Roll Out the Barrel

There comes a point with certain endeavors that you realize you might be in too deep. With winemaking, that point has almost certainly been reached when you install a vineyard. But a better, more accurate marker might be the acquisition of a barrel. 

This is a little 10L barrel which matches my most common 3 gallon batch. It sealed up in a couple of days. Today it received the 2016 elderberry-blackberry blend.

I'm not wild about the spigot, it tends to leak. And the hole on top is too small to admit my autosiphon. But it sure smells great. We'll leave the 2016 EB in for 2-4 weeks. Next up is the 2016 Syrah. I'm hoping it will concentrate it to an acceptable level.

The barrel wasn't the only toy which arrived this week. I got a backpack mister/sprayer. I found a little powdery mildew on some of the grapes. So yesterday I fired up the sprayer for the first time. It's pretty darn heavy when full. Four gallons of Captan and Immunox were sufficient for one pass through the vineyard. It will take some fine tuning to make this whole spray process more efficient.

Paybacks and Payoffs

I have not yet decided whether to make pawpaw wine. I'm freezing the pulp as they ripen, and I've got over 4# now which should be enough for a 1 gallon trial. It would be easier if I knew whether it would be any good. Online reviews are scarce and indeterminate. One person paraphrased Jack Keller, calling it "life-changing," but given what Keller wrote I think that is a bit of a stretch. For now I'm content with smoothies.

In the greenhouse I made a discovery that will be meaningful to very few of my friends. We have fruit set on garcinia intermedia. This is most commonly known as Lemon Drop Mangosteen. This garcinia is a seedling from my first PR trip in 2010. It is not the first it has flowered but it is the first time to set fruit. It is hard to contain my excitement.

As a thank-you for the grapes and support, I took the Books some wine. I sent two bottles of their 2016 Chambourcin and one each of the 2016 Blackberry and my 2016 Motley Red blend. Early reviews, based on the text messages, were favorable.