Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[farmer]

The Marquette and Frontenac wines sure sound great it makes waiting a couple more years that much harder. Patience Patience Patience!!!

 

[grapeman]

I think I will pick enough of the Frontenac vines this weekend to make one or two 6 gallon carboys. They are on the driest end of the vineyard and are starting to raisin. I checked the brix on those first dozen vines and it ran between 24 and 34 brix - probably will be an average of 26-28 and the acid is good. The flavors are good also, so I think I will just pick those. The rest of the Frontenac are up to about 23-24 brix so a bit more time won't hurt them.


Tonight will slow things down again with a low expected in the mid 30's.


I think the bulk of the grapes I will leave until the weekend following this coming one. The St. Pepin aren't far off.


The Chardonel continues to surprise me with it's speed of maturity. I will hang it as long as I can to get all the sugar I can. I tested a few tonight that were at 21 brix, but most were about 19. Chardonel will make a nice full bodied wine if matured good so I don't want to rush it. I don't have a lot of them this year, so I will be keeping what I have of them to get a good trial wine made from them. I got 5 bottles of it last year, but had to harvest early due to no bird netting so it tastes a bit green. I want better this year to benchmark against.

 

[grapeman]

By the way, I picked the dozen vines that were starting to raisin at home of Frontenac. Actually I only picked 10 and 2 of them didn't have only a couple clusters apiece (due to a pruning accident last year when I cut them off at ground level!). I figured I would get a carboys worth of grapes and I got 150 pounds from those 8 vines. A few had 25 pounds apiece on them of nice big clusters.








After making the last post I have been dying to try one of my 5 bottles of Chardonnel I made last year. I took the plunge tonight and turned the corksrew.I have been told by the experts it only ripens in NY in the best locations of sourthern NY. Well I must have screwed up royally, because this wine I made last year from less than ripe grapes is EXTREMELY GOOD. I needed to pick a bit soon last year at 21 brix because the birds and coons were getting them badly. I brought a bottle in this evening and gave it a bit of a chill. Upon opening the bottle, I was greeted by a burst of citrus and apples. Swirl it a bit in the beautiful Winestock 2007 glass. Take in the beautiful aromas imagining myself out in the middle of an orchard taking in the wonerful aromas of citrus crops ripening with just a splash of well ripened apples. Sipppp. Hmmmmmmm. Hold that nectar on the tonge and slosh it around a bit. Savoring the flavors is divine. Plenty of flavors here with no green flavors present I can detect. Plenty of mid-range body in this one. Slowly swallowing it, the flavors linger on the palate, balanced by just a hint of acids to leave the tongue refreshed and waiting for another taste...........


I am sure glad I have a larger crop this year and have them covered with some bird netting. Sorry folks, this grape won't be for sale this year!

 

[AlFulchino]

wow...sounds great...did you age it on any specific type of oak?


also...how is that netting from sutton working out?

 

[grapeman]

I didn't oak the Chardonnel at all. I wanted all fruit and that's what I got. I may try some as a buttery Chardonnay style this year and lightly oak it with a French oak.


The Sutton Ag netting is working out fine. I did have one large whole in the Buffalo grapes that either a deer or a coon made-not sure. I think I will check to see what I can get with the drape-over net from Spec-Trellis. I like their material and mesh size better. I have heard that they make a 14 or 17 foot size.


The Vine-side net is great to pick. I just undid the clips on the top to pick where I wanted and that side drops down, stayin attached at the bottom. I you aren't picking everything, you can bring back up when done and reclip it. It would work great at Willboro where we spend a lot of time uncovering and covering back up. The only problem is that it only works for VSP.

 

[grapeman]

As harvest begins in earnest it will be made easier thanks to George at Fine Vine Wines. He has set me up with a manual crusher/destemmer. I used it over the weekend for a number of small batches. It works great and removes all the grapes from the stems.

Then I got home today and the truck was at my place. In it was a #45 Ratchet Press. I look forward to this in speeding up pressing. The apple press works but only does a couple gallons at a pressing.

Here is some LaCrosse after running it through the destemmer- it gets rid of almost all stems.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Yummmm....Did it get rid of the bugs too??????

 

[grapeman]

I took a quick check of the later ripening varieties this afternoon. I had wondered if Corot Noir would just be too late of a variety for my location. I have 25 of them that are 2 years old. While reading Veraison To Harvest issue #4 for this year (form Cornell) I see that some Corot Noir sampled between 14 and 16.5 brix with pH about 3.2 and TA 7.0-8.5 g/L. I looked at mine and they test the same readings just a few days later. They do taste very good. Here is a picture. The lighting was lousy so the vines look very pale.

Not bad for 2 years old.

 

[AlFulchino]

impressive!!!!

 

[OilnH2O]

Nice looking new "toys" ! And I'm sure you're pleased with the results of their first outing

-- thanks for the pictures!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Lighting is beautiful....awesome grape clusters.

 

[grapeman]

Today at my vineyard I had all kinds of nice surprises concerning grapes and wine from them. Last year I beat the racoons, deer and turkeys to enough grapes for a gallon or so of Leon Millot. They weren't nearly as ripe as I have them this year. I haven't really tasted any of it since making and bottling. I have had a couple Leon Millot wines before and they were OK but nothing to really note. After working all day, I decided to crack one of my 5 bottles open. Upon opening it I was greeted by a nice fruity black cherry aroma. Swirling it aound and releasing its aromas I lifted it to my nose. Wow, this smells really good- actually better than the Marquette I made. Sipping it, I was surprised with a nice balance for a new wine. The fruit and cherries balances nicely with the light - medium toast Hungarian oak. This turned out very nice from the front, right through to the back finish. Nice lingering flavors with just the right amount of tannins. So much for surprise number one.


I was out sampling grapes to see what I want to harvest next. The St Pepin is hanging very nicely and is getting intense flavors, but keeping a nice amount of acid- not too much, not too little. The LaCosee isn't quite as flavorful, but very good and extremely juicy. That's the first one I will pick. Then the St Pepin and some Leon Millot. The Chardonel tests out at 20 brix, pH 2.95 and TA of 12.5. Getting to be decent numbers for a fruity white.


Then I walked over by the Traminette and Cab Franc vines. The turkeys ate all the Traminette that were gettingclose-only a few clusters. As I walked by the Cab Franc I spotted 4 clusters. I tasted one- hey not bad- actually fairly ripe. I picked one berry from each cluster and tested. They average out at 18 brix! They actually might ripen here after all! I may not get any more grapes from them this year because the animals and birds will spot them soon but at least I got a taste.


We are hoping to finish up harvest at Willsboro soon, so then I can really get to harvesting and have time to process the grapes. More to follow with pictures coming to a theatre near you soon.

 

[NorthernWinos]

You are living the dream...sipping a good wine...tasting the grapes and planning the next batches.....The wines sound so good.

Hope you beat the critters to your harvests.....

Sounds like you are having good ripening weather out there too.

I have had the grapes covered since Monday....every night was suppose to have treats of frost....So far so good....Going to uncover the garden tomorrow...just in time for a few days of rain....so it goes.


Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

The critters can't get at too much-only the young ons that don't have much crop on. Too much work and money to cover the vines with just a few clusters here and there.


It has been coolish here, but it is October now. I have been waiting to harvest the majority of the grapes until I am done harvesting at Willsboro so I have more time. Almost there! It is supposed to warm up again soon! I hope so because I may need to heat my primaries to get fermentation going! In my newly converted mini-winery it was 52 degrees this AM- a bit cool, but I wanted to wait a couple days to start fermentation on a Buffalo and St Croix I started Wednesday. If need be, I will put a propagation mat under the barrels with a thermostat control.

 

[Wade E]

Are he Buffalo and St. Croix under going cold saturation?

 

[Wade E]

Are he Buffalo and St. Croix under going cold saturation? That all sounds really good there buddy and I hope you get a really good crop. Are you entering any of your own in the comp.?

 

[grapeman]

It is a kind of cold soak Wade. The Buffalo especially can use a bit of help with color. I have never had any wine made from it so it is new to me and I am experimenting. It is supposed to warm up in a few days, so the timing should be about right. The day after I pitched yeast on the first Frontenac, the cap was rising well. A few days later and it is going gangbusters. It will be nice to eventually have a complete well laid out winery, but for now it is just an old converted milkhouse in the old barn.


As far as entering wines in Winemaker Magazine - available funds shortly before time will determing HOW MANY I enter. Let's just say if I had a winery permit and these same wines, I would need a large supply or be out of it quickly.

 

[Wade E]

I hear ya with funds. My wife is starting nursing school in Jan. and that is $18,000 and they just demanded $5,000just to hold her a seat and another $1,000 for her books and uniforms and equip. besides the $18,000!

. I dont know if I can even send any wines now!

 

[grapeman]

I have been busy now with picking and crushing an d pressing if appropriate. Yesterday I picked LaCrosse and had about 500 pounds altogether from 25 vines- average 20 pounds per vine.

Here is some NY76.844.24 grapes pressed into juice.

I didn't get a picture of the pressed LaCrosse yet since I just finished it up before picking this afternoon- albout 27 gallons in a 32 gallon Brute for fermenting.

This afternoon I picked 13 St. Pepin vines and have 375 pounds so far. I still have 7 more to pick.

Here is what those looked like picked in a row.

I will follow up as I go.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Awesome crop of beautiful grapes......and the yields are really good.....

You are going to have lots of wine going soon.....

Looks like your apples are just falling for the critters to enjoy....

So much fruit...so little time!