Winemaker-in-Training

I mentioned in an earlier post that Peter and I are making a mini-cuvee of TBA Gewurz. The process is going great so far - after letting the grapes sit on the botrytis skins overnight, we found this old-school basket press that belonged to Hermann and used it to press off the juice. We wrapped the grapes in cheesecloth first to filter out the juice, and then we pressed it twice. We were happy to get about a liter of juice, almost filling this gorgeous magnum bottle. We then let the juice settle out for a few days, and last night we siphoned off the good juice and left behind the murky sludge. This was not an easy task, and we still have some sludge left so we are letting it settle out again today before we ferment the batch. (Btw, the juice tastes amazing, even the sludge, so if it ends up not being crystal clear we are confident the wine will still taste good!) Over the next few days I'll be keeping my eye on the recycling bucket to look out for a couple of 375 mL bottles, since we're going to need them soon. In the meantime we have some tough decisions to make, like how long to ferment, how much sugar and alcohol we want to have leftover in the finished wine, and what to call it!