Eight years later I’ve made a good Marquette wine

[wood1954]

I stirred the wine in one of my Hungarian oak barrels today and took a small sample for evaluation. It’s taken 8 years for me to figure out how to deal with the high acid, I think I nailed it. The wine now has soft tannin , mild acid , good flavor and aroma. Good color. I’m finally very happy with all the work I’ve put in growing my own grapes. I was going to age this in barrel for two years but I think one year will be fine.

 

[ChuckD]

Care to share your secrets? I have a Marquette, Petite Pearl, and Verona in MLF now. This weekend I’ll rack and transfer to the cellar for aging. When I last tasted them the PP was best… Marquette was thin and harsh.

 

[VinesnBines]

Ditto, My Marquette was late harvest but frozen so I’m ready to start the fermentation.

 

[wood1954]

#1 use grapes from mature plants, my eight year old vines produce much better grapes than when they were 6.
#2 monitor ph close to harvest and pick when the ph is as high as it will get.
#3 use a little potassium bicarbonate to get your ph up to at least 3.2 before you pitch your yeast. (If you a formula use half and check after an hour)
#4 saignee about 10% or so. Use that for rose. Don’t add so2 at crush
unless you have moldy fruit and if you do keep it at 50 ppm
#5 don’t overdo the potassium as your ph will rise more.
#6 add sacrificial tannins, twice as much as normally recommended for vinefera grapes.
#7 pitch enzymes
#8 pitch Avante yeast
#9 two days later add VP 41 MLB
#10 press lightly and rack when AF is done.
#11 test for mlf completion in about two weeks
#12 taste test tannin levels and adjust
#13 rack and bulk age minimum of 1 year
of course you need to follow all sanitation etc.
saignee really helped
my wine ended about 3.5 ph
mitchell vineyard in Oregon Wi has Marquette vines that are at least nine years old now if you want to pick some really good grapes.

 

[ChuckD]

Thanks. I won’t be harvesting my own for a few years yet. Did you age on oak? One med toast spiral in the carboy and a year of aging did wonders for my wild grape.

 

[wood1954]

Thanks. I won’t be harvesting my own for a few years yet. Did you age on oak? One med toast spiral in the carboy and a year of aging did wonders for my wild grape.

I’ve got 20 gallons in two oak barrels, the rest unoaked in carboys.

 

[ChuckD]

I’ve got 20 gallons in two oak barrels, the rest unoaked in carboys.

Have you compared the barrels to the carboys yet?

 

[VinesnBines]

Yes thanks! This the first harvest so we’ll see what I can do.

 

[Khristyjeff]

I stirred the wine in one of my Hungarian oak barrels today and took a small sample for evaluation. It’s taken 8 years for me to figure out how to deal with the high acid, I think I nailed it. The wine now has soft tannin , mild acid , good flavor and aroma. Good color. I’m finally very happy with all the work I’ve put in growing my own grapes. I was going to age this in barrel for two years but I think one year will be fine.

Great post! When did you start this batch? I have PP (2020), Marquette and Foch (both 2021) in carboys that I picked at Mitchell Vineyard. That was a lot of fun. The wines have improved a lot but still a work in progress.

 

[wood1954]

This is my 2022 vintage. Once the acid is tamed Marquette makes a very good wine. A complete MLF really helps.

 

[Khristyjeff]

This is my 2022 vintage. Once the acid is tamed Marquette makes a very good wine. A complete MLF really helps.

Impressive. My 2020 PP is finally tasting ok at this stage. Age has helped a lot.

 

[wood1954]

Have you compared the barrels to the carboys yet?

I sampled the carboys yesterday and they taste very good, body seemed a bit thin but it was at 50 degrees so I think that makes wine seem thinner than at room temp. The rose I made from the saignee and some Itasca grapes is really good and fruity very surprised. I’ll bottle all the carboys in August, to make sure all the MLF is done, can’t wait.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I have reread this post and started to wonder about “northern hybrid“ taste. I would like to get to taste some of your Marquette at state fair (entrees close in about 2 weeks)

#1 my eight year old vines produce much better grapes than when they were 6.
#8 pitch Avante yeast
vines that are at least nine years old now

On my part a carboy of 2021 reds was bottled this week. It shows less of the northern hybrid taste. If I let it oxidize on the counter over night I would say it is clean. 2021 goes along with working on eliminating reductive flavor in whites which has turned out to be fixed with better yeast nutrition, the 2021 red also got a two step treatment with Fermaid O > K. ,,, Humm? ? ?
* Avante is part of the 2022 protocol and flavor results in the vinters club have been good
* we also are older vines, ,,, humm age may correlate with better YAN in the juice.

I can see a red wine test this year 1) a carboy using chemical nitrogen vs 2) organic nitrogen. This seems to be critical in whites. (@weaverschmitz another club question to test)
Is “northern hybrid“ taste in Frontenac and Marquette really a variation of reductive flavor?
If I am judging and see ”northern hybrid” taste should I be writing poor yeast nutrition?
Could we’all fix this in young vines just by increasing the YAN?

Humm we need to trade bottles (and I could get yours to the state fair drop location).

 

[wood1954]

I think the yan is pretty high in Marquette, my theory is that the high levels of protein in the must help feed the yeast.
we could meet in Montelo sometime looks like it’s about halfway for us.

 

[weaverschmitz]

I have reread this post and started to wonder about “northern hybrid“ taste. I would like to get to taste some of your Marquette at state fair (entrees close in about 2 weeks)

On my part a carboy of 2021 reds was bottled this week. It shows less of the northern hybrid taste. If I let it oxidize on the counter over night I would say it is clean. 2021 goes along with working on eliminating reductive flavor in whites which has turned out to be fixed with better yeast nutrition, the 2021 red also got a two step treatment with Fermaid O > K. ,,, Humm? ? ?
* Avante is part of the 2022 protocol and flavor results in the vinters club have been good
* we also are older vines, ,,, humm age may correlate with better YAN in the juice.

I can see a red wine test this year 1) a carboy using chemical nitrogen vs 2) organic nitrogen. This seems to be critical in whites. (@weaverschmitz another club question to test)
Is “northern hybrid“ taste in Frontenac and Marquette really a variation of reductive flavor?
If I am judging and see ”northern hybrid” taste should I be writing poor yeast nutrition?
Could we’all fix this in young vines just by increasing the YAN?

Humm we need to trade bottles (and I could get yours to the state fair drop location).

I love this concept. It would make sense that the cold climate wines improve as the vines age. We could test the numbers for our next science project. Such an exciting time to be a winemaker in the Midwest.

 

[Rob Kneeland]

#1 use grapes from mature plants, my eight year old vines produce much better grapes than when they were 6.
#2 monitor ph close to harvest and pick when the ph is as high as it will get.
#3 use a little potassium bicarbonate to get your ph up to at least 3.2 before you pitch your yeast. (If you a formula use half and check after an hour)
#4 saignee about 10% or so. Use that for rose. Don’t add so2 at crush
unless you have moldy fruit and if you do keep it at 50 ppm
#5 don’t overdo the potassium as your ph will rise more.
#6 add sacrificial tannins, twice as much as normally recommended for vinefera grapes.
#7 pitch enzymes
#8 pitch Avante yeast
#9 two days later add VP 41 MLB
#10 press lightly and rack when AF is done.
#11 test for mlf completion in about two weeks
#12 taste test tannin levels and adjust
#13 rack and bulk age minimum of 1 year
of course you need to follow all sanitation etc.
saignee really helped
my wine ended about 3.5 ph
mitchell vineyard in Oregon Wi has Marquette vines that are at least nine years old now if you want to pick some really good grapes.

Wood 1954...very generous of you. Thanks. I will follow your lead.
Rob

 

[JustJoe]

I love this concept. It would make sense that the cold climate wines improve as the vines age. We could test the numbers for our next science project. Such an exciting time to be a winemaker in the Midwest.

I just saw the comment about cold climate grape vines producing better wines as they age. So, I have a question. How old are my vines? The have been planted in my yard for five years but, i planted large roots from a vineyard that was being removed. I don't know how old they were but the base of the stem was about 1 1/2 inches. Any guess on age?

 

[wood1954]

I have some 8 year old vines that are about that big. I also have some 8 yo vines that are half that.

 

[JustJoe]

So if I take 10 years as an average, then my vines might be about 15 years, more or less.

 

[Snafflebit]

#3 use a little potassium bicarbonate to get your ph up to at least 3.2 before you pitch your yeast. (If you a formula use half and check after an hour)

Holy cow that is low pH, maybe make some extra brut sparkling!

I have reread this post and started to wonder about “northern hybrid“ taste. I would like to get to taste some of your Marquette at state fair (entrees close in about 2 weeks)

Care to describe what that tastes like?