I was in the Piedmont region of Italy last December, and Nebbiolo grapes are native there. I had Nebbiolo wine, and I really liked the richness of flavor. When I went to buy grapes, I was happy to see they had California grown Nebbiolo. I bought five cases, because I am only making one batch this year.
While I was crushing the grapes, my grape crusher broke, and after a crash program of roller repair, I finished crushing the last case. The sugar content was 23.1% with a 21.2 Brix, which I thought was a little low. This was easy to see from the juiciness of the grapes; one could see the grapes were flush with water. The free run juice was clear and sweet. The flavor saying in the pulp of the grape. It will need a while to get the flavor out. I added 6 pounds of sugar, and afterwards the sugar content was 26.9% or (24.5 Brix) which should get 12.8% alcohol.
2018 Nebbiolo Wine Recipe
180 lb Nebbiolo grapes (Pia, California)
6 lb sugar
32 g yeast energizer
1 pack 71B-1122 in the blue container
1 pack RC 212 in the red container
21 April 2019 Update
The batch fermented normally. At this time the wine is light, like a rose, and with a similar taste. This is surprising since the grape skins were kept on the juice for a week. The taste does not have the grapeiness that I had hoped. The flavor is a little harsh, something that I expect will improve with age.
