Not too soon to start thinking about 2019 Fall Grapes

[pgentile]

For me it's too early to think about 2019 fall grapes, that's cause I'm thinking about spring 2019 grapes from South Africa and Chile. Definitely will do grapes from SA but might try the juice buckets as well. All my spring juice buckets to date have been from Chile.

White guy or red guy @mainshipfred , you need tread carefully these days.

 

[heatherd]

I want to get in on the Washington winemakers with you guys this year, @mainshipfred @jgmann67 @ceeaton. Totally in!

 

[mainshipfred]

I want to get in on the Washington winemakers with you guys this year, @mainshipfred @jgmann67 @ceeaton. Totally in!

I'll be a nice get together and you'll have the easiest drive. But I'm not ruling out S&S now that I know how they work.

 

[mainshipfred]

I want to get in on the Washington winemakers with you guys this year, @mainshipfred @jgmann67 @ceeaton. Totally in!

Plus, pou forgot @Boatboy24 and possibly @gitmo234

 

[ceeaton]

Plus, pou forgot @Boatboy24 and possibly @gitmo234

Fred, I'm lookin' at my keyboard. I'm assuming you meant you and not pou. You know there are three keys in between those two letters on the keyboard. Have uins been drinkin'?

 

[jgmann67]

Last year, I bought 6gal of OVZ juice and 4 lugs of OVZ grapes. The fellow that admins WW looked at me funny when I told him I was going to ferment them together. He asked “Why would you do that?”

Am I missing something?? I wanted to say, “because I can’t afford 8 lugs.”

The wine came out brilliantly this season. No glitches with MLF and it tastes very good at its young age.

 

[mainshipfred]

Last year, I bought 6gal of OVZ juice and 4 lugs of OVZ grapes. The fellow that admins WW looked at me funny when I told him I was going to ferment them together. He asked “Why would you do that?”

Am I missing something?? I wanted to say, “because I can’t afford 8 lugs.”

The wine came out brilliantly this season. No glitches with MLF and it tastes very good at its young age.

That's great it's becoming a good wine but I can see his point. If it were me I would have fermented the juice and grapes separately or perhaps kept the juice frozen and added the skins after press. They could always have been blended back together although I do sometimes make things more difficult then they have to be.

 

[mainshipfred]

Fred, I'm lookin' at my keyboard. I'm assuming you meant you and not pou. You know there are three keys in between those two letters on the keyboard. Have uins been drinkin'?

I must have really fat fingers but it was racking and tasting day.

 

[Keith5]

I’ve just made 2 wine kits and a few gallons of fruit wine as I’m learning in this past year.
I want to get grapes and/or grape juice to make a 6 gallon batch but.... where to get the grapes ? I Live in New Orleans and it seems if you live on east or west coast you can easily obtain grapes but no LBS here has any idea where/how to get them.
Does anyone live near New Orleans and we can get some type of plan going?

 

[Boatboy24]

I’ve just made 2 wine kits and a few gallons of fruit wine as I’m learning in this past year.
I want to get grapes and/or grape juice to make a 6 gallon batch but.... where to get the grapes ? I Live in New Orleans and it seems if you live on east or west coast you can easily obtain grapes but no LBS here has any idea where/how to get them.
Does anyone live near New Orleans and we can get some type of plan going?

Maybe @Johnd can help.

 

[Johnd]

Maybe @Johnd can help.

Indeed. @Keith5 , send me a PM. I’m in Mandeville and get fresh Cali grapes every fall. If you’re just looking for a few lugs, shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[jgmann67]

I got an email this morning from F. Colavita & Son with some info on this year's grapes. According to their observations, Northern California is at least 2 weeks behind "normal maturity." They "don't see any harvest before September 1st." But, the quality and yields should be decent this year.

 

[CDrew]

Weather has been great so far this summer. A few hot days to push things along. But this am for instance I was almost cold walking to work. I’m about 20 miles straight north of Lodi.

Just based on last year, I’m thinking the second week in October will be the start for me. Need to do a bunch of bottling first.

 

[mainshipfred]

Weather has been great so far this summer. A few hot days to push things along. But this am for instance I was almost cold walking to work. I’m about 20 miles straight north of Lodi.

Just based on last year, I’m thinking the second week in October will be the start for me. Need to do a bunch of bottling first.

I'm with you on the bottling. The whites especially are sneaking up on us.

 

[franc1969]

Making plans, but so little space. Annapolis Homebrew has ordering up, Washington Winemakers not yet. My Pittsburgh trip is turning out to be too early, so not from Consumers unless I make a special trip later, maybe the Philly place the same. Anyone but fred tried dealing with S&S in Jessup? Are they purely roll up to buy, no pre-purchase?

 

[bluecrab]

I went to S&S last year. Their grapes were from Lodi. Like you say, just roll up and buy. I don’t believe they take credit cards, so bring cash or check. They were very friendly. I’ll buy from them again this Fall.

 

[Jal5]

I will do merlot juice bucket from Consumers in PGH and add grapes to it which will be a first for me. Maybe another different bucket not sure yet.

 

[franc1969]

Great- did you just call for what they had in? I am trying to decide how.to plan for what comes in when or just get everything at once from WW.

 

[bluecrab]

I think all of the grapes arrived around September 20 last year. Here’s a list of what they offer.

http://sandswinegrapes.com/grapes.html

They announce when the grapes are in on their Facebook page.

https://m.facebook.com/sswinegrapes/

 

[mainshipfred]

I went to S&S last year. Their grapes were from Lodi. Like you say, just roll up and buy. I don’t believe they take credit cards, so bring cash or check. They were very friendly. I’ll buy from them again this Fall.

Did you go to their party last year. They have wine and food but people also bring their wine. Very informal and you're right they are very nice people. They just didn't have what I wanted so I didn't buy anything. Hopefully when the party comes around they will have something I want.