Cold fruit storage and delivery

[distancerunner]

We're planning two blends this year. The first blend will use Sangiovese and Merlot for a Chianti/Super Tuscan. The second will be a Bordeaux blend using Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot or Petit Sirah, depending on availability.

My supplier will take delivery on the Sangiovese and Merlot a week before the lugs of Caberent Sauvigon and Petit Verdot. They have given us the option to pick up the bulk and make a second trip for the rest of the order a week later. Alternatively, they can hold the bulk of the order in cold storage until the rest arrive. Saves us a two hour round trip. The claim is that the grapes will be essentially in the same condition as the week before and that we need not worry about losing some of the grapes to mold.

We bought grapes late last season and tossed twenty five percent of them because of mold. So it has us wondering. Can they actually hold the grapes for an extra week without some loss? How about quaility of fruit?

 

[heatherd]

I haven't found a week to be a problem when getting orders of grapes in the past.

 

[CDrew]

I'd go and get them the soonest you can. 2 hours is nothing. Get the grapes the first moment you can, that's the best they will ever be for you. Get the fermentation started. They have already traveled many days to you. You are making a thing that you'll drink 4 years from now. How many hours is that?

 

[mainshipfred]

I can't argue the fact sooner is better. However I've gotten some of the most beautiful fruit from Chile that could have been refrigerated for a month.

 

[distancerunner]

This spring we bought fifteen lugs of Chilean Carmenere and Cab Franc and tossed maybe ten pounds. Ten is probably generous. We sorted the first four or five and loaded the rest straight into the hopper. All of the MOG was on the bottom of the lug so it was easy to pick out. The bottom was on the top, so to speak.

On the other hand, a second trip isn't that big a deal. Three or four lugs can fit easily into a trunk or the back of an SUV.

I agree that the sooner the grapes are turned into must, the better. Convenience creates the risk.

It occurs to me that this could be more for the vendor's convenience that it is for ours. Their COVID protocols restrict the customer to the dock. No one is allowed in the warehouse. The orders are picked onto pallets and brought out when you arrive. They probably don't want to deal with us twice.