Cayuga White (and new member)

[spaniel]

I've been making wine since 2001. In the "old days" it was various fruit wine, up to 180gal/yr. Good times.

In 2007 I finally got my own land and put in vines (central Indiana, 15 miles west of Indianapolis). 2011 was my first year of production, a drought year, 3gal of Marachel Foch and 5gal of Cayuga White. I have 20 vines each of Cayuga White and Marachel Foch, and 18 younger vines of Oberlin Noir.

I am harvesting the Cayuga White tomorrow...about 3 weeks earlier than normal...looks like a bumper crop as I watered them through the sever drought. I lost about 6 of my 68 vines, it's the 3rd year of drought here and I did not irrigate the first 2.

Any advice on making Cayuga White appreciated. Last year I pressed straight to juice, no skin maceration, and fermented at 55-60 degrees in a kegerator. Complete fermentation took 2-3 months but the dry wine turned out pretty well. I have read mixed opinions on leaving in the skins on Cayuga.

This year I am thinking ~18-24 hr skin maceration before pressing. Just looking at the vines, I think I may get up to 10gal of wine this year. If I get 2 full 5gal batches I will leave one dry, and back-sweeten the second a bit as my wife likes it semi-sweet.

I will leave the red varieties hang a bit longer. The yield is not nearly as high on them, I will be happy if I get one 5gal batch combining both varieties.

 

[grapeman]

Welcome spaniel. The Cayuga will have a more pronounced flavor and if you leave on the skins longer, especially with pectic enzyme, it will be stronger yet.

What brix did you harvest at?

 

[Julie]

Hi spaniel

Welcome to winemakingtalk

 

[spaniel]

Welcome spaniel. The Cayuga will have a more pronounced flavor and if you leave on the skins longer, especially with pectic enzyme, it will be stronger yet.

What brix did you harvest at?

I will probably stay light on the pectic enzyme for the skin soak then, but add more once I'm in the primary.

I know this is heresy but I have not measured Brix yet. I'm harvesting yet tonight; I know AM picking is better but I'm on Daddy duty tomorrow so it has to be tonight. I simply did not have an opportunity to harvest earlier than now (so measuring was pointless). Also, I know that from my experience last year, given how ripe they look they may rot quickly if I let it rain on them again (which may happen later this weekend). I had to throw 1/3 of them away last year because I was chasing ideal Brix and we got some rain, and within 24hrs they started to get rot.