Abysmal Autumn weather

a few leaves still hanging on

The past week has been abysmal weatherwise. We had Hurricane Epsilon on Thursday, Storm Aidan on Saturday, an unnamed low today and another tomorrow. We've had torrential rain, thunder and lightning -- something I've never experienced in Ireland, hail, sleet and wind, lots of wind. The buy off the coast here, M6, recorded a 30-metre (90f)t wave and the surfers were out having a blast. 

We had 227.9 mm rain in October, that's 67 mm more than last year in the same period. All the other variables were pretty average for the month. 

We've picked the apples but waited to pick the remaining pears which were beautiful this year, but they were all gone. Alex thinks the crows stole them. I just don't know. The berries are almost done now, just a few raspberries and strawberries left, mostly rotting in the wet weather or getting freeze-dried by the wind. 

The wine is clarifying. We will soon bottle the two or three bottles and wait for the requisite time period to sample. With our second lockdown underway and unable to travel more than 5 km from home, we're keeping ourselves busy. 

What a year! The American elections are tomorrow, and we voted long ago by email and mail ballot as we are both dual citizens. We can always be hopeful. 

We've been picking the remaining grapes to eat...very tasty

 

Pinot noir on the left
Albarino on the right

Three-year-old vines up the hill

The calm between the storms

So beautiful, but no blue moon

Peachy sunset

Earth is heating up

 

From Statista Infographics

NASA is monitoring all kinds of climate statistics. The latest data on temperature show that August of this year was 2.14C degrees higher than a selected average of measurements from the 1880s until now. Small wonder that California is burning. The epic scale of the wildfires is growing with the increase in temperature and this year reached a shocking new milestone -- one of the fires, The August Complex, on the border between San Francisco and Oregon has burned more than 1 million acres. The total acres burned this year so far is double any previous figure, at a staggering 4 million acres burnt. 

New York Times

New York Times

Making the wine

Lovely morning but heavy rain due all afternoon

I've been reading up about how to make wine at home. Unfortunately, none of the descriptions covers our situation so we have had to punt. We mashed the grapes by hand and with a sterilized wooden meat tenderizer. That worked reasonably well. For ten days, the grapes have fermented. Alex stirred daily and the bubbling going through the fermentation airlock was at times scary and loud but very satisfying. 

I bought yeast and Campden tablets. But how to extract the liquid from the vat after the first fermentation? Alex decided my muslin bag for making apple jelly was just the thing. Well in no book have I seen this, but it's worth a try. We found a nice demijohn at Ross House and cleaned it up. It looked like it hadn't been used in 30 years. Full of dead bugs and spiders. But it cleaned up beautifully and I sterilized it with the stuff that came with the winemaking kit. 

Alex found some predrilled stoppers from his old oyster growing days and they happened to fit the demijohn and the airlocks perfectly. Stage 2 would be completed without additional expenditure. And as the final steps of stabilising the wine won't be necessary -- we're going to have maybe 2 bottles if we're lucky -- we should be bottling on about a week. I'll report the specific gravity in the next post after we've measured it. 

BTW, YouTube has loads of useful how-to videos:  https://youtu.be/n7tauROWh0Y  

California is burning again

Horrible fires in California have killed people and destroyed structures. At least 19 wineries have been destroyed or damaged by the Glass fire. As the fire made its way across wine country, about 70,000 people were evacuated. Vintners who’d fled the blaze returned to the area to discover in many cases that their life’s work had been destroyed. Here’s the latest on the winery and restaurant burning, businesses damaged or lost in the fire.

In some cases, the vines were charred but the buildings stood. In other cases, the buildings were destroyed with minimal damage to the vineyards. So unpredictable, yet so deja vu. People are leaving California never to return, after several years of repeated hell. Oregon and Washington states are ablaze as well, all this while America's cities are being destroyed by angry mobs. 

Bob and Jody Lipkin, owners of Lattitudes & Attitudes sailing magazine, for which we write often, lost everything. They left with their two cats and one van, leaving everything else behind as they evacuated with the fire cresting the hills around their home. Fortunately, they were insured. 

 #GlassFire: 51,266 acres, 2% contained.

#ZoggFire: 55,046 acres, 9% contained. #CreekFire: 307,051 acres, 44% contained. #BearFire/#NorthComplex: 314,949 acres, 79% contained. (#NorthComplexWestZone: 84,595 acres, 95% contained.) #BobcatFire: 114,438 acres, 63% contained.

So what's next in making our wine

Hydrometer suspended in grape juice

The wine must has to ferment for about 2 weeks in the first stage. When fermentation stops, you have to test the specific gravity. When making wine, the Start Gravity should be 1.070 (normal finished ABV will be 10.5%) to 1.090 (normal finished ABV will be 13%). Finish Gravity should be 0.990 (for dry wines) to 1.005 (for sweet wines). 

I've seen many recommend that wine should be fermented down to dryness. If you like a sweeter wine, you can then add sugar or grape juice at the end to reach your preferred sweetness. It is a dangerous business stopping the fermentation early. 

So the hydrometer is probably the most essential piece of equipment to make wine with success. I've ordered a spare as I can imagine that it's pretty easy to break. I've also read about how to read the hydrometer properly. You have to make sure your hydrometer is floating freely and not stuck against the cylinder. You read at the bottom of the meniscus not the top (I remember that from chem class). It measures the Specific Gravity (SG) of the liquid being fermented. This will then in turn give you a guide to the Alcohol by Volume (ABV) you will be able to produce. The hydrometer is used throughout the fermentation to ensure sugar is being converted into alcohol. As more sugar is converted to alcohol, the SG will fall.

The Alcohol by Volume (ABV) is calculated by subtracting the start gravity from the finish gravity and dividing this figure by 7.362. For example, the starting point for our wine is 1.100 and if this ferments down to 0.990, the drop will be 110 points. This divided by 7.362 is 14.94% ABV. That should kick a punch. 

You have to make certain the fermentation is complete and stopped at the right time. Sometimes fermentation slows down or stops too early. A stuck fermentation is one that falls short of reaching the expected final gravity, and as with many things brewing, the term is relative. A wine that stops at 1.000 probably suffers more from poor instrument calibration than it does from stuck yeast. A 1.100 wine that stops at 1.045, though, still has a way to go and needs some help.

There are tricks that one can use to restart the fermentation process. One is temperature. If the hydrometer is placed in water at 20°C, it will read 1.000.  Most people only use the hydrometer as a guide but if you want to be really accurate then this should be done with a liquid temperature of 20°C. If the liquid is 5°C higher then add 0.001 and similarly if its 5°C lower then delete 0.001.

Warming up the must is probably the most reliable way to restart a stalled fermentation. Some yeast strains are more temperature-sensitive than others and may require some warmth to complete the job. Some strain are famous for refusing to budge until they are warmed as high as 95°F (35°C). Some British yeasts are stubbornly flocculent; it’s worth giving the must a good swirl a couple of times a day just to keep the yeast cells in suspension until they’re done.

Trump's Wine Tariffs

What does wine have to do with airplanes, aside from being served in the air? Just 7 days from today, it's likely that Trump will increase the tariffs on European wines by 100%. That's on top of the 25% already levied earlier this year, all to punish the Europeans for subsidising Airbus, Boeing's major competitor. This at a time when Boeing can't deliver on its 737 Max and they are being forced to compensate airlines for their losses.

Protecting American businesses against unfair practices is certainly admirable, but there has got to be a better way, especially when it comes to a company in trouble of their own making. The American worker is going to be the one hurt by it. The American wine lobby is probably standing in line to support Trump's re-election campaign.

Oh well, more for us, I guess.

Cinsault grapes

At dinner in Cru in Kinsale, Alex spotted a wine he'd never encountered before. It was a South African Tiger Horse Cinsault, labelled as coming from old vines. Cinsault is characterised by vines of 40-65 years in age or more, in vineyards that are not irrigated, resulting in 14% alcohol, berry flavour, and light translucent red colour. It is typically said to be served with escargots or stew. How they arrived at those decisions is beyond me. We liked it with seafood. It was lightly fruity, lightly chilled, and served by the owner of Cru who came by to explain his selection of this wine in person. He wanted to be certain we understood what we ordered and also offered to exchange it for something else if we didn't like it. Our experience at Cru overall was exceptional.

I looked up Cinsault when we returned home and learned that it is a grape that thrives in hot windy weather. Hence, it's often found in places like South Africa and the Rhone Valley. It is also used to make rosés in the Provence region. But apparently, Cinsault is in decline, decreasing in total acreage in vineyards all over the world. Over a ten year period from 2000 to 2010, 14% of Cinsault vines were culled from vineyards worldwide and replaced with vines that are easier to cultivate. As a result, Cinsault wines are available in relatively small quantities. A NYT article I found recommends the wines of De Martino winery. It's available in Ireland so I shall be on a quest.

This is not unlike our adoption of Viognier for white, also an old vine variety that's more fickle to grow. I like that in a wine that I am drinking but not making.

Brain stimulation via wine tasting

Okay, here's a mind-bending theory.  To keep your brain super active, taste wine. That's right. According to an article in Food & Wine, wine stimulates more of your brain than any other activity. Not sure how they measured 'any other activity', but hey, I can subscribe to that theory. After all, it's proposed by a Yale neuroscientist. He must know what he's talking about. We'll just have to attempt to prove or disprove it. Very scientific.

Licenses & fees

We're not ready to make wines yet, but the time may come this year when we may actually have a crop of grapes to try fermentation. We decided that if we didn't succeed in making wine, we'd go the distillation route to an eau de vie or vodka. So I have begun my research into what it would take.

It is illegal to distill for home use in Ireland. It is illegal to distill without a licence regardless of whether you intend to sell it or not. Plain and simple. In several other countries you apparently can but not in Ireland. Unless you use brewing vodka kits, with no distillation. There are robust yeasts that can get quite high alcohol concentration without distillation. These are just neutral wines which are treated with carbon to reduce smell and taste. Alcohol can be tax relieved in the case of wine, beer or other fermented beverage produced at home for personal use and not for sale, but it must be authorized by Revenue.

NEW Wine for Seniors

NEW Wine for Seniors 

A glass before bed could assist with a good night's sleep.

Clare Valley vintners in South Australia,
which primarily produce
Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Grigio wines,
have developed a new hybrid grape
that acts as an anti-diuretic.
It is expected to reduce the number of trips
older people have to make to the
bathroom during the night.

The new wine will be
marketed as PINOT MORE.

Sorry, my cousin thought I deserved this so I'm spreading the news!  

The science of wine

Original edition cover.

Current edition.

Being a scientist by training, I would naturally be attracted to the scientific side of things, although I do believe that viniculture is as much an art as it is a science, perhaps even with a little witchcraft thrown in. Maybe like in the book Blessed are the Cheesemakers we should be humming the Sound of Music to the grapevines to make them grow luscious grapes.

Anyway, this title -- The science of wine -- by Jamie Goode caught my attention.  Curiously, the first edition has a subtitle FROM VINE TO GLASS. The second edition in the photo has the same subtitle and was published by University of California Press and is being sold for $39.95.  The copy I purchased has the title Wine Science and subtitle The Application of Science in Winemaking. Personally, I prefer the simpler from vine to glass which says it all without redundancy. The publisher's name, Mitchell Beazley, also appears on the cover of my edition, which is confusing as I have never heard of that imprint and it looked just like another author's name. That version is available on amazon for $23-26 and shows it being shipped from the UK. Not to be confused with the Wine Science, Fourth Edition: Principles and Applications (Food Science and Technology) July 7, 2014 by Ronald S. Jackson which sells for $122.45 in print and $77 in Kindle. All versions are hardcover. Confused yet? I was but it is worth the effort.

Current edition, different publisher?

The fact that the second edition was released April 1, 2014 makes it that much more interesting to me, as it's not only April Fool's Day it is my namesake day. Yes, St. Daria's Day is April 1. But I wonder why they changed the title. The edition I have shows up with a publication date of April 10, 2014.  So what made them change it between April 1 and April 10? It may be that one is published in the US and the other in the UK but why would both be available in both places. And why change it to a title that is already in use. Plus the author released a Kindle only supplement which has the chapters that were cut from the second edition but appeared in the first edition. Among them was the chapter on the effect of global warming, so naturally I had to buy that, too.

But anyway, I seriously digressed.  The book is divided into three sections. In the Vineyard, In the Winery, and Our Interaction with Wine.  That makes a lot of sense. As I sat down to read it, I was pleasantly surprised by the author's style. It is not overly scientific but rather quite readable.  The author's own knowledge and experience is supplemented by analysis of the most current scientific literature and interpretation by experts in each of the fields. It is a rich mixture of fact and opinion that he presents the reader.

The first part covers everything that affects the vineyard from the biology of the plants, terroir in terms of soil structure and climate, the interaction between roots and elements in the soil, key diseases and pests, different theories of plant management, biodynamics in the vineyard, moisture control and stress, and trellis systems, pruning and canopy management.  In a short 87 pages, I felt the author had imparted a wealth of knowledge that would serve us well in growing the grapes for the first few years.  I will come back to this book time and again.

Vines are dying in California

I have a feeling I'm not going to like being right.   A comprehensive study has shown that climate change accelerated by man is responsible for the drought in California and will continue to have significant effects. An article in the New York Times said:

"A report this week by researchers at the University of California, Davis, projected that the drought would cost the California economy some $2.7 billion this year. Much of that pain is being felt in the state’s huge farming industry, which has been forced to idle a half-million acres and has seen valuable crops like almond trees and grape vines die."

It's not even that the grapes have become raisins, it says the grape vines have died. I've just found a picture and stats on how much impact the drought has had. They are not yet talking about this much but if you dig a little you'll find that it bad and getting worse.

"Dead and dying grape vines in Bakersfield, California, USA. Following an unprecedented four year long drought, Bakersfield is now the driest city in the USA. Most of California is in exceptional drought, the highest level of drought classification. 428,000 acres of agricultural land have been taken out of production due to lack of water and thousands of agricultural workers have lost their jobs."

If "wine is sunlight held together by water" as Galileo professed, then California is in deep trouble. They have way too much sunlight and way too little water.

Some producers are benefiting from the drought. Oregon and Washington state are replacing apples with grapes which need only half the water.   Vintners in regions of California less affected by drought say their yields will be lower but the wine tastier as a result of reduced rainfall.


But for many in the regions most affected, including Napa and Sonoma, the situation has been dire and getting worse sparking water wars. In each of the last four years, people thought it was as bad as it could get, but it keeps getting worse. And yet, it's even worse for the nut farmers.

The journey from grape idea to winemaking

Idea -- research -- selection -- purchase -- delivery -- weather -- field -- planting -- learning -- growing -- harvesting -- experimenting -- production -- aging -- tasting -- labeling -- drinking -- marketing -- selling -- writing... that's perhaps a typical approach to an idea.  Nope. Not in this case. In this case, we just jumped right in.  Ready to come along for the journey?  Here we go.

 Viti. Vini. Vici.

"Viticulture (from the Latin word for vine) is the science, production, and study of grapes. It deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture." Someday we may be lucky enough to have to change the title of this blog from Viticulture to Viniculture. For now, we are being modest.

Exhibit on climate change at the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia corroborating my theory.

It all started with the notion that climate change is causing our climate here in Ireland to moderate while the climate in southern France, Spain, Italy and Greece is becoming more arid.  The climatologists say we are going to have less rain and a longer growing season. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean countries are getting hotter and the latitude at which certain crops grow is moving northward. Grapes are highly temperature sensitive and grow in a narrow band of latitude north and south of the equator.

The choice species have when conditions change is moving further north or adapting. Most things don't adapt well, so as the desert expands northward into Europe, food production including wine will have to shift, too.  That's where we come in.

We learned that growing wine grapes used to be popular in Great Britain. Hey, if they can grow grapes and make wine in England, we should be able to do it here much more readily with the remains of the Gulf Stream bathing our shores. Of course there may be a reason why they fell out of favour in GB, but we didn't actually go about this very logically. 

We did a bit of research (ie, google) and learned that there is one vineyard already established in Ireland. Lusca Irish wine comes from Llewelyn Orchard. They make apple cider, too, which I would like to try making as well. Our apple orchard has suffered some disease setbacks but we did produce a fair bit of apples this year for the first time. We attribute that to the bees that our friend has introduced to our land. They should be good for grapes, too.

We've begun our journey by jumping into it with 10 vines -- 6 red and 4 white.  These vines were selected for producing grapes outside without cover in our specific climate. And they are supposed to make a decent wine.  We added to that a pile of books, and are now well on our way.  We actually got it somewhat backwards. Got the grapes, planted them, then got the books. But so far we've learned that grapes generally:

• Like a maritime climate
• Like relatively poor soil
• Like to be on a hillside 
• Like facing south

Well, we got lucky and, as you can see, it's sloping land with poor soil facing south above the sea.  Check.

The plot is named Daria's Vineyard.  The label, which we won't need for a few years yet, is yet to be developed.  I was thinking Happy Whale, but that space is occupied by the company Vineyard Vines. I think I'll need to be more creative. The cool thing here is we have years to work on brand development before we actually have enough grapes to harvest.

Here is the vineyard:

And here are the books:
















Now let's get down to business while the grapes grow for the next three or so years. Hmm, I wonder if we should plant an olive tree or two, too? Maybe some figs? Lemons? We already have an avocado in the greenhouse.