2020 Fall Grape Season Coming Up

[Boatboy24]

I'm looking forward to it as well. I suddenly have too many empty carboys.

 

[CDrew]

Things are jelling a bit. Planning the Primitivo as usual, the Cab Franc (assuming the harvest dates work), I found a good source of Sauvignon Blanc in the foothills, and even a source of Tempranillo at one of the wineries I frequent. That's likely enough. I also hope they are spread out a bit timewise. As a back up I have Syrah and Sangiovese ready to go if the timing does not work for the others.

My other goal, this year is to get another winemaker started. One of my new colleagues is a homebrewer and home distiller(or was in Ohio), and he is keenly interested in making wine here in Northern California this fall. So See one, do one, teach one! He's getting his basic equipment together now, will use one of my fermentors, and will likely crush and press with me. That should be fun too. Now it's up to the weather, the heat and time. The weather and heat levels right now are ideal for a good harvest. Looking forward to it.

 

[CDrew]

I keep wondering if wineries will make the same quantity of wine they previously made this year. I know, at least in my area, the wineries were struggling with sales and probably have more inventory than normal. I guess it depends on how much storage they have. I see it being excess grapes at a reduced rate or elevated prices to make up for the lost revenue. Will know soon!

I was up in the foothills yesterday and talked to one of the small to medium sized (3000-5000 cases per year) winemakers there. For 2020 he is only doing grapes off his own property (43 acres) and is not buying any outside grapes for about the first time ever. Also, he is ending his program of making wines for other labels. So I would say, based on a small local sample, there is some idea of cutting back a bit. He even said I could come and pick some of the Tempranillo and possibly Barbera. He didn't say anything about cutting prices, though his wine club specials are pretty generous already. As Fred says above, he has been clearing inventory with "case specials" just for the wine club and said this cleared 80 cases on just last Saturday alone.

Anyway, I hope the family operations make it through this period. We as home winemakers are fortunate, in not needing to make our income from wine, and can just focus on wine as a hobby.

 

[jgmann67]

We’re a week or so past veraison. Wonder when the price lists will come out.

 

[Ajmassa]

**Just a heads up for others in the northeast area** Keystone HomeBrew (mainly a F Colavita & Son distributor) and Gino Pintos both said to anticipate selection & pricing in about a week as they iron out pricing.

For fall I’m definite on making the muscat blend I did 2 years ago. 300lbs. Maybe a natural ferment again. We’ll see. This wine was always done with the cheaper grapes from south Philly’s Procacci Bros. My brothers and dad are all looking forward to spending the day here. Should be a great time. And pickup is always fun at Procacci with the cold cuts & the prior vintage’s barrel on tap.
Any other wines I’m doing I’ll have to wait and see the menu before deciding.

 

[Ajmassa]

2 separate crush days by myself was too much work in 2018. May lighten my load even more and use Keystone. Theyre connected to a winery Stone & Key Cellars and offer C/D services. This would be a massive timesaver.
On the phone he couldn’t tell me what fall’s COVID protocol will be just yet but for Chilean they did this:

“FOR GRAPES, if you plan to crush your own grapes at home, then the pickup procedure will be the same as for juice. If you want your grapes crushed here ($1.50 per lug), then we will need to crush them once they arrive and freeze them until your scheduled pickup date. We have buckets (new for $17.50, used for $5.00) that we can crush into for you. With our safety protocols in place at this time, we cannot use your buckets from home”​

Cold soak!— nice bonus! I think it’s a great deal. For ~20gal of wine I’d get 8 lugs/288lbs. Comes to only $42 extra to have my grapes destemmed, crushed into 5gal buckets (I assume), frozen and stored till pickup. Not bad.

So far Im leaning towards Wash State cab w/ a Petite Verdot lug or 2 tossed in to hedge my bet.

 

[Stressbaby]

Picked Foch and Frontenac yesterday at 19. Again this year, heavy losses due to critters. I bought one of those inflatable scarecrows which helped some.

My Frontenac last year was not color stable, so I'm going to try the hybrid red color stabilization techniques in the first post here. No enzymes, no up-front tannin additions, but GRAPE tannin (UVA TAN) after pressing. Thanks again @Ajmassa for the Lodi Labs tip.

 

[mainshipfred]

2 separate crush days by myself was too much work in 2018. May lighten my load even more and use Keystone. Theyre connected to a winery Stone & Key Cellars and offer C/D services. This would be a massive timesaver.
On the phone he couldn’t tell me what fall’s COVID protocol will be just yet but for Chilean they did this:

“FOR GRAPES, if you plan to crush your own grapes at home, then the pickup procedure will be the same as for juice. If you want your grapes crushed here ($1.50 per lug), then we will need to crush them once they arrive and freeze them until your scheduled pickup date. We have buckets (new for $17.50, used for $5.00) that we can crush into for you. With our safety protocols in place at this time, we cannot use your buckets from home”​

Cold soak!— nice bonus! I think it’s a great deal. For ~20gal of wine I’d get 8 lugs/288lbs. Comes to only $42 extra to have my grapes destemmed, crushed into 5gal buckets (I assume), frozen and stored till pickup. Not bad.

So far Im leaning towards Wash State cab w/ a Petite Verdot lug or 2 tossed in to hedge my bet.

The cold soak would be nice but having someone else do the crushing takes some of the fun out of it, especially since you have a motorized C/D. I get grapes from different sources so I'm not having to crush the entire fall harvest at the same time which helps.

 

[Ajmassa]

The cold soak would be nice but having someone else do the crushing takes some of the fun out of it, especially since you have a motorized C/D.

Agreed—- IF the juice was worth the squeeze!
To clean I can’t spray water hard or it’ll remove paint. To prep I need to carefully remove any lose chips, and I coat everything in silicon spray. In spring I had to take apart the motor completely then reassemble to get running. Then get the monster up on the painters baker i use. Not light. Clamp & screw in the ghetto metal chute I made. Then the plexi cover. Gotta keep some paper towels over a spot that splatters grease out. Very very needy. Plus all the other prep, work, sorting, & cleaning that day. A lot when alone.

Id love to fully refurbish it and I’d thoroughly enjoy that. But between the company and house renovations- winemaking projects tend to fall down the list. Been looking at proper stands. Will spare me at least some of that headache. C/D Stands.

 

[Boatboy24]

Reached out to Jim Gearing of Washington Winemakers this morning. He says the pricing and order form should be out by the end of the weekend. What great timing - I'm going back to work on Monday!

 

[Ajmassa]

No Wash St grapes to the east coast this year it seems

Can’t decide
Koch or 169 ???

 

[Boatboy24]

Got the Washington Winemaker's price list a bit ago. What's everyone making? Anyone make a Pinot Noir from their grapes in recent years? I need to make another, but am not sure about the idea of one from Lodi. Zin would be another choice (and one I really like), but I have 14 gallons from 2019. My partner (Dad) suggested another "Prisoner" style blend like we did in 2015, but I've got those wines ready to blend from 2018. I might just do the same 4 wines (Zin, Cab, Syrah, Petite Sirah), but target a different style blend.

Noticed they have Albarino grapes - I'm tempted.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome - especially if you've had success with WW grapes in the past.

Edit: Here's the list of what's available.

 

[Cynewulf]

This will be my first year and as it’s looking like downy mildew is going to ensure that I get very little from my vineyard, I’m thinking of ordering from WW. I was thinking of either a Cabernet Franc varietal or a blend similar to one I’ve had from a producer in the southern Rhône - Merlot, Syrah, Grenache - unusual in that region for the inclusion of Merlot but very nice.

 

[CDrew]

Got the Washington Winemaker's price list a bit ago. What's everyone making? Anyone make a Pinot Noir from their grapes in recent years? I need to make another, but am not sure about the idea of one from Lodi. Zin would be another choice (and one I really like), but I have 14 gallons from 2019. My partner (Dad) suggested another "Prisoner" style blend like we did in 2015, but I've got those wines ready to blend from 2018. I might just do the same 4 wines (Zin, Cab, Syrah, Petite Sirah), but target a different style blend.

Noticed they have Albarino grapes - I'm tempted.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome - especially if you've had success with WW grapes in the past.

Edit: Here's the list of what's available.

View attachment 65130

Ha-since you've given us the chance to spend your money, I vote 1/2 your production of Syrah, and 1/2 Barbera. The Barbera will be ready relatively quickly and great with food, and the Syrah will be a presence for years. Another great choice for a food wine would be the Sangiovese. What I would specifically not do, is make a central valley Pinot Noir. That's hard to get right even where the conditions are more favorable.

Your prices don't look all the bad. Most in the neighborhood of $1 per pound.

How much are you making?

 

[Boatboy24]

Ha-since you've given us the chance to spend your money, I vote 1/2 your production of Syrah, and 1/2 Barbera. The Barbera will be ready relatively quickly and great with food, and the Syrah will be a presence for years. Another great choice for a food wine would be the Sangiovese. What I would specifically not do, is make a central valley Pinot Noir. That's hard to get right even where the conditions are more favorable.

Your prices don't look all the bad. Most in the neighborhood of $1 per pound.

How much are you making?

I'll be doing somewhere between 12 and 15 lugs total. Thanks for reinforcing my concern on the PN. I think if I want to make that, I'll need to travel 2-3 hours north to get some better selection.

 

[CDrew]

To me, Lodi is trying hard to carve out it's own thing. There are a lot of grapes in the area. But, it's just part of the central valley. So hot climate grapes are likely what you want from there. Zinfandel is a staple there. Great from the foothills(Amador, El Dorado) and places like Dry Creek in Sonoma. I'm a huge fan. Pinot Noir not so much. It likes cooler temps. Coastal California and Oregon. Those grapes are likely not available back east. Maybe look for Central coast Pinot Noir. Great wines from around SLO and even Santa Barbara.

For me, I like wine that compliments food. That's my bias and I'll own it. We are having a '16 Syrah tonight with Salmon I caught last month in Alaska. Doesn't get much better.

 

[jgmann67]

Thinking 4 lugs of Sangiovese, and 3 lugs each of Cab and Merlot for a field blended California Super Tuscan.

So, if I’m doing the math right, 10 - 36 lb lugs will produce about 33 gallons of must, and about 20 gallons of finished wine. Is that correct?

 

[Ajmassa]

Thinking 4 lugs of Sangiovese, and 3 lugs each of Cab and Merlot for a field blended California Super Tuscan.

So, if I’m doing the math right, 10 - 36 lb lugs will produce about 33 gallons of must, and about 20 gallons of finished wine. Is that correct?

Sounds about right. my estimate has it at 36gal of must and about 25gal of finished wine
(lbs of grapes - last digit = gal of must)

360lbs=36gal must
70%= 25gal
Low yield 60%= 21.5gal

*We’re in the ballpark. I just know when I wanna fill a 14.25gal demi & 5/6gal carboy x8 lugs gets me there w/ spare change.
smaller volume field blends definitely limits our blend options. And keeping separate to blend later adds so much work, time, planning, —just everything.

 

[Ajmassa]

Thinking 4 lugs of Sangiovese, and 3 lugs each of Cab and Merlot for a field blended California Super Tuscan.

The 1st “larger” grape batch I did on my own was a ‘17 super Tuscan field blend. And I F’ed it up royally! I was clueless and taking in a ton of new info all at once w/ too much tinkering.

Was x4 Sangio. x2 Merlot x2 Cab. Cheap unhealthy Pia fruit from Philly. And Sangio was a lot lighter than I realized. Sooner or later I’ll do another to try and redeem myself. I like your blend much better. Are you getting Lodi grapes for this?

 

[Boatboy24]

Thinking 4 lugs of Sangiovese, and 3 lugs each of Cab and Merlot for a field blended California Super Tuscan.

So, if I’m doing the math right, 10 - 36 lb lugs will produce about 33 gallons of must, and about 20 gallons of finished wine. Is that correct?

I agree with AJ. Somewhere between 21 and 25 gallons. I typically get 7 gallons, or a bit more, from 3 lugs.