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Thought I might add a little of my own experience to @wood1954 ‘s here. I picked up a 5 gallon freshly dumped Brother Justus whiskey barrel from Midwest Barrel Co on Black Friday for $166 shipped. I thought I’d follow the suggestions from a link I found to try to extract any remaining...

I’ve been to Georgia about a half dozen times. Beautiful country with fantastic food and wine. There’s nothing political that should prevent you from going. It just takes really long to get there.

I was just going to bring that myself, as I’ve been following them since you first mentioned them on this thread! Thanks again for the tip; I just ordered a 5 gallon whiskey barrel and will see how it goes.

@midilli , if you are still interested in making wine without or with minimal potassium metabisulfite, you might be interested in this thread I started a few years ago: Adventures in Wild Fermentation The first year I made a mistake adding a juice bucket to the grapes, but I am very happy with...

The one time I got a juice bucket in 2020, I portioned half of it (un-inoculated) into three one-gallon plastic jugs that I put in the fridge with the idea that I would use it on the pomace for a second run wine. A week later they hadn’t quite exploded, but were bulging such that they looked...

I don’t want to hijack winemaker81’s thread, but I added Regent and Chelois to my Virginia vineyard last year to try some other hybrid alternatives to the Marquette that I also grow. I also planted some Petit Sirah for just the reason you suggested: to blend with the hybrids (plus it’s supposed...

No. I think it was planted mostly in the Languedoc as a blending grape to give color to Aramon in the bulk wines the region was known for, though plantings have declined a lot in France since the 1980’s.

Agree with Rice and Vines. The wounded berries look like they may have picked up sour rot. I had a lot on my Marquette this year, which has thin skins. Much less on my Cab Franc.

That’s not exactly right. The INAO sets the rules for the appellations in France - here’s what they say for Côtes du Rhône: www.inao.gouv.fr/show_texte/834 Article 4 states that Grenache Noir, Syrah, and Mourvèdre are the primary varieties, and a minimum of 40% of the blend has to be Grenache...

It just means it can be curative. Most fungicides we use in the vineyard are preventative and have to be sprayed before an infection in order to be effective, but there are some that have some efficacy post infection. Even then, the timeframe after an infection is limited to a day or two. You...

It looks like downy mildew to me since you have the oil spots on the top and fuzzy brown on the bottom of the leaves. It’s too late to spray with a preventative material like Captan or mancozeb, but you can try phosphorus acid which has some kick back properties. You want clean foliage both to...

Welcome, Domenick. I think the height of your fruiting wire (where you will establish your cordons or canes) is largely up to you and what you think will be most convenient to work on. I set the fruiting wire for my first vines at around 4 feet (120cm). This is a nice height for spraying and...

A few of us got to taste @VinesnBines Chelois a couple months ago next to one from a New York winery, and it was remarkable how hers was superior in both color and taste. She’s definitely doing something right.

To clarify, I do 15%-40+% whole cluster fermentations, so I’m not destemming the berries before adding them. If you’re interested, I think this is an informative article on working with whole clusters with different perspectives: Whole bunch fermentations and use of stems in red winemaking. I...

The Wall Street Journal may be right.

Like the others said, don’t panic, but do top the carboys up as soon as you can. I generally get a white film on top of my wine every year but no longer worry about it and leave it alone until I’m racking or bottling. I will disagree with one of the previous posts that you need to rack every...

Not sure if this was part of the question, but Washington Winemakers orders grapes from Delta Packing: Grapes Overview — Delta Fresh.

Way over here on the east coast I’ve had similar, very uneven ripening with both my hybrids and my Cabernet Franc this year. I don’t see how there could be any correlation with what you’re experiencing over there, but it’s a strange coincidence.

What winemaking process are you following (maceration time, etc.)? I don’t worry about color much, but am happy with the color of my reds. I tend to use a lot of whole clusters during maceration, which can both absorb color from the must but naturally stabilize it as well. As mentioned, other...

My target for Marquette is 25 Brix and pH 3.3, but I’m also in a very different part of the country from you and have been able to hit that early-mid August. Bugs forced my hand the first year and I harvested at pH 3.1. It’s still good, but there was a huge improvement when I harvested at 3.33...