Chambourcin advice please

[Brigitte]

I am trying to decide to harvest or wait?

So first of all we have had 11 inches of rain in last 4 days and it is supposed to rain the rest of this week off and on and be cloudy all week. Very unusual weather for southeast Missouri.
So my Chambourcin are as of 8:00 am this morning
pH 3.1
TA 0.62
Brix 14.5

I know the Brix is low and the pH too acid.
I tasted the juice and it is very tart. Added some
Sugar to juice sample to get Brix up to 22 and it was sweet but still a tartness on tongue at end. Not a lot of grape flavor. We will crush and ferment on skins and that might help flavor?

With all the rain and no end in sight what would you do? And the deer have started munching them. We have 25 vines and it is the first crop so I guess I am anxious.

Will letting them hang albeit in rain and cloudy weather improve the Brix?

Any advice ?
Thanks
Brigitte

 

[salcoco]

I would give them a week or two. keep testing at least every other day to see improvement. should reach at least 20 brix. acid and ph will also improve. I would net the grapes to keep deer and birds in check.

 

[Brigitte]

Thanks salcoco. Do you think they will continue to ripen even with the rain ?

 

[Brigitte]

Oh that TA is 0.62 not 0.062

 

[cmason1957]

Wait, wait, wait. That brix will go up and so will the pH. Normal harvest time for Chambourcin in mid Missouri is mid September.

 

[Brigitte]

Thanks cmason1957... Hopefully we can keep the deer out of them!

 

[cmason1957]

Deer are always a problem. Big barking dogs work best, from what I hear.

 

[Brigitte]

Yea. I have heard that too. We have some luck with dryer sheets but you have to trade them out frequently

 

[salcoco]

baring any critter involvement you should be able to let your grapes hang until mid to late Sept without any adverse affects. plenty of time to ripen. keep a watch over the numbers by frequent samples.
In Kansas City area have had Chambourcin hang even longer than mid Sept.

 

[Brigitte]

Thank you Salcoco! I am letting them hang !

 

[Brigitte]

Update on my chambourcin: Brix 19, TA 0.64, pH 3.2. Still hanging ! Netted with some netting we had on hand. A few grapes are falling off. Deer or birds getting a few. We have 25 vines lightly cropped as this is first year for them. They are beautiful !!

 

[dking193]

Take some pictures and share them with us!

 

[Brigitte]

Here is a fairly recent pic [emoji4]

 

[Tnuscan]

Your grapes look awesome, the Chambourcin grown around me look horrible compared to those. I was supposed to get 800lbs, turned out they only had 300lbs. The ones here are getting torn to pieces by birds and wasps. I was told mine were 21 brix , they were actually 18 brix. 70lbs of the 300lbs were not ripe, dried up or turning to rot. I 'm just glad I bought a chruser/destemer, because I'm more than positive they would have just thrown them all in the mix.

Any way your looking great!!! Hope you make some great wine.