Marquette - what have you tried?

[keverman]

I am harvesting my first Marquette, 18 vines in northern Ohio (Lake Erie AVA). I have a "practice" run in a carboy in the basement from grapes purchased in Traverse City, MI last year. I used D254, MLF and a little french oak spiral, also adding some UVA-Tan tannin early in the process. Fermentation got away from me and spiked at 95 degrees and finished fast. It's nice, but could it be better? It's a little light on fruit/aromatics, and a little thin in structure at the end...just a little. What have you tried with Marquette that improved it? I think it could be great rather than good. Looking for any and all tips on treating my first vintage of my own fruit, and I'm hoping to learn from the experienced folks out there. What yeasts have you tried? Any enzymes? Any products like Opti-red, etc.

 

[ibglowin]

Good results with Lalvin 71B. It will consume ~40% of the Malic acid during AF. I use all the usual suspects Lallzyme EX, Opti-Red, Tannin FT Rouge. Not interested in a wine that matures early but one that is built to age well.

 

[keverman]

Good results with Lalvin 71B. It will consume ~40% of the Malic acid during AF. I use all the usual suspects Lallzyme EX, Opti-Red, Tannin FT Rouge. Not interested in a wine that matures early but one that is built to age well.

Thanks! Any cold soak, oak, cold stabilzation? How is the mouthfeel? Mine seems a little thin.

 

[Masbustelo]

I think you'll find that in general the Marquette makes a lighter , versus a full bodied red. It has good tannins and makes a nice ruby red easy to drink.

 

[ibglowin]

No cold soak. The winery gets down into the low 50's in the Winter so whatever it gets down to is my stabilization temp. I do a field blend with Noriet each year so the wine takes on more of a Syrah profile plus my vines are grown in and amongst a boatload of volcanic basalt rock so the wine takes on a bit of "rocks funk" due to the terroir. I would not call this wine thin.

Thanks! Any cold soak, oak, cold stabilzation? How is the mouthfeel? Mine seems a little thin.

 

[ILWIIA]

This is great information, so first and foremost thank you. I am looking at my first harvest of Marquette vines this year, and I'm curious what others have experienced including successes/setbacks with this varietal.

Namely, when have you historically harvested? Has it been a wide window, or typically tight window? Also, how much yield have you had based on your training system?

 

[keverman]

This is great information, so first and foremost thank you. I am looking at my first harvest of Marquette vines this year, and I'm curious what others have experienced including successes/setbacks with this varietal.

Namely, when have you historically harvested? Has it been a wide window, or typically tight window? Also, how much yield have you had based on your training system?

This is my first harvest, so I can't speak to yield yet, but my setback has been black rot. This is year 3, and if not for getting rid of a lot of infected clusters, I think I would have approached a full harvest. As is, it seems like I'll get about 100 lbs. out of this year's 18 vines. It is vigorous for me, and I'm trying to learn training methods, but it's confusing to just read about it. I'd love a hands on lesson. I'm in northern Ohio along Lake Erie, and harvest looks to be lining up for the 2nd or 3rd weekend in September. I'm at 22 brix this date.

 

[nhinshaw]

I was just about to ask a question about Marquette grapes so it was pretty serendipitous to see this thread at the top of the list. I'm in Chicago and thinking about experimenting with regional grapes this year (sourced from SW Michigan) as opposed to ones coming in from CA.

keverman and ibglowin: how long is your skin contact usually when making wine from these grapes?

ibglowin: when making your field blend I'm guessing you do a co-fermentation? Do you maintain a rough percentage of each grape?

My tastes tend to veer towards a lighter more "natural" style of wine: dry, higher acid, bright fruit, and am not at all opposed to some funky-barnyard elements sneaking in. It would seem that Marquette grapes skew towards that style? Are other "mid-western" grapes good to consider along with these?

 

[ibglowin]

Skin contact is for the usual 5-7 days until AF is finished.
If you like a lighter style then don't add the extra enzymes or extra tannins
71B will consume a good portion of the Malic acid upfront.
I co-ferment and usually get about 50% (Noriet, Corot Noir) and 50% Marquette. I don't weigh them or keep any records each year of what each type produces.

The rocks funk comes from the basalt rocks in my soil. There is a lot of basalt under my soil. No rocks, no funk. YMMV.

 

[Masbustelo]

Nhinshaw Marquette has nice tannins and a very pretty ruby color. It makes a nice drinkable wine. As far as generally available Midwest commercial grapes, I don't think there is a similar grape. I would suggest Opti-Red for color stabilization, medium toast oak chips at ferment and Cotes Des Blancs yeast. You can use Lallzyme-x too. I made some two years ago. The day I started it my air conditioner went out and I fermented it at 85 degrees ambient temperature. It fermented like crazy and was done in three days. I let it do a natural ferment with out added yeast and then it went through MLF. I also cold stabilized it. I had some comments that it was the best wine people had ever had. Keep everything simple, don't use oak after the ferment and you should get a wine you will be very content with.

 

[havlikn]

I plan to try a Marquette rose this year. I plan to pull the Grapes around 22 brix and crush and press immediately. First try. I plan to sweeten the wine

 

[keverman]

No cold soak. The winery gets down into the low 50's in the Winter so whatever it gets down to is my stabilization temp. I do a field blend with Noriet each year so the wine takes on more of a Syrah profile plus my vines are grown in and amongst a boatload of volcanic basalt rock so the wine takes on a bit of "rocks funk" due to the terroir. I would not call this wine thin.

nhinshaw, I'm so new, I'm just soaking up everything the other have to say! Ibglowin, I thought about planting some Noiret for a field blend, how do you time up the different harvest dates?

 

[ibglowin]

Let the Marquette hang as long as it can. The longer it hangs the higher the pH goes which is good for Marquette. If I have to I will pick the Marquette and place into the vegetable/fruit bins in an extra fridge we have in the garage. They will keep up to two weeks in the fridge. Pick the Noiret last and combine everything into the C/D at the same time.

 

[Brent]

Let the Marquette hang as long as it can. The longer it hangs the higher the pH goes which is good for Marquette. If I have to I will pick the Marquette and place into the vegetable/fruit bins in an extra fridge we have in the garage. They will keep up to two weeks in the fridge. Pick the Noiret last and combine everything into the C/D at the same time.

Hi. Thanks for the great info. But what numbers did you have in mind when you say " let them hang for as long as possible"?

 

[ibglowin]

I ended up with a field blend with a pH of 3.65 prior to AF.

Hi. Thanks for the great info. But what numbers did you have in mind when you say " let them hang for as long as possible"?

 

[Brent]

I ended up with a field blend with a pH of 3.65 prior to AF.

Seem like my Marquettes ripen very very early here in Salt Lake City. We harvested this week Aug, 27-29 and ended up with PH between 3.8-4.0 , Brix averaging 28.5.
What do you think?

 

[ibglowin]

That sounds about right. My Marquette was ready last week. We had an early Spring and I live at 6500ft EL pretty much the same as you. Since I do a field blend with Noiret that won't get to hang quite as long they will be lower pH than the Marquette which will bring it down.(overall pH)

 

[Brent]

It's good to know a 'neighbor' with similar stats. I was never sure about the harvest date since other people growing Marquettes are reporting harvest dates 1st or 2nd week of September.
If you don't mind me asking, what poundage are you yielding per vine?

I finally realized you had a link to your website/vineyard. You're living the dream. Well done!

 

[ibglowin]

I don't weigh each harvest. I get ~200lbs out of 25 vines so maybe 8lbs per vine. I am sure people growing up in the NE with vines planted in actual soil instead of rocks like I have get much more.

If you don't mind me asking, what poundage are you yielding per vine?

 

[regnistep]

I am harvesting my first Marquette, 18 vines in northern Ohio (Lake Erie AVA). I have a "practice" run in a carboy in the basement from grapes purchased in Traverse City, MI last year. I used D254, MLF and a little french oak spiral, also adding some UVA-Tan tannin early in the process. Fermentation got away from me and spiked at 95 degrees and finished fast. It's nice, but could it be better? It's a little light on fruit/aromatics, and a little thin in structure at the end...just a little. What have you tried with Marquette that improved it? I think it could be great rather than good. Looking for any and all tips on treating my first vintage of my own fruit, and I'm hoping to learn from the experienced folks out there. What yeasts have you tried? Any enzymes? Any products like Opti-red, etc.

I also used Lalvin 71B followed by MLF. Like most northern grapes, it started out more acidic than I would like, but finished at a pH of 3.8. I used medium toast french oak cubes that I drill a small hole through and string them with small glass beads between them to maximize the surface area. I tied this to the airlock so they hung in the carboy, up and out of the yeast on the bottom. I use STAVIN's oak calculator to figure out how much to use. Their research shows it is better to use bigger oak than chips so that it infuses over 3 months instead of weeks. This works well. The wine was average with a sour acidic flavor I taste in many northern rape varieties, light body, good color. I have been focusing on northern grape varieties from grapes, and will do my first Petite Pearl this year. However, I also made a cabernet Sauvignon from some overripe raisined grapes last year that shows just how hollow the northern grapes are. The cab was flawed, with an oxidative note, but the richness, full body, deep color really highlighted how good vinifera grapes are compared to northern grape varieties. I think the Petite Pearl will be my last northern grape, and will move forward with vinifera from here on out.