How many lbs of grapes do you ferment?

[NorCal]

2015 is in the books and me and my winemaking partner 4Score are planning out next year. We both agreed that three ferments is about all we have the energy for. Last year we did 2000 lbs of Mourvèdre, 2000 lbs of Barbera and 2000 lbs of Zin. So three tons together and I took 1/2.

Next year we are thinking of backing down a bit and doing 1000 lb Grenache, 2000 Syrah and 1000 lb Chardonnay, again splitting 50/50.

So we are doing between 2000-3000 lbs of grapes per year each. What do you do?

 

[Boatboy24]

Less than 10% of what you guys do. I'm 2-300lbs in both Spring and Fall.

 

[ibglowin]

That is a LOT of finished wine! I usually do around 800lbs of Lodi grapes but this year I was given an extra 200lbs of Lodi fruit plus I harvested around 200lbs of my own Estate cold hardy fruit so a total for me is a whopping 1200lbs.....

I have wine out the whazoo as they say. I could entirely skip next year and not run out of wine.

 

[jsiddall]

Umm... wow. I worked my way up to just over 100 lb (3 lugs) this year. I guess I could win the prize for smallest winery!

 

[NorCal]

Being new to this, I never realized that I just happen to live in an excellent home winemaking area. Grapes are good quality and $1300-$1500 per ton (vs. $5000 in Napa). You have to work at it and be flexible, but you can find vineyards that will sell grapes to the home winemaker. The other thing I found was that the incremental effort to do 2000 lbs vs 200 lbs is maybe 2X vs 10X, which is why I adopted the go big strategy and bit the bullet to buy the necessary equipment (most all used or made).
The 3000 lbs should yield around 150 gallons/725 bottles of which friends and family that have gone in on the vintage, both $ and time, which is the majority of the wine, will share.

 

[JohnT]

2015 is in the books and me and my winemaking partner 4Score are planning out next year. We both agreed that three ferments is about all we have the energy for. Last year we did 2000 lbs of Mourvèdre, 2000 lbs of Barbera and 2000 lbs of Zin. So three tons together and I took 1/2.

Next year we are thinking of backing down a bit and doing 1000 lb Grenache, 2000 Syrah and 1000 lb Chardonnay, again splitting 50/50.

So we are doing between 2000-3000 lbs of grapes per year each. What do you do?

most states have a limit of 200 gallons per year. i would say that you are right up against the limit last year.

 

[grapeman]

For me my grapes yield close to 150 gallons per ton, finished wine. Even the driest of grapes yield more than a gallon per 20 pounds. I agree that you were pushing your limit this year. I won't tell you how much I did this year as I have a small commercial winery so that would be cheating. Don't even ask Runningwolf how much he did.......

 

[NorCal]

For me my grapes yield close to 150 gallons per ton, finished wine. Even the driest of grapes yield more than a gallon per 20 pounds.

I use a vacuum press and it is a pretty gentle press. I also pull the grapes at 26 brix, so there could be a little pass its peak plumpness. I've pulled as much as 1 gallon per 15 lbs and as little as 1 gallon per 20 lbs.

 

[NorCal]

most states have a limit of 200 gallons per year. i would say that you are right up against the limit last year.

Close, but under.

 

[Siwash]

I did 26 lugs this fall... how much does a lug usually weigh?

 

[FTC Wines]

A lug usually weighs 38 ish lbs.this was our first year doing wine from Calif grapes. We did 3 lugs, took almost 7 hrs to de-sten & crush by hand. Even built a press to press the grapes. Next year at least 6 lugs, but will enlist help. Roy ps will scourse some Florida grapes next year too.

 

[Siwash]

A lug usually weighs 38 ish lbs.this was our first year doing wine from Calif grapes. We did 3 lugs, took almost 7 hrs to de-sten & crush by hand. Even built a press to press the grapes. Next year at least 6 lugs, but will enlist help. Roy ps will scourse some Florida grapes next year too.

i do not destem prior to crush... throw everything into manual crusher that actually works pretty fast... about 1.5 hours too crush 25 lugs...

i remove the stems during maceration as i punch the must... get most of it within a couple of days...

i think you are making too much work for yourself

 

[sdelli]

Our group does about 2 tons at the crush.... I take about 1400 lbs of it... Found that is a lot of work for 1 person! My comfort level is about 900lbs on my own.... But always seem to do more. I then make 3 or 4 small batches from frozen must thruout the year as well.

 

[4score]

Yeah, three big Crushes/Presses and all other related activities is about the limit for me. Winemaking work is SO compressed into 2-3 week time. After that, a lot patience until bottling....then all hell breaks loose again!

 

[sdelli]

Hmmm..... Glad you think so. 15 carboys after press have to be racked and go into mlf.. Then watched like a baby chick and shook a few times a week... Then all must be tested for mlf completion. Then racked and added kmeta. Then move wine out of barrels from last year.. Then clean barrels.. Then add new wine to all barrels... Then figure out how to get all wine that was put in carboys in correct sizes so topped correctly.... Ya... Piece of cake! Two months later and I can finally breathe

 

[stickman]

I typically make red wine twice per year, splitting the batches with my neighbor, usually 500 lbs of Amador or Lodi grapes in October, and then between 550 and 850 lbs of frozen must in November or December. I use a standard old style crusher, modified with a motor, for the fresh grapes and also rake the stems out during the first couple of days; the frozen must is already de-stemmed. My basket press is very old, handed down from my father-in-law, but I refurbished it several years ago, so it works well.

 

[Busabill]

This was my first year doing wine from real grapes. I did a little over 200 pounds and learned a lot doing it. All the grapes were from Lodi. Still learning tricks of the trade and hope to do up to around a thousand pounds next season! I learned that I definitely need a real press!!