# Getting tense here...



## Sage (Sep 29, 2019)

None of my varieties are close to harvest. Weather man says morning temp 33 degrees 2 days away then 34 next morning.

Warming a bit after that. I'm up the hillside and high enough out of the canyon bottom that I hope I'll be a little warmer.

Harvest is about 3 to 4 weeks out.


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## OilnH2O (Sep 29, 2019)

Could be worse! See my Missoula Vineyard post! I was trying to get another 10 days....


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## Sage (Sep 29, 2019)

Yes it could! Watching it snow on the mountain now 36 degrees. I haven't even taken a brix reading yet. Cabs still mostly green color, Merlot very vegetative taste.

Syrah and Carmenere are farthest along. Still weeks out without some hot weather.


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## sour_grapes (Sep 29, 2019)

Oh, best of luck Sage!


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## Obbnw (Sep 30, 2019)

Cold here too. They were forecasting 39, but there was ice on the porch at 7:30 and the temp was 34. They must have been expecting cloud cover, but it is clear this morning. I'm also hoping to get a few more weeks. One more cold night then I should get highs in the mid 60's and lows around 40 for a few weeks. In typical years if I make it through the October freeze the garden will continue producing till the 1st or 2nd week in November.

I'm a full month behind last year - I think the cool spring set it back a few weeks and the crop load may be too high.


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## Sage (Sep 30, 2019)

I've been doing some cluster thinning. Anything small and green or damaged in anyway is going. Hope it evens out and speeds ripening. Also doing some leaf removal around the clusters.


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## Sage (Oct 1, 2019)

Stayed in the mid 30s. Looks like I made it . Weather shows slight warming trend now!


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## Sage (Oct 2, 2019)

Oops, weather man blew it (what's new about that). Briefly hit 30 at the house. I'll have to wait to see if it hit the vineyard and orchard.


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## cmason1957 (Oct 2, 2019)

Sage said:


> Oops, weather man blew it (what's new about that). Briefly hit 30 at the house. I'll have to wait to see if it hit the vineyard and orchard.



Only job in the world you can be absolutely wrong 50% of the time and keep your job.


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## Spudwrench12 (Oct 2, 2019)

Even a broken clock is right twice a day .


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## Sage (Oct 3, 2019)

I might be in trouble, he was right today......

The frost, 30 degrees did some damage to the grapes by the house. Mainly on Syrah, Cab/Merlot look fine. Main vineyard, all varieties and orchard look OK too.


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## Chuck E (Oct 3, 2019)

Sage said:


> I might be in trouble, he was right today......
> 
> The frost, 30 degrees did some damage to the grapes by the house. Mainly on Syrah, Cab/Merlot look fine. Main vineyard, all varieties and orchard look OK too.



Eiswein?


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## Obbnw (Oct 5, 2019)

Looks like a hard freeze is coming Wednesday night.
"_20F below seasonal normals. Behind the exiting storm system, high pressure is expected to return beginning late Thursday. This will usher in a warming trend, at least at the upper levels, through day seven and beyond."_
My place has been running 3-5 degrees below the forecast, 33-34 in the mornings compared to 36-39 forecasted lows. Wednesday they are forecasting 32. So far the garden has only seen minor freeze damage - a few leaves on the tops of tomatoes - a couple of green bean plants froze but overall not much damage. Not sure what to think about Wednesday. The grapes seem to have accelerated a little, they hovered at 19 brix for a week or so, but have jumped to 21-22 in the past week. PH is high but the temperature and soils here along with grape variety make it hard to maintain acid.

I'll pick a several plants tomorrow - they are 22-23 brix and leave the rest - see how they do Wed. Worst case I'm picking in the cold Wed morning....

*Sage* - do yours still look OK?


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## Sage (Oct 5, 2019)

A few grapes by the house got the outside leaves nipped. Main vineyard had no damage at all.

Like you, Tues and Weds looking like frost again. Mine are so green I haven't even taken a Brix reading or pH. Merlot and Carmenere still have a green/vegetative taste.

We're behind at least 2-3 weeks from normal. Last year I would have been in the 20s Brix and getting ready to harvest.

Good luck next week.. maybe he's wrong.


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## Obbnw (Oct 8, 2019)

I'm throwing in the towel - they are now forecasting 25 Wed night 24 for Thurs night. Way colder than normal.

On the plus side it will be a perfect day to pick the rest, 73 and sunny. The grapes picked this weekend, about 8 gallons crushed, averaged around 22 brix and 3.8 PH. Not too bad. I picked 3 gallons yesterday and was at about 20 brix and will probably get 6-8 gallons this afternoon (expecting 20 brix) would have liked to leave them for another week or so but 24!


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## BigH (Oct 8, 2019)

Obbnw said:


> The grapes picked this weekend, about 8 gallons crushed, averaged around 22 brix and 3.8 PH.



Do you remember what the brix was at when the pH was around 3.6? Your brix*pH*pH is 317, which is up there. 

H


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## Obbnw (Oct 8, 2019)

I saw that formula somewhere (on this forum maybe?) with the target ranges and thought it would be difficult for my grapes to be in the target range ( which I don't recall). The lowest PH I measured this year(with strips) was between 3.6 and 3.8 and I think the brix was 14-16 but didn't document it. With the soil I have and the heat in August, early September I just don't get the acid. Last year was my first year making wine. I don't have a ph meter and last year didn't even have strips (the local supply store had none), but they did have an acid test kit. I measured last years finished wine this summer with strips and it was 4.4 or higher. The brix of the malbec must was around 25, TA 0.42, the tempranillo was 23, TA 0.50. My wife liked the Tempranillo better, my family the Malbec. I didn't adjust the must - my current philosophy is "I get what I get". I suspect that the longer I continue the more likely I'll abandon the "I get what I get" philosophy. 

I'd probably worry more about it if I planned on aging the wine. But all of last years bottles are already gone. 

So far, I'm repeating all the mistakes others have made and advised against but it is useful to see the results of non-traditional approaches to appreciate why the traditional approaches are what they are.


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## Obbnw (Oct 8, 2019)

On one of the plants I picked yesterday was section with several unripe clusters. I just left them there to see what happens tomorrow night. I just tested a few of the pink/blush colored ones (versus the black color when ripe). PH was 3.2 to 3.4 and brix was 10 to 14.


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## Sage (Oct 9, 2019)

Snow, 33 degrees this morning at 6am. 

Forecast is for 28, clear sky tonight.


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## ibglowin (Oct 9, 2019)

Pick now if you haven't.


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## Obbnw (Oct 9, 2019)

I picked/crushed everything yesterday afternoon, beautiful day. Got about 9 gallons of must, 4 gallons off of one plant. I'm going to do a single plant batch with the grapes from the one plant. Brix varied, the 4 gallon batch was about 19.5, a 2 gallon pale at about 17.5 and 3 gallons at 18.5.

Overall, the ripeness seemed more dependent on sun exposure than crop load. My profile pic shows 7 of my vines. The right side is east and ends at the garage. The farthest east plant is trained over the garage door and gets solid afternoon sun and is more spread out than the others. The east plant was the ripest. The west plant was next ripest with each succeeding plant less ripe as you go east. The plants in the middle are shaded by the garage in the morning and by the adjacent vines in the afternoon. One of the vines in the middle had noticeably less fruit but the ripeness seemed the same. Next year I'm going to put a little effort into training (this year I just left them mostly on their own) to get a better separation of the fruit from the leaves and have a more traditional "fruiting zone". Most of the vines in the profile pic had grapes distributed throughout the canopy. The ones that were more exposed seemed better.

It looks like this cold event will be a record breaker. Previous record low was 27 and they are forecasting 25. I've lived here for 25 years and it will be the coldest October day I can remember.


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## ibglowin (Oct 10, 2019)




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## Sage (Oct 10, 2019)

Yes, 24 this morning. I finished picking at 5 last night.

I will pick a bunch of apples today when it warms up. Cider time and into the fermenter for some hard stuff.


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