New Winemakers Crush

The annual wine making 101 crush was held Saturday, August 23 at Great Bear vineyards in Davis. There were seven new wine making participants who purchased grapes, tempranillo, to make a batch of wine. When we arrived, winery co-owner Marcus Meadows-Smith had the grapes already crushed and in a macro bin, so all we had to do was weigh them out, take some measurements and talk about what we were going to do next. We added tartaric acid to some of the participants’ bins and retested with our pH meters so we could see changes in the acid levels. We checked the brix, which we’re coming in at 24 to 25, so no immediate sugar adjustment.

Thanks to New Winemakers Crush Coordinator Joe McGillivray for sharing info, mentoring, and making this happen. Special thanks to Jenny and Marcus Meadows-Smith for their continued support of SHW.

We’re looking forward to tasting the new winemakers’ tempranillo!