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. 

Almost there

 

Veraison is progressing very quickly now. We may be harvesting in the next few days. The kite is flying nicely and seems to be doing its job. Let's hope that between the cats, the donkeys and the kite, the birds will be kept away. 

Today it rained a lot

The forecast was pretty reasonable. Warm and humid, with some models predicting light rain for a time in the morning with a short burst of heavy showers. Instead, we got a long day of heavy showers, with thunder and lightning scaring people off the Bay. And heavy rain is coming in overnight and into tomorrow. I hope it doesn't dilute the grapes too much. Veraison is moving along quickly now. 

The wine news out of France is desperate though. French vineyards have suffered the worst damage in decades with heavy frost coming after an early spring warm spell and some regions getting lots of rain causing mildew fungus. Champagne yields may be down by more than 35%, and other regions will be down close to 30%. Burgundy-Beaujolais could be down by 50%. Horticulture is a crap shoot.