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It all began Friday night, when I drove straight from work to my brother's shop to swap my car for his van. This took over 3 hours! Jersey traffic sucks, but FRIDAY Jersey traffic really bites the big one! Getting home around 8:30, I spent a couple hours getting the winery ready and then tried to get some sleep.
At 4:30, I gave up on the idea of getting any sleep. I got up and got a pot of coffee going. I sipped down a cup and then took one for the road. By 5:00, I was on the road to Hammonton (Gino Pinto's). It was raining, but I made managed to make good time. I arrived by 7:30am (a half hour before they opened).
A note on Gino Pinto: Although they had my grapes, they did not have one of the other items I had ordered (Nutrient). I found this frustrating since I had ordered via e-mail, got confirmation, and had even spoken to them twice last week. A "heads up" would have been nice so that I could get it from someone else. Still, they had my grapes and I guess I should count myself lucky. As it turned out, I luckily had just enough nutrient left over from the fall crush.
The rain was so bad on the trip back that felt like I was trying to cross the Straits of Magellan. They even lowered the speed limit on the NJ Turnpike to 45mph which they only do when the weather is really bad. Despite the bad weather, the van handled great even though it was carrying a load of grapes. I got back to the winery by 10:30am.
At 11am, the older brother arrives with TWO 10X10 tents. With the rain, he figured that we needed them, so he pick them up at Lowes (did I mention that my older brother is a genious?). We set one up to cover the destemmer, and the other to cover the sorting bench. Shortly after my brother arrived, my nephew/godson showed up to help.
We had the tents and the equipment all set and up by noon were busily sorting grapes.
Sorting through the grapes, we found that the quality was very inconsistent. Some boxes were packed with firm, beautiful clusters and some of the boxes not so much . We sorted through the grapes removing stems, leaves, mixed ripe/unripe clusters, second growth clusters and dead/dehydrated clusters. By the time sorting was done, we had about 18 pounds of “dead-loss”.
The rain us unrelenting. We were soaked to the bone while crushing. To make things worse, those grapes were COLD! Handling the grapes while sorting was down right PAINFUL. Still, cold is good and is perhaps the reason why we had only a few clusters that were moldy.
By 2:30, we had all the grapes crushed and all of the equipment put away. Just as we were putting the last bit of equipment away, my niece Irena showed up to help. Great timing on her part.
By the end of things, all of us were SOAKED and chilled to the bone. We retired to the man cave, lit a fire, got warm and dry, and enjoyed sipping some past vintages. The party broke up at around 7pm. I slept like a BABY!
Here are my numbers: Brix: 22, PH: 3.64, TA: .537 and initial temperature was a COLD 46 degrees. I made no adjustment for acid/ph at this time. I will adjust post fermentation (prior to MLF). I was surprised at just how cold the must was. This was after we sorted each cluster and ran them through the destemmer. This must have WARMED THEM UP to 46 degrees. No wonder it was so painful sorting.
I boosted the heat in the winery to 80 and by last night (Sunday) the temp was over 60 degrees. I pitched the yeast last night at around 8pm.
Here are some pics.
At 4:30, I gave up on the idea of getting any sleep. I got up and got a pot of coffee going. I sipped down a cup and then took one for the road. By 5:00, I was on the road to Hammonton (Gino Pinto's). It was raining, but I made managed to make good time. I arrived by 7:30am (a half hour before they opened).
A note on Gino Pinto: Although they had my grapes, they did not have one of the other items I had ordered (Nutrient). I found this frustrating since I had ordered via e-mail, got confirmation, and had even spoken to them twice last week. A "heads up" would have been nice so that I could get it from someone else. Still, they had my grapes and I guess I should count myself lucky. As it turned out, I luckily had just enough nutrient left over from the fall crush.
The rain was so bad on the trip back that felt like I was trying to cross the Straits of Magellan. They even lowered the speed limit on the NJ Turnpike to 45mph which they only do when the weather is really bad. Despite the bad weather, the van handled great even though it was carrying a load of grapes. I got back to the winery by 10:30am.
At 11am, the older brother arrives with TWO 10X10 tents. With the rain, he figured that we needed them, so he pick them up at Lowes (did I mention that my older brother is a genious?). We set one up to cover the destemmer, and the other to cover the sorting bench. Shortly after my brother arrived, my nephew/godson showed up to help.
We had the tents and the equipment all set and up by noon were busily sorting grapes.
Sorting through the grapes, we found that the quality was very inconsistent. Some boxes were packed with firm, beautiful clusters and some of the boxes not so much . We sorted through the grapes removing stems, leaves, mixed ripe/unripe clusters, second growth clusters and dead/dehydrated clusters. By the time sorting was done, we had about 18 pounds of “dead-loss”.
The rain us unrelenting. We were soaked to the bone while crushing. To make things worse, those grapes were COLD! Handling the grapes while sorting was down right PAINFUL. Still, cold is good and is perhaps the reason why we had only a few clusters that were moldy.
By 2:30, we had all the grapes crushed and all of the equipment put away. Just as we were putting the last bit of equipment away, my niece Irena showed up to help. Great timing on her part.
By the end of things, all of us were SOAKED and chilled to the bone. We retired to the man cave, lit a fire, got warm and dry, and enjoyed sipping some past vintages. The party broke up at around 7pm. I slept like a BABY!
Here are my numbers: Brix: 22, PH: 3.64, TA: .537 and initial temperature was a COLD 46 degrees. I made no adjustment for acid/ph at this time. I will adjust post fermentation (prior to MLF). I was surprised at just how cold the must was. This was after we sorted each cluster and ran them through the destemmer. This must have WARMED THEM UP to 46 degrees. No wonder it was so painful sorting.
I boosted the heat in the winery to 80 and by last night (Sunday) the temp was over 60 degrees. I pitched the yeast last night at around 8pm.
Here are some pics.
![[Upgraded] 9Pcs Tree Root Growing Box with Drain Holes, Half Transparent Plant Rooting Propagation Ball & Metal Core Twist Ties, for Fast Propagation Plants (Size M)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514MWQxtWOL._SL500_.jpg)
![IMG_20170604_145017061[1].jpg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/winemakingtalk/data/attachments/32/32782-380ee20f5f4588dd6344c8740494e26e.jpg "IMG_20170604_145017061[1].jpg")
![IMG_20170604_145026726[1].jpg](https://cdn2.imagearchive.com/winemakingtalk/data/attachments/32/32783-9f696bed14035f04f6c7064d44591c04.jpg "IMG_20170604_145026726[1].jpg")
