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This seems to come up in any thread about wild/ambient/spontaneous ferments, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen any evidence or experience cited in support of it. I’m certainly open to hearing about contravening negative experiences. One way to test it for yourself is to make a pied de cuve...

Well, how about this: are you able to share one major learning experience, either positive or negative? I understand the challenge of trying to learn when only given one opportunity per year for practical application. My own vineyard is only in its second year of providing enough of a yield for...

I’d be interested in hearing more about this if you have time to elaborate. What you were doing and what you changed after you ‘got it’.

Crush, your videos remind me of a couple of videos of Clos Fantine in Faugères, France doing punch downs I shared in another thread about two years ago . It takes them probably around 5 minutes to break through the cap of their Syrah and Grenache! Post in thread '2020 Fall Grape Season Coming...

I only included the accidental 2 tons as a funny aside. I’ve asked the posters on the exchange whether they were willing to sell me 100lbs and some were and some were understandably reluctant or at least wanted to hold out until they knew whether they’d be able to sell the whole lot or not. When...

@ClubHouseEstates , you can also check the Virginia Vineyard Association exchange for local grapes for sale: VVA Exchange. Sometimes the growers are willing to sell smaller quantities. I’ve never ended up purchasing from them, but Horton has been very responsive to my inquiries on purchasing...

I don’t worry too much about it, unless I see stink bugs or ladybugs. I did my first harvest in France and was surprised by all the spiders that were crawling out of the clusters and around the bins we picked into. I asked the owner of the wine shop that had brought me what is done about the...

Opened up the fermonster yesterday. Made the dumb rookie mistake of sticking my nose in it and got a painful blast of CO2 in the face. I tasted a couple of the berries on top and they were delicious and just as I’d heard advertised: prickly carbonation, fruity and slightly boozy. I was tempted...

Here’s a brief update on last year and what’s going on this year. I bottled everything back in May. The Marquette was nice but a little thin - a known issue with hybrids, I think. I blended in 10% Cabernet Franc and I think it made a significant improvement. I’ve opened a bottle or two since...

I’m not from an Italian American family but I’d suggest they may have pressed after 3-4 days because they wanted a lighter red wine that would be ready to drink relatively young. The use of ambient yeast wouldn’t impact the decision of when to press/rack.

Last year I crushed, destemmed, and immediately pressed 85% of my Itasca and macerated the remaining 15% for a week before blending and aging them together for 9 months. I go with ambient yeast, no added sulfites, unfiltered. These aren’t the best photos, but the color came out clear and...

It’s an assassin bug eating a Japanese beetle. One of the few bugs that does, I think. I’m finding more this year out on patrol but I need an army.

Like @jackl I put mine up about a week after veraison begins, which was Monday for me. I don’t know whether it’s detrimental to do it earlier or not. For me, I have mine on VSP and prefer to wait to aid with shoot positioning and spray coverage. The way mine grow, after I net, the leaves near...

Welcome from Northern Virginia! I’m in my fifth year of growing and it’s been an adventure with plenty of lows and the highs are starting to pick up. I share your interest in wild/ambient ferments and look forward to tracking your progress on your beautiful property.

I usually don’t try to form cordons in the first year, but if you have an exceptionally vigorous vine and really want to do that the first year, I’ve done both. Lately I’ve been laying the main trunk down on vigorous second year vines to form one cordon then either pinch it off and let a lateral...

So far so good, though I just planted them in April. I added them along with Regent and Petite Sirah this year as an experiment to see what I might want to do if I were to move (still in Virginia) and replant my vineyard. Now that I have my spray protocol mostly figured out, my Cab Franc is...

It depends on the hybrid. I use it on Marquette, Itasca, Regent, and Chelois without a problem. Others can be more sensitive, you just have to research it.

I mix 1 teaspoon of mancozeb per gallon of water in case that helps. Just mist the vines with it; don’t worry about the application dose beyond that.

Sounds like you’ve decided what you want to do, but since you asked for photos I figured I’d share a couple to give you a visual reference. I originally planted all Cabernet Franc at 4 ft between vines and 5 ft between rows, but after struggling with disease and pests, I replaced about 2/3 of...