Grapes are gone

Alex went to the vineyard yesterday to pick the remaining grapes and he found one measly bunch. The rest were all gone except a few white ones which he ate. Cheeky birds took them all. 

The weather was miserable and changeable yesterday. Frequent showers, chill wind, a hailstorm like a tornado. Some of the support posts snapped in the wind so Alex had to fix them. The vines are rather thick right now and heavy with leaves. They were whipping around pretty hellishly. I hope they didn't break. It's too early to prune. The video is toward the end of the nasty hail squall. I couldn't get the camera to work while all hell was breaking loose. 

The showers continued through this morning, but now there are lots of puffy white clouds about and hurricane Sam, a category 4, brushing past Bermuda. We're supposed to have much better weather this week so Alex and Cormac are going to bring the boat to Kilrush. 

Have to water all the plants daily.

Ghost and I waiting out a shower

Puffy white clouds against a cerulean sky

Giant sunflower

Dahlias, roses and China aster 

Cosmos finally blooming

MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 01-OCT-2021

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	14.2			1104.0
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	54.7	164.5	187.9	137.9	153.4	228.0	206.6	232.7	2051.7
2019	146.8	115.0	228.5	100.7	112.5	76.6	82.7	228.9	175.5	160.7	148.1	220.6	1796.6
2018	274.6	155.6	86.2	94.3	70.4	65.9	58.6	179.1	148.3	140.9	172.6	201.0	1647.5
LTA	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	10.4			11.3
2020	7.2	6.0	6.6	11.0	12.8	13.8	14.4	16.0	13.8	10.5	9.1	6.1	10.6
2019	6.9	8.4	7.9	10.2	11.7	13.1	16.3	15.5	13.7	10.3	7.1	7.1	10.7
2018	5.9	4.6	5.5	9.1	13.1	16.1	16.1	15.0	12.4	10.9	8.3	8.1	10.5
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	n/a			11.0
2020	5.7	4.7	5.4	9.7	13.0	14.8	14.9	16.3	13.7	9.5	8.0	5.1	10.1
2019	6.1	6.1	6.8	8.9	12.2	13.8	16.7	15.7	13.5	9.4	6.2	5.6	10.1
2018	4.4	2.9	4.0	8.2	13.1	17.4	18.4	15.1	12.1	9.6	6.6	6.6	9.9
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm² for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	6620	13347	20370	45694	55690	45488	49455	40490	22413	849			300416
2020	6263	10808	24545	46192	58476	43537	40215	40555	25558	18487	6319	5209	326164
2019	5378	10595	21306	37648	49884	49607	45395	37116	26460	17406	8167	4766	313728
2018	5976	13390	25269	34709	58446	59849	51448	34923	22619	17123	7842	4068	335662
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	7.6	22.9	30.7	62.9	76.3	70.7	87.8	67.5	38.3	1.1			465.8
2020	17.6	21.9	35.0	70.2	91.6	72.9	66.2	66.4	42.7	28.1	13.6	10.4	536.6
2019	13.4	21.5	35.4	60.4	79.0	78.2	79.5	62.9	42.8	29.2	14.8	14.3	531.4
2018	16.3	21.8	35.7	52.0	88.2	102.4	87.2	58.7	37.9	30.2	18.0	11.5	559.9
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	10.9	32.1	45.4	89.9	111.2	102.0	117.2	93.5	52.1	1.7			656.0
2020	22.4	31.9	51.8	98.9	130.8	104.8	94.3	92.7	59.1	38.8	18.1	13.6	757.2
2019	17.7	29.5	52.0	87.3	111.6	112.8	109.6	88.8	59.9	39.6	18.9	17.9	745.6
2018	21.9	30.2	51.7	76.4	127.4	140.4	120.7	82.2	53.1	40.6	22.8	14.9	782.3
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

DEGREE DAYS BELOW 15.5 DEGREE CELSIUS FOR NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2020	257	276	275	143	111	73	55	31	71	156	193	291	1935
2019	266	200	235	165	130	89	27	36	67	164	251	262	1892
2018	298	306	309	194	104	50	31	44	100	147	215	230	2027

---

Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.

OPEN DATA

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.