Jim and I racked The 2006 Syrah into one of the newer barrels. The bitterness of this vintage is still troubling, so I’ll be researching what to do that may reduce the bite.

The 2007 Merlot went into the barrel the ’06 Syrah came out of, and the ’07 Cabernet Sauvignon went into the ’07 Merlot barrel. Both of these are older barrels, so the oak is more neutral. I will put oak staves into the wine to enhance the oak flavors.

The ’07 Merlot is the best of the vintages at this point, and the Cab is pale pink in color so it will take some time for it to be ready.

I put 10mg (2ea 5mg SO2 tablets) dissolved into wine in each barrel after racking. It took almost 16 gallons of wine to top off the 3 barrels after racking. We’ll continue to wait and see how it all develops. I check it every other day to top off the barrels as the cold, wet weather has kept the humitity up so the evaporation is at a minimum.

The barrel that the ’07 Cab came out of was treated with a burning sulphur stick after cleaning, and before I put it back into the cellar for storage until the next racking.