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Dornfelder

You might be able to build a critter resistant cage around those four vines.

Squirrels, sap beetles, wasps...

Did you add a commercial yeast, or is this a wild ferment?

I now also have Syrah split between D80 and Clos, and Cab Franc split between BDX and Pasteur Red. Will update in a year or two. ;-)

I've seen news reports about the great 2018 wine growing season from several parts of the world. How was yours? In NJ we started with a late budbreak. Plenty of rain during the summer, and resultant excessive vine vigor. Then almost non-stop rain, fog and clouds in September and October...

I identified sap beetles damaging my syrah this year and realized that they were probably also responsible for mystery damage last year. They don't appear to have bothered my more open clustered varieties. They are apparently considered a "nuisence" pest, so not usually listed on pesticide...

I assume that one could achieve the same "level" of impact by usung a large quantity of oak cubes for a short time, or by using a small quantity for a long time, but that the nature of that impact would be quite different. Will a shorter duration emphasize the toasty outer layer? Will a long...

Is there really much difference in FG between something like Pasture Red VS a Champagne yeast, or is it mostly a matter of other compounds generated by some yeasts producing a greater impression of body and sweetness. I don't think I've ever seen attenuation numbers published for wine yeast the...

This is 3rd year. Last year I only allowed a couple bunches per vine to ripen, and the wildlife (and ensuing sour rot) got most of the Dornfelder before I got the netting up, so we used the rest of that as table grapes. The Syrah and Cab Franc, together with a bit of Dornfelder second crop...

I can totally see yeast characteristics in a big red being overwhelmed after two years in oak. My plan is to divert a couple bottles of each before the remainder is blended and oaked, and do side-by-side tastings of the unoaked samples at the one and two year marks. Given the small volumes I...

This year I thought my primary avian foe was a catbird, who wasn't much interested in the feeders. He was giving me quite a scolding while I was working on the netting. Then my buddy saw a squirrel run up a trunk behind me and go to town on the berries. We fastened the netting close around...

My mother is also a Dornfelder fan, either as a semisweet wine or as a table grape. We've never had a dry Dornfelder to try, but we will in a few months.

The next morning a cap formed and filled most of the headspace.

Harvested the Dornfelder on September 22nd, four vines, one in each corner of my little vineyard: My "Italian" Destemmer in action: After Destemming: Crushing: Ready to Ferment: ...One week later... Pressing 1: Pressing 2: After Pressing, before Racking off Gross Lees:

As promised, a yeast comparison is underway with this year's Dornfelder.

I'm no chemist, but I've always just put a couple tablespoons of soil in a cup of distilled water, mixed well, allowed to settle, then stuck the probe in the water.

Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Dornfelder, 14 plants total, in their third year in the main vineyard. Two Cab Franc are on individual Lyre trellises, along with two Barbera and a Sangiovese (not pictured) that were added this year.

I caught them in the act this year. Here is part of a damaged Syrah cluster. When I started to examine it little beetles started coming out, running around and flying away. Note their size in the lower corners of the first picture. They appear to be "Sap Beetles". - Jim

Forsythia, crocus and early tulips are blooming. Finished pruning the grapes, and the sap is flowing freely.