First wine attempt

[Court]

I planted about 45 vines at my parents' place in Bancroft, Ontario, Canada in 2019 and 2020, and this year was the first year that I had any real yield. The terrior could accurately be described as "Canadian shield gravel pit", which I think is why it's taken so long to produce more than a few bunches of grapes. Bancroft is about 70 miles north of Prince Edward County. PEC is described by some wine critics as a marginal wine region, even though a lot of (in my opinion) good wine comes out of PEC.

I was able to harvest enough grapes this year to make what will probably be six or seven bottles. It's a field blend of Itasca, Marquette, Crimson Pearl, Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Gris, St. Croix, Petit Pearl, Leon Millot, TP 1-1-2 and St. Pepin. I was surprised that even with the proportion of white grapes I had the wine is a very nice red colour. All the Brix measurements for the different types of grapes were between 21.8 to 24.4. When I froze, blended and crushed the grapes I got a Brix measurement of 22.2 and chaptalized it to 22.8. I took all of the measurements with a refractometer. I used Lalvin RC212 and pitched it on Dec. 9th.

If you're wondering why my field blend is ten different varieties of grapes I didn't know what grape vines would do well so far north. I bought 2-5 of a lot of different kinds, and then was given some from a vineyard that I visited. For reference, there are often about three nights every winter there that go down to -38. It sounds like that's USDA zone 3b, if I do the conversion from the Canadian climate zones.

Since this is my first batch of wine, and reading on WMT, mainly I learned:

1. Use the refractometer for field measurements, use a hydrometer for measurements otherwise. I don't have a good baseline for starting SG and so everything after that is a guess. I can tell (or guess) that fermentation is over because there was no gas bubbling through the fermentation traps before I put it into the fridge to cold crash, but that's the wrong way to do this.
2. Be more deliberate about gathering supplies beforehand. It was complicated this year by our Canada Post strike and I didn't want to drive three hours each way to Niagara-On-The-Lake for MLB. I realize that I've made some really tart wine without MLB, so I'm cold crashing it in the fridge. I have some big crystals in the bottom of the biggest container, so hopefully that will help. Before cold crashing it wasn't terrible, but if it was wine that I bought I would probably use it for cooking. Next year I'll make sure I'll have MLB beforehand.

Should I bottle without backsweetening? I don't want to open the wine a lot, but would like to bottle while I'm still on holidays, so I was thinking that I could get the floor corker on Dec. 31st when the local wine shop is open. If I check SG, will I be able to tell if fermentation is done without having a starting SG? I'm afraid to backsweeten and have it start fermentation all over again. It's been cold crashing in the fridge since Dec. 23rd, but it sounds like that's not completely guaranteed to kill off the yeast. I have meta that I could add if that would work. From what I understand I should be adding a bit of meta when I bottle anyway.

 

[winemaker81]

Cold stabilization doesn't kill yeast. You need to add sorbate and K-meta to prevent a renewed fermentation in the bottle.

If the wine is sharp you can reduce acid with potassium carbonate, but it can introduce a chalky flavor. Backsweetening may be a better choice.

One option is to backsweeten in the glass when served. Each person add sugar to taste

 

[Garagista]

This guy tested 4 different methods of reducing acid. I loved his data driven approach. The big nugget? Do potassium carb.
Trials and tribulations

 

[Rice_Guy]

A Wisconsin/ northern grape variation;
Harvest etc like you did
Precipitate bitartrate at 1 to 2 C for a week
Ferment with 71B, this should reduce the malic acid about 1/3 (sharp acid notes)
Whites ferment at 10C +/-, reds at 10 are more fruity but most folks are 20 to 25C
(MLF could be done instead of 71B)
Put under airlock at about 1.020, for a red a week and a white could be up to three
Rack after a month
(A kit would treat with kiegosol and chaitin, settle a month and bottle)
Wineries will settle with time at least three months they may dun this two years with occasional meta and racking.
Do you like oak? Oak cubes / chips could be done here
Flavor trials, is it sweet enough for your taste? As a few bottles of three month old wine you could simply store them in a fridge, ,,, six gallon carboys make two plus cases, enough to treat with potassium sorbate.

I will mix everything like you did. I also went through five year old vines and little clean berry yield. It took me another year to Lear about black rot control. Basically I had no yield before learning to spray with mancozeb. Your temperature sounds extreme. However hardened vines might survive. A technique in Michigan with vinifera is to prune low cordons and then plow snow over the vines to keep the extreme off the plants.
Wine making can be complicated with lots of chemicals and toys. My grandpa in the early 1900s didn’t have the understanding we use today and it worked. ,, ie there are work around’s.

Good luck on the 2025 harvest.