I'm not sure what a normal grape growing season is like anymore, this year in the Sierra Foothills in Nor Cal seems to be similar to last year; heat spikes with threat of smoke.
We have had two heat spikes (3-5 days >100 degrees) and a third happening this week. Sugar accumulation at this point is running 3 weeks earlier than last year. At some temperature above 100 degrees, the plants just shut down and sugar accumulation stalls and you run into the threat of dehydration.
Choices:
1. pick now based on brix readings (24-25 brix), knowing that the grapes look great, the canopy has held up, not a lot of pest damage, but knowing that the grapes may not have achieved full phenolic ripeness. This is a safe choice to get good looking fruit and the path grape growers like winemakers to choose. Yet, will this make the best wine possible?
2. give the grapes more hang time. Increase water to combat dehydration and canopy deteriation. Manage any fruit sunburn, pest damage, hope the winds will be blowing smoke in the right direction. Wait until there is high confidence of full ripeness and deal with the higher brix / lower acidity by watering back the must and tartaric additions.
I'm inclined to do #2. Wine is 83% water, 14% alcohol and 3% everything else. I think that 3% is determined by these kinds of decisions and for the taste profile of wine I like to make I want as much flavor as I can get from the fruit, which I think develops later in the grapes maturation. The reason I say that is that when I taste the berries themselves, I get more flavors when they are late in the season vs. earlier in the season. I think this translates into the wine. There is also a point where it goes too far and you start getting raisen and prune notes in the wine, which I'm not a fan of.
I'm going to do a more in depth analysis of my little vineyard to see where we are at and I'll post my findings later this weekend.
We have had two heat spikes (3-5 days >100 degrees) and a third happening this week. Sugar accumulation at this point is running 3 weeks earlier than last year. At some temperature above 100 degrees, the plants just shut down and sugar accumulation stalls and you run into the threat of dehydration.
Choices:
1. pick now based on brix readings (24-25 brix), knowing that the grapes look great, the canopy has held up, not a lot of pest damage, but knowing that the grapes may not have achieved full phenolic ripeness. This is a safe choice to get good looking fruit and the path grape growers like winemakers to choose. Yet, will this make the best wine possible?
2. give the grapes more hang time. Increase water to combat dehydration and canopy deteriation. Manage any fruit sunburn, pest damage, hope the winds will be blowing smoke in the right direction. Wait until there is high confidence of full ripeness and deal with the higher brix / lower acidity by watering back the must and tartaric additions.
I'm inclined to do #2. Wine is 83% water, 14% alcohol and 3% everything else. I think that 3% is determined by these kinds of decisions and for the taste profile of wine I like to make I want as much flavor as I can get from the fruit, which I think develops later in the grapes maturation. The reason I say that is that when I taste the berries themselves, I get more flavors when they are late in the season vs. earlier in the season. I think this translates into the wine. There is also a point where it goes too far and you start getting raisen and prune notes in the wine, which I'm not a fan of.
I'm going to do a more in depth analysis of my little vineyard to see where we are at and I'll post my findings later this weekend.
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