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Our low was 50 2 days ago and 42 last night. I bet your growing season is 30 days less than mine. Which would be a problem for my vinefera vines. You might have a problem with warm April's triggering bud break then a May freeze on any grape you plant. Vines are relatively cheap, experiment!

We don't get deer in the summer here. The racoons just walk by the grapes. I have had deer in the winter kill a small peach tree but haven't seen winter deer damage on the vines. I wonder how high up the canyon you could go and still get a viable harvest. Did your yard freeze last night? If...

This year the Malbec's got picked at an average of 23 brix. Highest picking ever was 25 brix. I harvest based on available time and to avoid picking everything at once. I suspect I could get 25 or higher every year on the wall Malbecs but then I'd being picking 400 lbs in a weekend which...

Hazelmere's post triggered this - If you grow grapes what are your growing, what is doing best? Most of my grapes are not in Hazelmere's link. My general site is about elev 4620, narrow lot, vines protected from canyon winds, general slope of area is 4% down to the SW. Most vines are on the...

Ended up picking all the Malbecs and left all the Tannat's. Picked about 60 lbs, all from 1 vine covering about 24 linear ft of trellis (the ripe section is about 12' running east - west, the other 12' runs north-south). Destemmed and crushed, ended up with about 5.5 gallons. Brix 23, ph...

Calibrated my ph meter, got 3.6 on a couple of readings of the Oct 2 picking then decided to check the Ph on the Baco/Temp ferment. By the time I got baco batch out the PH meter stopped working permanently. Must have damaged the bulb somehow, it just reads 00.00 no matter what I did. I...

Sessionz picked up the bag and gave me 2 bottles of his wine and some hot sauce. Win win... The wine was pretty good and definitely different than what I make. Nice change of pace.

Picked the remaining Tempranillos and most of the Malbecs Friday and Saturday, about 160 lbs total. 80 lbs were powdery mildew scarred but most didn't look too bad. I destem by hand anyway so sorting the bad ones was relatively easy. Definitely tossed a fair amount. Usually I'm about 10lbs...

I've got a gallon bag with your name on it.... OK it doesn't actually have your name on it ; ) check your PM's

If you are looking for accuracy down to .001 you need to account for temperature.

This week's cold front isn't going to help us. I'm not sure if my Tannats are going to get there. I'm pretty confident my Malbecs, and remaining Tempranillos will get there.

How many lbs are you looking for? Looks like Sept 30 for picking the Malbecs.

Finally got around to shopping. Spent more than I ever have but most of it was corks. Bit the bullet and ordered 1000. I had been reluctant to order that many since it'll take 5 or more years to use them all but someone here posted that they just vac seal the ones they don't use. Great tip...

I just ordered the the same thing and wondered the same thing. I've never done MLF but thought I'd try this year. I'll probably try to save it - close it back up and then put it in a vacuum seal bag. We'll see. Using it all on one batch will quadrupel my per bottle cost ; )

We had a cool labor day with an inch of rain, which is quite a bit for my location. The next 2 weeks look sunny and warm, basically +10 degrees from your temps. The Malbecs range from 16 to 20 brix, the remaining tempranillos are at 20-21 brix, the tannats are still pretty green but given the...

1 But 2 tries to make bad wine ; ) On my 5th year and haven't surpassed the first year yet, but, except for year 2, they have all been drinkable.

Spent yesterday with the vines. The baco's blew right to 25-26 brix. At first I figured my refractometer needed calibration, but it checked out fine. Picked all the baco's, about 45 lbs of tiny berries. The pm damaged tempranillos were also reading 22-23 brix so I picked them too. Got...

Every year I see that. I thought it was normal... If we don't get a freeze in October some even ripen. I also see minor herbicide damage each year...

The mildew is still around but seems to have stopped infecting the actual grapes. My newest conspiracy theory is the herbicide drift caused the powdery mildew. Well OK not caused but I do wonder if it contributed. It showed up first on the first vine that showed herbicide drift damage. Then...

The last time I had powdery mildew damage is was in the A to B range. Red wine grapes. Most of them split and dried up before fully ripening. I did ferment the ones that made it and it seemed OK but I ended up tossing it anyway. It was only about 2 gallons and I just didn't feel good about...