Latest southern WI vineyard

[Masbustelo]

There are a number of yeasts that consume the malic acid. They really are quite remarkable at bringing down the acid levels. Maurivin B is one that I have used.

 

[WI_Wino]

The petite pearls appear to have stalled from a brix perspective. We had decent weather this week, highs in the upper 70s and still brix is at 18-19. I even had one grape test at 15 Brix. Tasting some the seeds are still super hard and the fruit is more tart than sweet. Good thing this isn't my living!

 

[Masbustelo]

I picked my Petite Pearl in N. Illinois yesterday. Mine got stuck at 19-20 brix, and the quality started going downhill. They don't hang well. With all the rain coming I thought it was best to pick. Ph 3.65. I got six gallons of must.

 

[WI_Wino]

The wasps were feeding heavily so we harvested the petite pearls this afternoon. It was rushed so I haven't taken brix and pH readings yet. Between my neighbor and me we got 72 lbs of petite pearl (from 75 vines) resulting in 8 gallons of crushed must.

 

[Masbustelo]

I had the same problems with wasps and hornets. I learned this year that when they show up things are going to deteriorate quickly. I probably waited a week too long to pick.

 

[fathertom]

Here in Texas, I have to spray my vineyard well in advance of bugs several times a summer. My first year, I had hornets. (Now it is just birds, and they are even worse, but I figured that out.) Every pesticide has to be approved for grapes. I have found Bug B Gone. I order it from Home Depot, and it keeps the bugs away, including the hornets and wasps. You can spray it up until just a short time before harvest. Maybe that or something like it would be an option for the future. I am so glad you got your Petit Pearl, and it made so much. I have heard that it is the northern go to grape to plant and produce. I have Cabernet, Vidal Blanc and lots of Tempranillo.

 

[Masbustelo]

Here is the Bug-B-Gone product label. It isn't easy to find. https://www.ortho.com/sites/g/files/oydgjc116/files/asset_images/CFLs/ortho_bugbgon_concentrate.pdf The active ingredients are Bifenthrin, and Zeta-Cypermethrin. It says you can use it on raspberries, but doesn't say anything either way about grapes.

 

[fathertom]

I don't have that bottle. They must have changed the bottles, and I will contact Texas Ag to make sure, when comparing bottles. My old bottles I bought last year have the same ingredients, and included the instructions where they can be sprayed within 7 days of harvest. I will let you know what they say.

 

[WI_Wino]

Time to catch up here! After crushing everything and let them sit for a while, brix for the combined batch ended up at 19 and pH 2.75 . Added sugar to get up to 23 brix, adjusted pH to 3.16. Called it good enough for now. Fermentation went fine and we pressed 7 days later. Wine tastes tart still, haven't measured pH again yet. Our fall juice buckets just arrived and while pitch MLB in everything at once here in a few days.

We netted about 6.5 gallons of wine after pressing.

 

[wood1954]

Update on my small batch, I added too much acid neutralizer, ph went to 4.1 so added acid back to 3.7, mlf is almost done. Left it on fine lees still and used the Avante yeast, the wine smells really good no hydrogen sulfide at all.

 

[BigH]

Has any one done amelioration on Marquette with good results? I was concerned acid wouldn’t come down enough on own through primary, MLF and cold stabilization.

I typically only ameliorate if fermentation, MLF, and cold crashing come up short, and only on grapes that had a starting brix above 25. Prefer to blend or reduce acids chemically if my starting sugar was on the low side. Also, I don't make many acid adjustments before fermentation if I think the yeast will be able to take off. From experience, I know that 71B can get started if the pH is 3.0 or higher. I re-assess prior to MLF.

I did slightly ameliorate some the Marquette that I fermented with ICV-D254 this year to keep me well below the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. Starting brix was just above 25.

H

 

[BigH]

After crushing everything and let them sit for a while, brix for the combined batch ended up at 19 and pH 2.75 .

How many GDD were you at on the day you harvested? Did you see any bunch stem necrosis on your clusters? You said you picked 72 lbs from 75 vines, so overcropping doesn't sound like the issue.

If everything was healthy, then it sounds like you were 150-200 GDD short. Not sure where that heat is going to come from at this point in the calendar. It took 3100 GDD to get my PP to 22.7 brix and a pH of 3.4

H

 

[WI_Wino]

I have no idea GDD we were at. This year was not great. The 75 pounds came from a subset of the vines, maybe 50? Many of our 3rd vines were not mature enough to let fruit set. I had to Google bunch stem necrosis. I think we had some of that but not wide spread. The wasps were doing a lot more damage. I did not realize how late into September we had to wait for petite pearls to ripen. I would have done another insecticide spray or two. Note for next year!

 

[fathertom]

Your pressing color is beautiful. It is dark like Petite Sirah. I noticed you use 409 around your wines. In my Texas Tech Oenology classes, I discovered it is not good to use any chlorine products even in the same room as making wines. It causes a chemical compound that will make a wet dog smell or wet basement or something like that in wines. Oxyclean is a great alternative. Here is a paper from Purdue on that. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FS/FS-50-W.pdf I really am interested to hear how wonderful your Petit Pearl turns out.