I am in Denver to receive a Gold Medal for our 2007 Gewurztraminer that we entered in the Denver International Wine Competition. Take care!

Comment by Patrick on August 16, 2008 at 2:41am

Hi Antonio,
wow, just sounds like at our place in New Zealand... well at an Altitude of 50 m and our late spring frosts in November. I must admit the fruit intensity in NZ is far greater than in Germany especially the Gewürztraminer. We have just introduced a 2008 Riesling from NZ to Germany and you won't believe it... The German customers just love it. Intense apricot, peach, papaya and citrus but with only 11,5% alc by vol., a total acidity of 7 g/l (as tartaric) and only 2 g/l of Malic acid. Weird drinking a wine that smells like Mosel or Rheingau, but that is far softer in the acidity.

Comment by Antonio Trujillo on August 6, 2008 at 6:33pm

As a winemaker of Riesling and Gewurztraminer, I have come to appreciate German wines. Since we grow our grapes at 6,400 ft (1,950 m) in New Mexico, we are able to get nice acidity, that keeps our wines clean & crisp. It is a struggle since we deal with spring frosts that can still happen for us at the beginning of May.