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Mine started weeping this week. It's about average for the 5 years I have records. (Planted 2016)

I do think having a "free" (my cost excluding my time is probably about $0.50/bottle) supply of wine makes it more likely I will drink more than I like to admit. I started bottling in beer bottles and 375 mm bottles. That has helped. Having a glass a water with dinner also helps.

30 or so for me too. My taste buds are being trained to only think my wine is good ; )

Plus, you can mess up and do the exact wrong thing but the grapes will recover. You may not get the production or look you wanted, but next year you can try again.

I'm looking for something to do - I have to check a few of the wines see how they are doing. FYI, the following website has lots of interesting stories. They are a little heavy on the organic/sustainability side but still interesting...

The cold stayed about 60 miles north of us. So far we've been having a pretty warm winter with rain versus the typical snow. I'll have to follow the story - I'm curious about the amount a damage they might see

I don't think I've seen anyone reference this but I found a lot of interesting wine articles here: https://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/Canopy-Articles.html It's a little heavy on the "sustainability" push but still interesting.

23 vintage summary: 9/3/23 harvest, Baco Noir, Tempranillo Juice Batch 1 45lbs Baco Noir, 25 degrees brix, very small berries 25lbs of powdery mildew damaged tempranillo, hand destemmed and crushed, only juice added to mix SG 9/4/23 of 1.105, no ph test Pitch Yeast EC 1118 9/4/23 9/10/23...

I'm not in the northeast but am in a similar zone. I think when you are on the cusp or pushing the limits of the zones, your local microclimate will have a major effect. My vines are fairly well protected, I don't have cold pools, and have decent thermal mass in walls and buildings that the...

I don't have an opinion on most of your questions but I did take a batch of last years wine that I didn't like and added the leftovers from this years press along with some water, acid, and sugar then fermented it dry. Which isn't much different than what you describe. The pressings would have...

Thanks for the info I figured you might not try to move it when full. My son and daughter grew up and moved away, so I move everything alone...

That giant round container on the counter looks heavy and awkward to move, are you a powerlifter ; ) When I first started, the local supply store only had one 5 gallon carboy and a bunch of 3 gallon carboys. I reluctantly bought the 3 gallon ones even though I really wanted 5 gallon ones...

I'm up in Utah, not quite as hot as your location. I used Double A, first order was 20 vines, they have all done well. Don't know if CA would have been better... Good luck, I'm really pleased with my 28 vines. I really enjoy almost all aspects of the growing, maintenance process, and think...

I don't trust my ph meter. The variation in ph readings is disconcerting. The directions on the monitor I bought don't inspire confidence, "recalibrate if the reading seems wrong". I go in circles when I check ph; test solution, wine, water, test solution, wine, water, until I get stable...

Pick grapes on Tuesday, snow on Thursday. I swear we have the perfect climate for grapes, seriously. ; ) A little squall blew through. My photography skills are weak - I didn't pick up the big giant fluttering snowflakes, only captured faint dashes.

Not done yet. Picked about 60 lbs of Tannat yesterday, finished destemming them this afternoon. Again just a little over 5 gallons of must after destemming, Brix is 23.1 and PH is 3.1 and rising (was 2.95 a few hours ago). I thought the brix would be over 24 so was surprised at the 23.1...

I have been a little surprised at how much variation I see in my small area. Seems mostly due to variation in sun duration. So if you know one variety will mature faster than the other you could plant them so that in fall the later ripening one is getting the most sun, or better afternoon sun.

The wsu site actually tests the cold hardiness of vines at different times during the year. The cold hardiness varies pretty significantly from fall to winter to spring. I think that in general our climate is similar to the western Washington wine regions. The main difference is our...

Unfortunately, I'm not a supertaster, and decided to grow grapes because I like how they look. The wine is just a bonus. My tasting notes from last year's tempranillos is color - good Smell - good Taste - good. Once a year or so I search for a wine tasting class to educate myself. What I...

I haven't tried malolactic yet. I did buy some this year and will try it on the last Malbec picking and probably the tannat too.