Viticulture in Ireland

Friday 6 October 2023

The warmest September on record globally

September 2023 brought heat waves, heavy rainfall, and the first named storm of the season, Storm Agnes. Even though the EU's Copernicus has revealed that globally September was the warmest on record, it did not prove to be that in Mayo. It was the same in Newport as in 2021, but there are no data for 2022. It was considerably higher than the long-term average, which I am sure contributed to a boost in sugar content towards the end of the ripening, allowing us to harvest before the storms hit.

I wrote the following for the OCC website:

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2023 is on track to become a record-breaking year with the global mean temperature to date at 0.52 degrees Celsius higher than average, says the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Last month was the warmest September on record globally, reaching 0.93°C above the average temperature for the same month in the period 1991-2020. The month as a whole was around 1.75°C warmer than the September average for 1850-1900, the preindustrial reference period. The global mean temperature in September was the most atypical warm month of any year in the ERA5 dataset, which dates back to 1940.

Copernicus calculated the average temperature for September was 16.38°C which broke the record set in September 2020 by a whopping half-degree Celsius. This is the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The hot temperatures were chiefly driven by persistent and unusual warmth in the world's oceans, which didn't cool off as much in September as normal and have been breaking records since spring. The average sea surface temperature for September over 60°S–60°N reached 20.92C, which is the highest on record for September and the second highest across all months, behind August 2023.

Antarctic sea ice extent remained at a record low level for the time of year. Both the daily and monthly extents reached their lowest annual maxima in the satellite record in September, with the monthly extent 9% below average. The daily Arctic sea ice extent reached its 6th lowest annual minimum while the monthly sea ice extent ranked 5th lowest, at 18% below average.

According to Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): "The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September - following a record summer - have broken records by an extraordinary amount. This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honour of first place - on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4°C above preindustrial average temperatures. Two months out from COP28 – the sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical.”

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Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 05-oct-2023

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2023	183.2	91.6	188.4	121.1	48.5	77.9	206.8	139.8	142.4	26.1			1225.8
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	97.3	233.9	187.5	154.6	1602.6
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	265.7	183.3	186.6	1725.4
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
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
2023	6.6	8.0	7.6	9.9	13.3	17.4	14.9	15.8	15.2	14.4			12.1
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a	12.2	9.4	5.2	10.7
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	11.9	9.3	7.6	10.9
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
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
2023	5.2	6.8	6.6	9.1	13.7	18.6	16.3	16.3	14.7	n/a			12.0
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a	11.5	8.4	4.4	10.4
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	11.3	8.6	6.6	10.4
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
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
2023	6245	10639	21429	37277	55732	58473	41797	36857	29338	3819			301606
2022	6311	10756	33399	40555	51569	47246	48439	51169	n/a	15988	7869	6167	319468
2021	6620	13347	20370	45694	55690	45488	49455	40490	22413	16358	7235	3780	326940
2020	6263	10808	24545	46192	58476	43537	40215	40555	25558	18487	6319	5209	326164
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
2023	14.3	20.9	33.0	56.4	83.3	100.6	70.1	64.4	50.1	5.9			499.0
2022	13.7	23.0	47.2	60.6	77.7	76.0	80.4	82.0	n/a	27.2	17.2	9.2	514.2
2021	7.6	22.9	30.7	62.9	76.3	70.7	87.8	67.5	38.3	25.1	14.1	14.6	518.5
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
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
2023	18.8	28.2	47.6	81.6	118.2	137.1	99.5	89.1	67.8	8.4			696.3
2022	17.9	32.4	66.5	86.8	114.5	109.2	111.1	113.2	n/a	37.0	22.0	11.4	722.0
2021	10.9	32.1	45.4	89.9	111.2	102.0	117.2	93.5	52.1	34.7	18.6	19.1	726.7
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
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
2023	275	210	246	171	85	18	39	26	53	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2022	256	234	235	171	97	63	30	28	N/A	103	185	320	N/A
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	114	187	245	1883
2020	257	276	275	143	111	73	55	31	71	156	193	291	1935

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.

September Weather Statement from Met Eireann

Thursday 5 October 2023

Surprise delivery

We've been waiting for our winery equipment for more than a month as strikes stranded the equipment in Italy. We destemmed and crushed by hand, but at least now we can practice perhaps on the apples.

It was a big pile of stuff, shrink-wrapped in a topsy tower on a pallet. Our very nice delivery man helped Alex load it all into the trailer and we drove it with the RTV up to the shed.

There was a good deal of unwrapping and some assembly required. But we managed to put together the destemmer/crusher, We unpacked the bottle washer and dryers, the corker is really cool, and the bottle filler will take some work. There's a pump and hose for moving wine from one vat to another. (I think that may have been a wishful thinking buy!) The room is full. We need another table in there for the equipment that has to sit on top, but for now, we are ready for the rest of the season.

Monday 2 October 2023

Pressing Rondo postponed

We were going to press the Rondo and then put it into demijohns for settling, but when Alex opened the vat, he noticed it was still bubbling. Quite a lot of bubbling was going on. So we decided to postpone the next steps until at least Thursday. Oh well, we get to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Sunday 1 October 2023

Racking

Wine racking is not about stacking your wine bottles on a nice rack. It is the process of moving wine from one vessel to another. Wine racking separates the wine from the residue particles. There are many reasons to rack wine, the main one being to remove sediment left after fermentation. It preserves the qualities of the wine, makes it clear, and enhances the flavor. Typically you siphon the wine from one vessel to another without disturbing the layer of sediment that has settled out on the bottom.

In our case, the Solaris had stopped bubbling several days ago so we decided to rack it today. I spent the morning sterilising the demijohns and any ancillary equipment using crushed Campden tablets dissolved in hot water. We have six 5-litre demijohns and one slightly smaller one. I transferred the Campden solution from one to another, waited 10 minutes, and then rinsed. It took more than 1.5 hours to complete.

I had bought a long section of plastic tubing yesterday at the garden centre as our materials ordered including the siphon remain stuck in Italy. I sterilised the siphons by letting them sit in the solution that we used to sterilize the stainless steel tank. I sterilised the rigid plastic tube by letting it sit in a demijohn while it was treated.

Alex thought we should be able to simply open the valve at the bottom of the SS fermentation tank as the sludge was only about an inch thick and the valve is higher than that. In our case, the sludge had settled inside the valve, so when we tried to decant, we got sludge.

Alex rigged a plastic rod onto the flexible tubing leaving the flexible tubing about 1.5 inches higher than the hard plastic. That kept the siphon off the bottom and at the right height above the sludge. But because our tank sits fairly low even on its feet, we could not rack directly into demijohns. Instead, we had to rack into a measuring cup and then pour into the demijohns. I hope the exposure to air didn't do too much damage.

The wine smelled and tasted pretty good, by the way. We got about 14 litres.

The Brix read 7% and the S.G 1.027. As yeasts convert sugar to alcohol, Brix drops, slowly at first and then more quickly. If one is fermenting to dryness, as opposed to leaving residual sugar, Brix readings ultimately go below zero. If Brix stalls before a wine is dry, that means yeasts have stopped converting sugar to alcohol. So a Brix of 7 is good I think.

I am worried about the pH as it is a bit high at 5. We probably should be adjusting it with tartaric acid. The ideal ranges for the must are as follows: Red wine: pH 3.4–3.7, TA 6.0–7.0 g/L, 22–25 ºBrix. White wine: pH 3.2–3.5, TA 6.0–9.0 g/L, 17–24 ºBrix.