Digression: Racking 2006 Cabernet

In July 2007 I used an early prototype of the WinePod to make a batch of 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County's Windsor Oaks Vineyard. This wine turned out pretty well in my opinion. It was fermented on toasted French oak cubes, and since pressing has been raised in a glass carboy.

I would like to bottle this wine in the next month or so. The wine has been racked once since pressing, when I added SO₂, and has dropped about 5 mm of lees in the carboy since then. Today I gave it a second racking and a second addition of SO₂. This addition was 30 ppm and I used 2 grams of Efferbaktol granules as the source.

I needed some wine to fill the carboy to replace the volume lost to racking off the lees. Fortunately I have barrels full of 2006 vintage wines available. For topping I used 400 mL of 2006 Tannat out of a new French barrel. Tannat is very dark and spicy, but at about 1.5% of the blend it should effect very little change to the characteristic sensory profile of the Windsor Oaks Cabernet.