Looks like a really clean batch of fruit should make some great wine
Harvest 2024
- Thread starter Obbnw
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Did some Brix testing in the vineyard today.
Brix - Itasca 18
Petite Pearl 10-11
Marquette 16-17
Frontenac 15-16
Still have a couple weeks of decent weather, so I hope it makes it to 20. Little disappointed in PP. It always seems to lag.
Brix - Itasca 18
Petite Pearl 10-11
Marquette 16-17
Frontenac 15-16
Still have a couple weeks of decent weather, so I hope it makes it to 20. Little disappointed in PP. It always seems to lag.
Picked about 66lbs of Tempranillo last night. 2 buckets of grapes usually gives me just enough grapes for a 1 bucket ferment. Brix after destemming and crushing was 24.5 PH was 3.4
Hopefully I'll get another 2 buckets tonight and 2 more on Friday.
Hopefully I'll get another 2 buckets tonight and 2 more on Friday.
Picked another 61 lbs last night 24 brix 3.6 PH. Am I the only one who doesn't trust their PH meter? Pictures would be about identical to above...
66 lb batch fermenting nicely, 61 lb batch ready to go.
I'll pick the remaining Tempranillos tonight or tomorrow. A couple of the Malbecs might be ready on Sunday.
66 lb batch fermenting nicely, 61 lb batch ready to go.
I'll pick the remaining Tempranillos tonight or tomorrow. A couple of the Malbecs might be ready on Sunday.
Beautiful cluster!
I picked another 50 lbs of tempranillo Last friday and 65 lbs of Malbec Tuesday night.
The Malbec was only 22 brix and an absurdly low (for my "vineyard") PH of 2.9. I really think the way I birdnetted some of the vines really slowed down ripening. I trimmed a bunch to get the nets around the vines that were growing over my driveway. I also folded some back in and over other grapes so they would fit. I think I really altered the effective leaf area to grape volume ratio. I picked these particular vines first because they were the most bunched and seemed to not be increasing sugar any more but were getting soft.
Luckily this year has had great grape weather, warm days and cool nights. The remaining Malbecs are also in the 22 brix range but look healthier and are not as soft. I might pick them next weekend since I'll have to leave town for another 2 weeks for work.
The Malbec was only 22 brix and an absurdly low (for my "vineyard") PH of 2.9. I really think the way I birdnetted some of the vines really slowed down ripening. I trimmed a bunch to get the nets around the vines that were growing over my driveway. I also folded some back in and over other grapes so they would fit. I think I really altered the effective leaf area to grape volume ratio. I picked these particular vines first because they were the most bunched and seemed to not be increasing sugar any more but were getting soft.
Luckily this year has had great grape weather, warm days and cool nights. The remaining Malbecs are also in the 22 brix range but look healthier and are not as soft. I might pick them next weekend since I'll have to leave town for another 2 weeks for work.
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I don’t understand the reason for the low ripeness of your grapes. You have approximately the same number of GDD as by me. Are you getting full sun during the day? A cluster of grapes needs only 15 healthy leaves on the cane to achieve ripeness. It is an incredibly small number and is why the French can get by hedging their vines.
Maybe this will help ; )
I do pay attention to leaf area and grape load. But this year the birds found my grapes and I had to net them quickly and decided to trim and bunch up the vines so I could get the netting around the grapes. It really altered the effective leaf area to grape volume ratio. Plus the bunching did lead to a little powdery mildew. Before the netting/trimming it was way more sprawling and open. You can see how the netting is confining the leaves. Next year I'll prune to be more compatible with the netting.
Plus as you guessed, in this urban environment, this late in the year they do get afternoon shade. You can see the shaded versus unshaded and the next pic is the tree doing the shading.
I definitely have significant sun variation in my yard. Right now I've got some Tannats that are literally 10' from each other but one is sitting at 24+ brix and the other is 19 brix. It's just local shading.
You gotta work with what you have ; )
It's one of the reasons why my harvest is so stretched out.
I am now complete with my harvesting. Frontenac, Aromella, Delaware (all 3 producing about half yield for some reason), regent, and Blaufrankish (first pic), which is a delightful find. I harvested 125# this week from a vineyard in northern Utah. They planted a beautifully wide selection of grapes and I have gotten Foche from them in the past but this year I saw Blaufrankish and went to town. They hope to start a winery but the county is imposing additionally strict (and completely absurd) regulations beyond what the state requires (which are generally tenable) on them and they haven’t been able to begin operations - so they sell for u-pick. Anyway, that’s a different story. So an interesting year so far as I continue to bide my time before I find the ideal property for my own large vineyard/reshape the one I’m helping manage. (Also, fun note, it takes longer to prep and clean my crusher/destemmer than it takes to process 150lbs of grapes) and now I’m rambling because I’m sleep deprived with a new baby on the house. Keep the updates coming!
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More tomorrow as I’m late for dinner and completely fried but we finished harvest today - in 103 degree weather. Total of roughly 2900 pounds harvested in six picks.
After a good nights sleep and a couple of advil, I am feeling like a new man!
It was a very strange harvest - as noted up thread, we picked our Syrah first on September 14th (800+ pounds). Things were looking good for a nice flow of grapes from there - Brix numbers on that date for the other four varietals were 22.8, 22.8, 22.6, and 22.0. We did need the pHs to come up a bit but in general in pretty good shape.
Well, Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor. Cool weather set in, we even had fog, and Brixs went down into the 20s and 21s for a couple of days, then crawled back to 22.x. Then hot weather kicked in - back into high 90s low 100s. Fruit just sat there for two weeks. Syrah meanwhile finished fermentation and went into beer kegs undergoing MLF and awaiting a little bit of Mourvèdre and Grenache to make up a full barrel.
At long last , on 9/28, the Mourvèdre (which should be the last grape to ripen of my five) made a run up to 24.9 with 3.47 pH when we picked. Just three rows, 63 plants, a little over 300 pounds, but we were moving again.
Grenache followed - Brix good at 25.4 but a scary pH of 3.13. (510 pounds). It crushed to 65 gallons of must. We added half a gallon of spring water and pH came up a little to 3.30. Added another half gallon, pH came up to 3.43. Brix declined a little to 25.2 but we were fine with that.
Carignane was a nice straight forward pick of 42 vines (250 pounds). Brix 3.45 pH 3.45. Nice straight forward ferment thus far with a great color.
Then we waited for the Primitivo. It’s the biggest share of the vineyard at 211 vines. We decided with Temps in the low hundreds, we would pick four rows on Friday and four on Saturday, using Kmeta and dry ice to keep things under control. Total harvest was 975 pounds. Brix is likely to be in the 27-30 range after typical post pick bounce. Ph was 3.41 - so a little low. We will probably water back, using acidulated water prior to pitching yeast after taking measurements on Monday.
Here’s how we handled the pick - lots of buckets placed into a macro bin on forks on the front of my tractor. Buckets transferred to picking bins in the garage and then returned to vineyard to be filled again. Once all was picked, bins dumped into the crusher destemmer. We all agreed that this saved us a lot of time over dumping buckets into macro bin and then shoveling back into buckets to go into crusher in garage…
It was a very strange harvest - as noted up thread, we picked our Syrah first on September 14th (800+ pounds). Things were looking good for a nice flow of grapes from there - Brix numbers on that date for the other four varietals were 22.8, 22.8, 22.6, and 22.0. We did need the pHs to come up a bit but in general in pretty good shape.
Well, Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor. Cool weather set in, we even had fog, and Brixs went down into the 20s and 21s for a couple of days, then crawled back to 22.x. Then hot weather kicked in - back into high 90s low 100s. Fruit just sat there for two weeks. Syrah meanwhile finished fermentation and went into beer kegs undergoing MLF and awaiting a little bit of Mourvèdre and Grenache to make up a full barrel.
At long last , on 9/28, the Mourvèdre (which should be the last grape to ripen of my five) made a run up to 24.9 with 3.47 pH when we picked. Just three rows, 63 plants, a little over 300 pounds, but we were moving again.
Grenache followed - Brix good at 25.4 but a scary pH of 3.13. (510 pounds). It crushed to 65 gallons of must. We added half a gallon of spring water and pH came up a little to 3.30. Added another half gallon, pH came up to 3.43. Brix declined a little to 25.2 but we were fine with that.
Carignane was a nice straight forward pick of 42 vines (250 pounds). Brix 3.45 pH 3.45. Nice straight forward ferment thus far with a great color.
Then we waited for the Primitivo. It’s the biggest share of the vineyard at 211 vines. We decided with Temps in the low hundreds, we would pick four rows on Friday and four on Saturday, using Kmeta and dry ice to keep things under control. Total harvest was 975 pounds. Brix is likely to be in the 27-30 range after typical post pick bounce. Ph was 3.41 - so a little low. We will probably water back, using acidulated water prior to pitching yeast after taking measurements on Monday.
Here’s how we handled the pick - lots of buckets placed into a macro bin on forks on the front of my tractor. Buckets transferred to picking bins in the garage and then returned to vineyard to be filled again. Once all was picked, bins dumped into the crusher destemmer. We all agreed that this saved us a lot of time over dumping buckets into macro bin and then shoveling back into buckets to go into crusher in garage…
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Picked Itasca (24 Brix and 2.95 ph) and Marquette (21 Brix and 2.78 ph). I was really hoping my ph would have come up more this year. I have much better sugar, but still low ph. 
I know my soil is probably the issue, but I’ve been top dressing with lime at least twice a year for the last 5 years. I adjusted the Marquette, but hesitate with the Itasca because I don’t want to overshoot.
Itasca was pressed and I only got about 40% yield out of my must that was destemmed and crushed. Do other people get that low of a yield? Not too happy about that.
Friday we’re picking Petite Pearl and Frontenac. We’ve got some cold nights in the forecast, so I hope they won’t get affected with frost. The trials and tribulations of trying to grow grapes in the north!
. Good thing is I had lots of help!!
I know my soil is probably the issue, but I’ve been top dressing with lime at least twice a year for the last 5 years. I adjusted the Marquette, but hesitate with the Itasca because I don’t want to overshoot. Itasca was pressed and I only got about 40% yield out of my must that was destemmed and crushed. Do other people get that low of a yield? Not too happy about that.
Friday we’re picking Petite Pearl and Frontenac. We’ve got some cold nights in the forecast, so I hope they won’t get affected with frost. The trials and tribulations of trying to grow grapes in the north!
. Good thing is I had lots of help!!
Donnab1045
Winemaker
Final harvest is Montepulciano - 2 tons in a group buy from Amador. I have been trying to source that varietal for 20 years so really looking forward to it.
Malbec from Fiddletown is clearing and ready to go into a 10 gallon barrel
My whites - Clarksburg Chenin Blanc, and Courtland Albarino are clearing as well. Great aromatics.
The Albarino has a really high TA (12) so I may need to do something about that. Totally a 3 stooges scenario with keeping my whites cold in my uninsulated cluttered garage in unusually hot October weather.
I’m not so sure soil chemistry is responsible. My guess would be low growing degree days and lack of hot weather to finish them off.Picked Itasca (24 Brix and 2.95 ph) and Marquette (21 Brix and 2.78 ph). I was really hoping my ph would have come up more this year. I have much better sugar, but still low ph.
Itasca was pressed and I only got about 40% yield out of my must that was destemmed and crushed. Do other people get that low of a yield? Not too happy about that.
Friday we’re picking Petite Pearl and Frontenac. We’ve got some cold nights in the forecast, so I hope they won’t get affected with frost. The trials and tribulations of trying to grow grapes in the north!
View attachment 116600
Are you close to one of the big lakes? We had our first killing frost last night. I’m surprised you made it this long!
Yes, I’m not only a few miles from Lake Superior. Makes the spring cool, but moderates the fall tempatures. But it’s dipping close to the 30’s at night this week, so I hope the grapes will still be ok Friday. I thought my grapes were pretty ripe this year, but the ph didn’t come up much. I will be interested in seeing where Petite Pearl falls, since that has always been better than Marquette, even when it’s much less ripe.
AutumnBlazeWinery
Junior
Hoping to let my Marquette hang a week longer and bring the pH up... narrowly avoided the frost the past few nights.
I picked another 90 lbs of Malbec last night.
40 lbs from one area, 24 Brix, 3.45 ph and 60 lbs from another area, 21.5 Brix, 3.45 ph. Would've left the one area on longer but I have to leave town for work for 2.5 weeks. It was either pick last night, ferment, press Sunday night, then leave Monday or let them hang till Nov 1st.
I am letting the remaining 120 to 150lbs of Malbec and 50 to 60 lbs of tannat hang till November. Brix is averaging about 21 on the malbecs but the vines/grapes seem healthier then the low Brix section I picked.
One section (south facing) of the tannats is at 24+ Brix the other section (west facing with shade till afternoon) is at 19. I may pick and freeze the riper tannats (25 to 30 lbs) on Saturday.
We'll see, if October stays warm it should work out.
40 lbs from one area, 24 Brix, 3.45 ph and 60 lbs from another area, 21.5 Brix, 3.45 ph. Would've left the one area on longer but I have to leave town for work for 2.5 weeks. It was either pick last night, ferment, press Sunday night, then leave Monday or let them hang till Nov 1st.
I am letting the remaining 120 to 150lbs of Malbec and 50 to 60 lbs of tannat hang till November. Brix is averaging about 21 on the malbecs but the vines/grapes seem healthier then the low Brix section I picked.
One section (south facing) of the tannats is at 24+ Brix the other section (west facing with shade till afternoon) is at 19. I may pick and freeze the riper tannats (25 to 30 lbs) on Saturday.
We'll see, if October stays warm it should work out.
I ended up picking about 35 lbs of tannats before I left town, 22 to 23 brix and probably ph under 3. I forgot to write it down before I left and they are still frozen...
Yesterday I picked about 150 lbs of malbecs. Average brix about 24 but one section was 23 brix and the other section was 26 brix. Pic below.
Also picked another 30 lbs of Tannats, brix was only 20 but they were done. No pics - by the time I got to them I was ready to finish.
Harvest 2024 is done for me!
2024 Lessons learned:
Low fruit on malbecs #9 and #10 won't ripen (Learned this last year and told myself I should remove all the low fruit this year but didn't). This lower part of these vines really gets shaded starting in mid september and the grapes just stop ripening. The grapes near the top keep ripening. I don't have a traditional trellis system. It's more like a pergola so I have low and high grapes.
I finally think I officially hit "overcropping". So now I have a good idea of my maximum grape load. Ended up with about 700 lbs total harvest (lost 100 lbs to birds and netting damage/removal, so 800ish on the vine), will target closer to 600lbs on the vine next year. I get over 75 lbs off a few of the vines that have significant room to grow. Literature I've seen seems accurate on grape load to leaf area and I know that I was low on leaf area this year, especially after I trimmed the grapes to get the bird netting in.
The birds found my grapes this year - next year I have to plan my pruning to be more compatible with the netting.
I can leave the grapes on the vine longer than I would have thought without seeing much degradation. (with good weather...)
I need to get a better sulfur spray for early PM control and be diligent through the season.
I did a test section of training the grapes over the driveway. It worked great from a grape production standpoint but was tough to net and at the end of the summer I thought it made the driveway a little to dark. The shade also negatively impacted some other plants I have next to the driveway. Removed the section. For those interested it only took 2 seasons to get loaded vines over the 13' driveway.
Overall we had great grape weather this year, and I feel I missed the opportunity for fantastic grapes due to overcropping, how I netted and early powdery mildew. So it goes, I think the wines will still be OK.
Questions for the forum:
Does grape PH trend down as the grape vines get older (3 to 8 years)? It seems like the PH of my grapes at harvest has gone down each year. This year the PH seem really low compared to previous years but we definitely had cooler nights in September which from what I understand will keep the PH lower.
My tannat's ended up low on sugar but seemed ripe and flavorful. Does adding sugar impact the flavor or just increase alcohol? I'll probably repost this in another section of the forum.
Yesterday I picked about 150 lbs of malbecs. Average brix about 24 but one section was 23 brix and the other section was 26 brix. Pic below.
Also picked another 30 lbs of Tannats, brix was only 20 but they were done. No pics - by the time I got to them I was ready to finish.
Harvest 2024 is done for me!
2024 Lessons learned:
Low fruit on malbecs #9 and #10 won't ripen (Learned this last year and told myself I should remove all the low fruit this year but didn't). This lower part of these vines really gets shaded starting in mid september and the grapes just stop ripening. The grapes near the top keep ripening. I don't have a traditional trellis system. It's more like a pergola so I have low and high grapes.
I finally think I officially hit "overcropping". So now I have a good idea of my maximum grape load. Ended up with about 700 lbs total harvest (lost 100 lbs to birds and netting damage/removal, so 800ish on the vine), will target closer to 600lbs on the vine next year. I get over 75 lbs off a few of the vines that have significant room to grow. Literature I've seen seems accurate on grape load to leaf area and I know that I was low on leaf area this year, especially after I trimmed the grapes to get the bird netting in.
The birds found my grapes this year - next year I have to plan my pruning to be more compatible with the netting.
I can leave the grapes on the vine longer than I would have thought without seeing much degradation. (with good weather...)
I need to get a better sulfur spray for early PM control and be diligent through the season.
I did a test section of training the grapes over the driveway. It worked great from a grape production standpoint but was tough to net and at the end of the summer I thought it made the driveway a little to dark. The shade also negatively impacted some other plants I have next to the driveway. Removed the section. For those interested it only took 2 seasons to get loaded vines over the 13' driveway.
Overall we had great grape weather this year, and I feel I missed the opportunity for fantastic grapes due to overcropping, how I netted and early powdery mildew. So it goes, I think the wines will still be OK.
Questions for the forum:
Does grape PH trend down as the grape vines get older (3 to 8 years)? It seems like the PH of my grapes at harvest has gone down each year. This year the PH seem really low compared to previous years but we definitely had cooler nights in September which from what I understand will keep the PH lower.
My tannat's ended up low on sugar but seemed ripe and flavorful. Does adding sugar impact the flavor or just increase alcohol? I'll probably repost this in another section of the forum.
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The older my hybrid grapes get the higher the PH at harvest. Then again the last two years have been really good weather wise.
hmmmm
I've got high PH clay soil that I been trying to amend with compost and a little soil acidifier fertilizer - maybe it is starting to work.
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