Replying to several posts above:

Ben, I have used Lodi Merlot, Shiraz, and Cab Sauv. and Merlot, Cab.
Franc, and Cab Sauv. from they east coast in different years. The wine does
soften through maceration and I prefer softer reds. Beyond these comments,
I am not sure.

Brian: I punch down until the cap stops rising then I just check it every
day not wanting to expose it too much. I may be getting to much air to it
but oxidation has not been a problem up to an age of 2 years.

Tom S.: Some of these wines have been high pH, high TA wines. For others
the pH was about right. I only started checking SO2 levels recently and
that may be a problem. But they do not seem to be oxidized.

Ray


"Ben Rotter" > wrote in message
om...
> Ray,
>
> > when young (18 mo's) but they have not been keeping well beyond 2-3
years.
> > I wonder if this is because I left them too long.
> > Just a comment. Any opinions would be welcome.
>
> What quality of fruit are you using? What's your pH typically? I'm
> sure you know that without using fruit that can handle extended
> maceration (i.e. high quantity of ripe tannins, fruit character, etc)
> there's no point in EM. Have you noticed the wines' tannin profiles
> softening considerably during EM? Both the qualitative and
> quantitative qualities of phenols play a huge role in the success of
> EM.
>
> Ben