Seaweed fertiliser

 

This week's storm, which hit during a spring tide, dumped loads of seaweed on our driveway and along the road. So for the last few days, Alex has been collecting it and distributing it throughout the vineyard. A friend adamantly said we had to wash it, but I told her the torrential rainstorm already did that for us. This thing about washing the salt off the seaweed is BS. The salt spray in the wind already distributes a saline solution over our entire peninsula. 

Meanwhile, the Pinot Noir is coming along nicely.  Very pretty bunches, and they don't seem to be bothered by mildew. The warm weather has helped. Today was glorious. Sunny and warm, the weather station at MSC recorded a high temperature of 18.7C -- on the 3rd of October! And we've got three more days of warm weather to go. 

Yesterday morning

Yesterday Midday

Yesterday evening

Storm warning

 

The sky at 7:15 this morning was on fire. Red sky at morning, sailors' warning. And so here we are. It's blowin' hard, but from the ESE, a direction from which we have some protection. It's a big storm. 

Alex lit the solid fuel stove for the first time since last Spring because it got quite cold this morning, but now it feels like about 20 C degrees. Still, the warmth feels nice. We'll light a fire tonight for the first time, too. 

The pressure dropped in the course of the day from 1012 to 986 hPa.  We had a gust over 50 knots; that's 98 km/h. We haven't had storms all summer. We're not getting much rain, but the south is getting pummeled again. 

It was the hottest summer on record.  There have been no hurricanes in the Atlantic, but the Pacific is very active, with Cat5 Hurricane Polo making landfall at Baja California. We are about to see one of the largest rain events that’s ever been triggered in the continental United States by a Pacific Hurricane. The saturated remnants of former Category 5 Hurricane Polo are going to inject a massive conveyor belt of deep, tropical moisture up through NW Mexico and into the U.S. South-Central Texas could be at the epicentre of the event, with isolated rain totals potentially reaching up to a FOOT this week.

Met Éireann Summer Stats

Rondo Harvest and Pinot Noir Veraison

Today we harvested the Rondo. We have very little yield. The young plants had lovely bunches that seemed unaffected by Downy Mildew. However, any that were not bagged were eaten. Hares, foxes, and pine martens would have found them very tasty. Some that were eaten had bags lying on the ground next to them. Those cheeky buggers may have removed the bags to get at the tasty morsels. There weren't many, but they were lovely. 

The Rondo from the older vines were severely affected by the mildew, so our take was barely one bushel. Curiously, the old Rondo grapes taste very different from the new Rondo grapes. It broke my heart to see how many we lost. The berries that did survive are bigger than any we've had to date. We destemmed and crushed and got about 4 litres of must. Very little. It measured Brix 20 and so had enough sugar to get to a high enough ABV. 

We added the Brown yeast with nutrient and enzymes. Then Alex had a bright idea. We had 11 bottles   (750 ml) of wine from a few years ago (2021?  we didn't label it 😳😬) that is relatively undrinkable as it is too sweet. We tasted it, and it was highly reminiscent of port -- not bad, just sweet. He suggested we add those bottles to this year's must to increase the volume and ferment together. The wine tested at a Brix of 14. It was from a year that we added a sugar solution because we had very little must. I have a feeling it was the same year we thought the grapes had dried into raisins with the drought. But now we know it wasn't drought. It was mildew. So it was a similar year to this one. Alex measured the alcohol content; it's a respectable 12.4%.

As the situation couldn't be much worse than it already was, if we had had a stuck fermentation back then, we could restart it with this batch. Let's see what happens. 

And then we noticed another major development in the vineyard. Veraison has started in the Pinot Noir. 😀 We did not notice it yesterday, and we had both looked for it. 

Of course, in cool climates, Pinot Noir often requires 55 to 65 days for proper flavour development for still wine. Grapes are picked much earlier for sparkling wines, typically 42 to 50 days after veraison at a lower sugar level (18 to 20 Brix). If the weather continues as it has been, we could make it to harvest. I'll have to start spraying and keep my fingers crossed. 

A new rapid attribution study published today shows that increased temperatures and evaporation levels directly linked to climate change will make for drier farming and land conditions in Ireland. 

Viticulture returns to Poland

 

Bartek Gruszka, President of the Tłocznia Foundation, 
showcasing how an underground cellar was restored in Zielona Góra.

(Image credit: Sylvia Wu)

A story in Decanter magazine caught my attention. Viticulture in Poland dates back more than 1000 years. Still, since the 16th century, winemaking had been declining due to a cooling climate, social changes, wars and the Soviet era, which virtually wiped it out. 

The modern revival of Polish wine began in the 1980s, helped by a warming climate and by more wine-friendly legislation introduced in 2008. From three legally registered producers in 2009, the industry has grown to more than 700 registered wine growers and producers in Poland today. 

The German-bred PiWi grape Solaris is by far the most planted wine grape in Poland. Riesling is a more recent addition to the white plantings. Pinot Noir has recently become the most widely planted red wine grape in Poland. It is followed by the PiWi grapes Regent, Cabernet Cortis and Rondo. As part of the movement, old abandoned wine cellars are being restored and resurrected throughout Poland. 

It will be interesting to see if Ireland's winemaking enjoys a similar growth pattern. In the meantime, I am eager to try some Polish wines. The Polish store in Castlebar has recently added a liquor license, but I didn't see any Polish wines. I'll have to look harder next time. 

Getting there

Measuring Brix today yielded 16, 18, 19, and 20. Rondo is near ready to pick. Tomorrow is a busy day and rainy, so we'll wait till Wednesday. 

Rondo still not ready

 

The berries have grown bigger with the rain we've had over the past few days. But the Brix is still too low for harvest: 17, 15, 15, 19. 

Perfect day for making wine

 

A rainy and blustery day is perfect for making wine. We processed the 4 bushels of Solaris grapes through the destemmer/crusher first, which is always a messy job. We then pressed the grapes (about 1.5 bushels) in the hydropress. It was a murky green coloured must, and we wondered how it would ever turn into that lovely golden nectar. 

Meanwhile, the yeast with nutrient and enzymes was started in boiled water. We added the yeast to the must and poured it into the fermentation tank. We had about 7-8 litres of must, not much, but we are hopeful that the wine will be a match for last year's vintage. 

Then it was time to clean up. What a mess. But at least it's no longer in the kitchen. 

Next harvest -- Rondo. Probably tomorrow or Sunday, depending on the weather. 

Harvest Day: Solaris

 

A rare near-perfect bunch. 

The Brix had surpassed 20, so it was time to pick. The weather was going to be decent on Thursday, with winds gusting to 35 knots, but several models showed no rain while others showed a bit of drizzle. We started by sterilising the winery equipment and washing the floor before setting out for the vineyard.

We had some drizzle, some sunshine, and a whole lot of cool wind, so we managed to harvest it all by 5 pm. Despite the fact that we collected four bushels of grapes, we should have had ten times that. But a combination of factors reduced our yield manyfold. Black rot, mildew, and possibly failure to set fruit all contributed to a dismal take. Had we been successful, we might have had 40 bushels. 

The amount of fruit in bags was equivalent to the amount not bagged that should have been eaten but wasn't. So we are convinced the kites are working and we don't need to bag anymore. Halleluja! The bagging was boring chore. The CDs probably help as well. 

Tomorrow the weather is to be abysmal. Heavy rain means a day of winemaking. You know, if growing grapes and making wine was easy, we'd all be doing it. Oh right. We are, and it's not. 

A common finding

Another perfect one -- take a picture!

Kite soaring over Alex

Almost 4 bushels

Pinot Noir filling out but not ripening

Convenient plastic buckets

Waiting for tomorrow

Time to harvest Solaris

 

I measured the Brix today and had readings of 18 to 22 on the Solaris. The Rondo came in at 15-18 so we can split the harvest. The weather tomorrow should be okay, very windy and gusting up to 35+ knots, but relatively dry depending on the model you look at. Friday is going to be very wet by all the models, so that won't do. 

Rondo

Friends of the vineyard

We invited friends for drinks and nibbles, and of course they wanted to go see the vineyard again. It has become an annual pilgrimage to view the progress and see the different stages. It was a fine day so we all walked up to the top of the farm to see the view over Clew Bay, drinks in hand. Alex gave a bit of a geography lesson on the way.

Yesterday, the tech guys developing AI sent out a warning about the danger of AI infecting the internet and destroying humanity. As we walked with our friends in the vineyard, they decided we'd be in great shape if that happened. Without the internet, we'd still have wine and food to forage. 

 

Heartbreak in the vineyard

When  I went up to the vineyard to bag grapes, my heart sank. The majority of Rondo grapes were shrivelled and hard like desiccated raisins. 

Black rot. The day before, I had been measuring Brix and all looked okay. Today, it was horrendous. We'll have to make a decision - harvest early while there are still some grapes, or take a chance and wait till Brix reaches 20s. Its hard to know. 

At least the Pinot Noir is looking good. 

Warmest August and warmest month ever recorded

 

August was not only the warmest August ever recorded on Earth, but it was also the warmest month ever recorded on Earth, according to Copernicus. This is significant because typically, the warmest month of the year is July. The anomaly was more than 1.5 C higher than the LTA. 

For Ireland, August was only the 9th warmest on record. It was drier than average most of the month. 

This is going to be a wild ride. 

Brix report

The Rondo is looking very interesting this year. Shiny berries, spaced far apart in the bunches, are getting bigger with the rainfall. They are dark red and delicious but not yet ready to pick. Brix readings were 15, 16 and 17.

The Solaris down below don't look very nice, almost like someone has eaten them. Higher up, the Brix readings were 15, 19, 14, and 17. So one more week to go. 

The Pinot Noir are still small, hard green berries with no sign of ripening. But I am always hopeful. I will let them go as long as they want to.