The last day of September

Rainbows two days straight in the same place.

How did it get to this? It's the last day of September and I seem to have missed the summer. We brought the boat home in two days, stopping only in Bofin and not getting off the boat. Then we visited Clare Island overnight and didn't get off the boat. Finally, we anchored in the Inishkeas and didn't get off the boat. That's it. We didn't do much of anything else except visit the Skelligs. And Alex had to fix the windlass which took many days of cramped working conditions. 

And tomorrow is already October. The grape harvest is done. The rest of the harvest is dodgy this year. We already moved all the delicate plants into the polytunnel. And it's seriously Autumn suddenly. Cold, dreary, and wet. Where did it go and how will we survive the winter? 

Plants in polytunnel fill the space

Nice place to sit 

Giant sunflower blooming

Remaining grapes

We left behind the grapes that had not yet ripened when we were picking. I went up to check if they were ripening as we've had weird weather the last few days. Misty and rainy. Wouldn't you know, that most of the grapes were gone. Cheeky birds must have had a feast. I thought the CDs would be keeping them away but the most stripped clusters were right next to a CD. Interestingly, the best remaining grapes were by the heron statue. 

So I am very glad we harvested when we did. Yet the grapes that are still there are substantially bigger than they were when we harvested. Juicy and delicious. And the Chardonnay are still not ripening. 

Oh and our gas-powered mowing beast has finally arrived. In time to store it for winter. 

Chardonnay update

First-ever Chardonnay cluster

Our four-year-old chardonnay vines (5 of them) produced one cluster of grapes. I checked them today and they are definitely not ready yet.

There was a bird firmly ensconced in the Rondo vines busily eating up the grapes we had left behind as not ripe enough. Clearly, they are ripening now. 

It was a beautiful sunny day but was supposed to be cloudy and wet. I picked rosehips and cooked them with some fallen apples to make rose hip jelly tomorrow. It's flowing through the drip bag as we speak. Next week it will serve to separate the liquid from the must of grapes. 

Meanwhile, I tried to pick blackberries for jam today but the berries have mostly succumbed to some fungal disease. Awful. In past years, they were amazing. 

At least there was a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly visiting

Comparing dates

I reviewed historical posts and compared them with this year's notes. Surprisingly we harvested last year on Saturday, Sept 19, 2020 and this year on Friday, Sept 17, 2021. I thought we'd be delayed this year but it was actually two days earlier. The year before, on the 15th of Sept 2019, all the ripe grapes were gone. We had delayed the harvest by one day due to atrocious weather. Very interesting indeed.  

I've ordered a handheld refractometer, so next year's harvest date will be more scientifically determined. The Brix scale is calibrated to the number of grams of cane sugar contained in 100 mL of water. Therefore, the Brix % reading equals actual sugar concentration. Grapes and wines typically have a reading between 14 and 19. Although not everyone treats it scientifically. 

Interestingly, the grapes started fermenting even before we added the yeast. The natural environmental yeasts must be quite active here. I need to study biodynamics more intensely now. The musty smell was quite pleasant. 

Yesterday, the NY Times published an article about the specialists who developed Covid 19 with anosmia. With the loss of their sense of smell and taste, they lost their expertise. That hadn't crossed my mind but it must be awful. A dentist years ago severed a nerve when administering anaesthetic. I lost my sense of smell and taste in half of my face and had no feeling in half my tongue for years afterwards. In fact, I think I still have impaired senses. But for an oenologist to lose his or her nose would be tragic.

Sunnyhill Vineyard in Oxford England is harvesting today I believe.  Their method of growing grapes is more traditional. It looks like their vines are about the same age as our oldest - so about 6 years. 

Mashing the grapes

After destemming, which took many hours, we tried various ways to mash the grapes. I started with the stainless steel Moulin on the white grapes. It was hard work. 

We tried the potato masher but that didn't work very well at all. Alex tried the potato ricer but that was too hard and didn't really work. Then Alex found the insert with bigger holes for the Moulin and that worked pretty well for mashing the 16L of red grapes. It didn't take him that long but I would not have been strong enough to get through that volume. Even with the small quantity, my arms and back are quite sore today. It was quite awkward. 

We measured the specific gravity which read exactly 1.060 on the hygrometer. With that reading, we should be adding some sugar. But we didn't last year and our fermentation went well. 

We decided not to use Campden (sodium metabisulphite) tablets so we were able to proceed to adding yeast and beginning the fermentation. Alex has a strong dislike of sulphites, which Campden tablets release. You do that to kill bacteria that can ruin your wine. But then you have to wait 24 hours to add yeast or the yeast will die. 

So this year, I dissolved one tablespoon of caster sugar in warm water, then let it cool. I added three teaspoons of yeast and covered the jar. That was for the red wine. I did the same with just 1 teaspoon of yeast for the white wine. After about half an hour, with the yeast almost bubbling out of the cup, Alex mixed the yeast into the must. Now we wait 6 days for the primary fermentation. Each day, we stir the must to ensure that the grapes, which float to the top, stay immersed in the must. 

The crusher/destemmer we are looking at is the SS model made in Italy by Polsinelli. We'll order it in the Spring so we allow enough time for delivery. 

In Sonoma, vintners are testing a new method of destemming and juicing on-site in the vineyard. We aint there yet. 

I just ordered a dessert grape called Vanessa for the polytunnel. It's a most unusual colour and almost seedless. 

Destemmed grapes

We finished destemming the grapes and decided that next year we are getting a destemming machine. We have a yield of about 2L white grapes (Solaris - 5+vines) and 16L red grapes (Rondo - 5 vines).  That's a lot of destemming. As we didn't have any white last year, this will be our first try at white wine. We only had about 2L of red grapes last year, so this is definitely an improvement. 

Next step, I will crush the grapes using a Moulin and/or potato ricer/masher. And then we ferment. Wish me luck.

D-Day for Harvest

17 Sep 2021, grape harvest

Yesterday was harvest day. We celebrated Alex's mom's 88th birthday in the morning, then got to work in the vineyard in the afternoon. It took several hours of persistent snipping but we ended up with a laundry basket plus a tote basket full of red Rondo grapes and half a laundry basket full of white Solaris. That's far more than last year. 

There was very little indication of disease and almost no mould. The Solaris leaves are already turning yellow and dropping. The Rondo are still green. Many of the 4-year-old Solaris had at least one bunch of grapes and a few had multiple bunches of very sweet and tasty nuggets.

There was no indication of any grapes on the newest vines (Pinot Noir and Albarino) but there is one bunch on a Chardonnay vine that is not yet ready to sample. 

I sterilised the equipment when we finished picking. We then started de-stemming on the porch until a cold wind came and forced us indoors. It will take another day to destem the red grapes, but I managed to finish the white grapes last night. We even got a harvest moon rising in the evening. 

Now for the winemaking. 

Lovely bunch

Lazy helper

Some were not ready and will be picked later

Heavy load

Juicy little morsels

Filled the RTV

Not a bad harvest

Hanging CDs helped with the birds

Destemming is hard work

Not quite

We were planning to harvest today. There are birds stealing grapes daily. We had to wait until the afternoon as we had heavy rain in the morning and other responsibilities.

But Alex did something to his back and he's in agony. So I went up to start picking on my own, but I realised they are not ready yet. Perhaps tomorrow, if the birds don't pre-empt us. 

Alex hung old CDs in the vineyard to keep the birds away. I brought in one of my herons to stand guard. The bags we tied on last year worked well but were such a pain to put on and take off.  We'll take our chances for one more day. 

There are many red Rondo to pick and far fewer white Solaris. But the Solaris are very tasty. Next year, we should have more. 

Here are a few inventive ways of protecting grapes from birds.