Fresh Grapes From Fine Vine Wines

[cgallamo]

What an awesome project. I'm not jealous at all... sure I'm not...

 

[Johnd]

I was all prepared to drive to Dallas on Thursday, pick up my grapes Friday morning, and drive home, but alas, Mother Nature has a different plan.

BRIX is still to low, acid too high, so they won't be picking til later. Glad I didn't make any hotel reservations yet, and I'll be able to make the bowhunting opener this Saturday.

 

[ibglowin]

The Tour Cruise begins!

 

[Johnd]

The Tour Cruise begins!

Very clever Mike! Your grape extravaganza was on the top of my mind when I decided to wait to make and firm plans. Don't want to end up trapped in Dallas for an unplanned "vacation".

I'm glad they will wait until the grapes are proper before harvesting, and should be able to shift on the fly enough to get there at the right time........

 

[TXWineDuo]

@Johnd
did you get the email?
From FVW: "We just got word that the this years fresh grapes will be leaving California on Tuesday October 3rd. We are expecting to receive them on Thursday, October 5th, but based on previous experience, we may or may not receive the grapes on that day. As such, we are planning on having the grapes available for pickup on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th. As soon as the grapes arrive, we will let you know."

TXWineDuo

 

[Johnd]

@Johnd
did you get the email?
From FVW: "We just got word that the this years fresh grapes will be leaving California on Tuesday October 3rd. We are expecting to receive them on Thursday, October 5th, but based on previous experience, we may or may not receive the grapes on that day. As such, we are planning on having the grapes available for pickup on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th. As soon as the grapes arrive, we will let you know."

TXWineDuo

I did, came in Sunday evening. Working out the details for a Friday or Saturday pickup. When are you planning to make the run?

 

[TXWineDuo]

We are trying to work out the kinks too I guess our plan is for Saturday morning early. As George says if the truck gets to TX Thursday and he allows a Friday pickup I'm trying to see if I can leave work early to avoid the line on Saturday.

TXWineDuo

 

[Johnd]

When I got home from work yesterday, we firmed our plan. We’re going to drive in on Thursday evening, pickup Friday AM, C/D, and be on our way.

 

[ibglowin]

It was "a simple plan"........

Drive to Dallas, pick up fresh grapes.

Drive home.........

http://expatspost.com/wp-content/uploads/4-a-simple-plan-j-h-brother-being-talked-into-keeping-cash-by-the-*****-lou.jpg


What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Johnd]

It was "a simple plan"........

Drive to Dallas, pick up fresh grapes.

Drive home.........

http://expatspost.com/wp-content/uploads/4-a-simple-plan-j-h-brother-being-talked-into-keeping-cash-by-the-*****-lou.jpg


What could possibly go wrong?

In spite of the WMT pessimist, @ibglowin , all is well!! After a nice drive in (during which, FVW called to let me know that my grapes had arrived), I’m having cocktails and dinner at the new Marriott in Carollton, TX.

 

[ibglowin]

Dayum! I guess as long as I don't make the trip all goes swimmingly well!

Crush, Destem and head back home tomorrow!

Pics or this didn't happen "little buddy"!

 

[Johnd]

Pics or this didn't happen

All went as planned, drove to Dallas Thursday afternoon and was first in line at FVW at 9:30 am. The fruit quality was excellent, better than I anticipated, little to no loss, the very occasional raisined cluster, and really not a lot of debris in there. BRIX on the Cab, Merlot, and PS were all in the 25-26 range.

Anyway, crushed and destemmed 18 lugs, added Lallzyme EX-V, sealed in buckets, loaded, and was on the road at 11am. All are in fermenters now.

Just had a little dinner, bout to check the BRIX again and run some pH tests tomorrow I’ll adjust anything in need, and pitch yeast, and VP41 on Sunday.

 

[ibglowin]

@JohnD Looks like you used or reused frozen must buckets for the trip home? Were you able to find some dry ice? Are you ready for the approaching storm?

 

[Johnd]

Looks like you used or reused frozen must buckets for the trip home? Were you able to find some dry ice? Are you ready for the approaching storm?

I did reuse frozen must containers, gave them a good cleaning on Wednesday, 1/2” sulfite solution in the bucket, sealed them up, and loaded in the back of the SUV. Also proved that they’d all fit when filled. Brought 3 extras, but only filled 3/4 of one of them.

I decided to skip the dry ice and sulfite, fruit quality was good, grapes were cold, so I sealed each container with a dose of enzymes mixed in. We cranked the temps down in the back A/C, must was around 60F when we got home yesterday evening.

Last nite, pH on all 3 musts was in the 3.9 range, so I hit the Merlot and PS with tartaric and got the pH down to the 3.3’s on both. By this morning, they’d both buffered up into the 3.5, and surely will rise during AF / MLF. The cab, I took down to 3.73. When I blend the wines, if the numbers hold (big if...), should have a decent pH to work with. But you know how this game goes, high pH wines seem to find their way back up the scale.......

As far as the storm, yes. Yrack shifted east of us, putting us on the dry side. It’ll be a little rainy / windy when the bands blow through, but I’m not expecting much. Got grapes fermenting and am about to go pick up some grilling fare for dinner, nice bottle of wine, all will be well.

 

[ibglowin]

@JohnD

Any sign of George?

 

[Ajmassa]

.....and life is good. Wishing you the best of luck that Nate does not decide to veer back your way. And obviously all those who do end up in the thick of it.
I'm going to assume you had legitimate reasons for keeping the Cab higher ph and merlot and PS lower before blending down the road. But I was under the impression that such a large tartaric addition was not safe -from 3.9 to 3.3. (I may have just assumed this tho). Is that safely able to be done just pre ferment - or could one do a .6 ph drop post ferment as well? I've been hesitant to drop any more than .3 thinking that it was just way too different than where the grapes were naturally sitting.

 

[Johnd]

@JohnD

Any sign of George?

Not hide nor hair. They did say he was feeling better and had been around more lately, but not while I was there.

 

[Johnd]

.....and life is good. Wishing you the best of luck that Nate does not decide to veer back your way. And obviously all those who do end up in the thick of it.
I'm going to assume you had legitimate reasons for keeping the Cab higher ph and merlot and PS lower before blending down the road. But I was under the impression that such a large tartaric addition was not safe -from 3.9 to 3.3. (I may have just assumed this tho). Is that safely able to be done just pre ferment - or could one do a .6 ph drop post ferment as well? I've been hesitant to drop any more than .3 thinking that it was just way too different than where the grapes were naturally sitting.

Frankly, I didn’t expect such a large drop from a 1g/L addition, but do believe pH will rise in those two. Just in case it doesn’t, I left the cab a tad higher. 12 lugs Cab, only 3 each of the PS and Merlot. Really just trying to maintain flexibility for any eventuality.

 

[Ajmassa]

Frankly, I didn’t expect such a large drop from a 1g/L addition, but do believe pH will rise in those two. Just in case it doesn’t, I left the cab a tad higher. 12 lugs Cab, only 3 each of the PS and Merlot. Really just trying to maintain flexibility for any eventuality.

And it all makes sense to me now. At 1g/l it dropped like crazy! Thank god you didn't go for 2g/L, which wouldnt have been a crazy idea to me.
So far to me, in terms of tartaric addition, it seems additions after fermentation land right on the money, if not less. But additions to must tend to to be all over the place. I don't know if that's the case on average, but it has been my experience. I would assume that's why you kept it to just 1g/l.
Good luck with your fresh "non frozen" grape batches John. I look forward to following along as you update the work and progress.

 

[Johnd]

And it all makes sense to me now. At 1g/l it dropped like crazy! Thank god you didn't go for 2g/L, which wouldnt have been a crazy idea to me.
So far to me, in terms of tartaric addition, it seems additions after fermentation land right on the money, if not less. But additions to must tend to to be all over the place. I don't know if that's the case on average, but it has been my experience. I would assume that's why you kept it to just 1g/l.
Good luck with your fresh "non frozen" grape batches John. I look forward to following along as you update the work and progress.

Your observation is in line with mine. My intention with the addition was to knock a couple of tenths off of the number, but I added only half that amount, as always. Just never know how these musts will react. Maybe I didn’t stir well enough, maybe it’s going to take some additional time to normalize, but I still do expect it to ease up a bit before the yeast takes off. I’ll stir and measure again in a bit.