Too Much Nice Weather

Last weekend we visited Adam. In the spirit of a budding tropical fruit fanatic, he added a mango and Barbados Cherry, and this weekend he followed up with jaboticaba and avocado. A winter storm forced us to stay an extra day, so we went fishing with Bryan of Southern Thunder Fishing Charters.

Today it's sunny and 55F, the day after the winter solstice. Lisa and I took to the greenhouse in T-shirts for a day of cleanup, repotting, and the remainder of the greenhouse winter insulation.

Jake and I put the film up on the roof at Thanksgiving. It was so difficult that I almost resolved that this would be my last greenhouse winter. But I have a new idea, one that will not require this tiresome effort every year. Stay tuned in the spring for an update.

For now we're going with 0.7mil film again. We finally got the north and south ends sealed up today and it's a better job that the last couple of years, with less infiltration.

The citrus are generally doing well. One lime is in intensive care, but we have good crops of Persian lime, kumquat, calamondin, and satsuma.

I fired up the heat map for a few of the plants which aren't thriving.

Kari didn't do well in the pot over the summer and hasn't done any better in the greenhouse. So we moved it into the ground in the center bed and gave it a couple of good shovels worth of tasty compost.

Loquat is blooming, and a couple of the mangoes look like they are about to bloom as well.

Our forecast is for highs in the 50s to 60s the next several days. I have some wine work to do ahead of the KC Cellarmasters Annual Wine Classic, it will be tough to hide out in the basement when it is so nice outside.

Things I Wish I'd Known - Door Hinges

Filed under "things I wish I'd known 20 years ago" is the method of adjusting door hinges.

I tried this on the door out to the pool and it worked like a charm. The threshold for the screen door is bowed however, so I had to resort to other methods to get the screen door to close. After taking it down and putting it back about 10 times, I finally shimmed the entire thing up by about 1mm using some washers in the hinges.

Reclaiming the Front of the House

Yesterday weather-wise was miserable, made much better by a very nice Wolverine win over Notre Dame. But Sunday was beautiful, sunny with a high around 65F. Lisa and I took the opportunity to tame the yews.

We probably should prune the yews annually but somehow we don't get around to it every year. This time the Harry Lauder Walking Stick had gotten so big that between the tree and the yews, we couldn't see out of the dining room window. Today it got the Husqvarna treatment, as did the boxwoods.

 

Front of the house, before:

After:

Before:

After:

And the obligatory food picture - this is Brian's "Critter Gumbo" from Thursday night band practice. It had pheasant, rabbit, shrimp; greens with salted pork shoulder; homemade applesauce, and cornbread. The band played well Thursday night.

Packing the Greenhouse

Winter approaches, and once again everything must come inside or get left behind. This year, we say goodbye to Plumeria pudica. The plant makes very fragrant white flowers, but it refuses to solidly root in the pot and as a result it constantly tips over and grow awkwardly. We made some interesting plumeria wine from its flowers but said wine ruined us on Traminette. So long, P. pudica.

We also bid adieu to Psidium myrtoides, purple guava. I grew two trees from seeds brought from Puerto Rico. I managed with great difficulty to prune and stake these into a tree-like form, and they got to around 5 feet. But theses trees also refused to firmly root in the pot and required constant staking. Worse, the marble-sized fruit were not worthy of wine or anything else. The smell reminded me of something between motor oil and skunk, and they taste was bitter. 

Some of the plants in the south window did not handle the transition well. The loquat and one of the sapodillas will lose some leaves. I walked in Thursday morning to find one contributing cause - no heat. It was 46F inside. I didn't have time to troubleshoot until Saturday, and finally found the culprits.

A replacement thermocouple

What you can find on Amazon for $9 is $36 at the local hardware store. I coughed up the money for the only one in stock, and I had the north furnace going in about 10 minutes. The second one is coming from Amazon in a week, we'll get by until then with one furnace.

There were a couple of nice fruit this week. We brought home the largest guava to date, this one nearly baseball sized. Noel's Big Red sugar apple was sweet and tasty, even if small and seedy.

A tour:

Restful Weekends

The harvest is over. I have fruit in the freezer for a few more wines - passion fruit, acerola, pawpaw, jaboticaba - but these will be small, mostly one gallon batches. We're going to let it cool off a bit more before kicking those wines off.

The Foch and Frontenac are holding their color so far and tasting very good if not almost a little bit too fruit forward. I was concerned about the acid, but the malolactic finished in record time and the pH readings look decent at 3.57-3.60. They've received their KMS doses with 100% adjustments. I have two 5-gallon barrels on the way for aging this wine. Hopefully this will concentrate them and add some complexity.

There is significant amount of crown gall in the vineyard, affecting mainly the Chambourcin and particularly the Norton. I'm seriously considering removing all but 1/2 row of Norton and replanting Arandell and Petite Pearl. The Missouri State Grape has proven very disappointing.

We didn't aggressively pursue the pawpaws this year, instead leaving some for the critters. But Garry texted me looking for some ingredients for specials, and we sent him some pawpaws, lemongrass, and guava. We could not resist going to Bek's to see what Danny did with them, and we were not disappointed.

Pork chop and apple fritter with pawpaw rum sauce

Wahoo with lemongrass and guava gastrique

And we'll leave you with this guy, who's been hanging around the yard for a few weeks. I wonder if he isn't responsible for some of the grape losses, he looks pretty fat and happy.

2019 Wines - Chapter 8 - Vignoles

Our generous neighbor Bill has 10 acres of vines. This year, he didn't have enough Vignoles to bring in a mechanical picker. I got a last minute call - I was welcome to as much Vignoles as I could find.

I didn't find much. Most of the grapes were rotten unfortunately. But I did scrounge up about 70# of decent grapes. The starting numbers were acceptable with no adjustments - pH 3.1 and SG 1.100.

I whole cluster pressed, cold settled for a day, then rewarmed, added 10g Opti White, 2t pectic, then pitched QA 23 with GoFerm. The fermentation started pretty slowly, but after a couple of days it was rolling. 6g bentonite added on day 3. By day 7 it was down to 1.020 and was racked to carboy.

The last batch of Vignoles I made started pretty high acidity and I was not knowledgeable enough to make the needed corrections. This batch is much more promising. Thanks Bill!

2019 Wines - Chapter 7 - Chambourcin Rosé

The first time I made Chambourcin in 2016 I sourced the grapes from our very generous neighbor Bill. I made a red wine which turned out very nicely and took a medal at the KC Cellarmasters Wine Classic. It has aged well and would have probably scored better had I waited another year.

But my Chambourcin this year seemed to want to be a rosé. The numbers lagged in part I think because the vines are young (year 3) and also because, as with the Chardonel, they were overcropped.  Next year, more thinning, more leaf pulling. But this year, rosé it is.

We picked on 9/5. Destemmed, crushed, and pressed, yielding 9.75gal of must. TA 10.8, pH 2/77, SG 1.070. I cold settled for two days, then rewarmed, chaptalized with 1937g sugar to 1.090(est). 20g Opti White, 10g Booster Blanc, 4.5t tannin for color stability, 4.5t pectic enzyme, and 48g KHCO3 to move the pH to 3.05. Then QA 23 with GoFerm and we were winemaking.

I step fed per protocol and added 15g bentonite on day 3. By day 7 it was down to 1.020, so it was moved to carboy. Two days later, just like the Chardonel, it was dry, so it was racked and sulfited.

This is Lisa's 2019 rosé. Fingers crossed!

2019 Wines - Chapter 6 - Chardonel

The 2018 Chardonel has become a favorite, possibly the best wine I've ever made. Looking back, the starting numbers on that wine were much better than they were this year. I'm considering resting these vines next year without taking a harvest - I think this year they got overcropped and stressed, and the starting numbers show it: pH 2.69, SG 1.065, TA 12.6. But the critters! So we picked 9/5, a full 18 days later than last year.

I cold settled for two days, then rewarmed the 7 gallons of must. 1863g sugar got SG to 1.090(est).  65g calcium carbonate took the pH to 3.13 and TA to 8.6(est). 8g Booster Blanc, 15g Opti White, 5t pectic enzyme, then QA 23 rehydrated with GoFerm. It was step fed with Fermaid K, hit with 11g bentonite on day 3, and by day 7 the SG was down to 1.015 and it went into carboys. Two days later it was dry, racked again, and sulfited.

Based on the starting numbers, we may not have the quality of last year's vintage, but we'll see. We'll be happy to even get close.

2019 Wines - Chapter 5 - Vidal

There was a time last year when I thought this grape was gone - kaput - finito. At a time last year when all of my other vines had broken bud, the two rows of Vidal were a wasteland. Somehow fortunately 20 of these vines came back. We replanted the remainder this spring, and we allowed a small crop on the most vigorous of the 3 year old vines.

We took 117# on August 31st, again, trying to stay ahead of the critters. I had netted the Vidal in small little sections and one section had already been picked clean. The grapes came it at 2.92, TA 11, SG 1.078.

The additions:

• 784g sugar to 1.090
• 33g calcium carbonate (double salt method) to TA of 8.5
• 15g Opti White
• 6g Booster Blanc
• 3T pectic

After cold settling for a day and racking, added 1t tannin, 5g QA 23 with usual protocol. 10g bentonite went in on day 3, and by September 7 it was 1.020 and racked off to carboy.

If this wine is killer good, we'll bottle it straight up. If less than killer good, maybe we'll do some sort of blend with 10% Traminette, the rest Vidal/Chardonel.

2019 Wines - Chapter 4 - Traminette

The critters got nearly all of the Traminette this year. I thought I had this row wrapped up really well with bird netting, but something got underneath the netting and found a buffet. I happened to go out on a Thursday evening and picked some 25# of grapes which looked ripe. Of course, Thursday is band night, so I didn't have any time to process the grapes. My intention was to pick the rest two days later, on Saturday. So I put these grapes in a holding pattern in the fridge.

It's a good thing I got some grapes on Thursday, because by Saturday two days later there was not a single Traminette left in the row.  So, this year's Traminette harvest is a little down compared to last, which is fine, as this may turn out to be mainly a blender.

On Saturday we destemmed, crushed, pressed, and made the following typical additions:

50ppm SO2
235g sugar to get SG from 1.076 to 1.090
3t calcium carbonate to get pH from 2.86 to 3.07
2g Booster Blanc
4g Opti White
1.5t pectic

One day cold settle, rewarmed, then 2.5g QA 23 with usual rehydration and step feeding protocol. I somewhat impulsively added 1/2t tannin the next day, then back to protocol with 3g bentonite on day 3. By September 7 it was down to 1.022 and was racked to carboy. It has this nasty brownish color. Again. Like last year. Fortunately last year it cleared up completely so I'm not as concerned about it. Maybe Traminette just has an ugly duckling phase.

2019 Wines - Chapter 3 - Frontenac Gris

Somebody screwed up. One of my Frontenac vines is clearly different, and the wine forum has identified it as Frontenac Gris.

Frontenac Gris, with regular Frontenac in the background

With plenty of grapes on the vine, why not? We got around 15# of grapes, enough for a few bottles. Frontenac is growing well, so maybe Frontenac Gris is the answer to my white wine problems.

Picked August 24, pH 2.86, SG 1.090, TA 14, just like the regular variety. KMS 50ppm, then 24 hour cold settling.  The following day, 16g calcium carbonate to 3.26; also added 1t pectic, 2g Booster Blanc, 3g Opti White, 1/2t tannin. I rehydrated QA23 (my go-to white wine yeast) and it took right off. I step fed as usual, added 2g bentonite on day 3, and by Sept 1 it was down to 1.000. I racked to a 1 gallon carboy plus a 500ml bottle, redosed with KMS, and let it settle in.

Promising wine. We think we remember which vine it was, so this winter we'll take some hardwood cuttings and see if we can't make another 10 vines in case this wine turns out to be a favorite.

2019 Wines - Chapter 2 - Frontenac

Lisa and I picked Frontenac on August 24th, and as with all of the grapes this year, it was earlier than we would have liked. The birds and raccoons turn out to be a reliable signal of approaching ripeness and drop in acidity.

Frontenac is known for being difficult to make into good red wine. I tried a rosé last year but was disappointed. Even though I pressed it immediately, it was still to dark in color for a rosé. Then it browned, either due to color instability or oxidation (or both). It's drinkable but barely.

So as with the Foch, we're trying a red this time around, with the addition of an extra dose of tannin immediate after fermentation to see if it will stabilize the color. We got around 200# from 8 vines, the ninth vine turning out to be Frontenac Gris which merits a separate wine and a separate post. So, destem, crush, 12g Opti Red, 12g Booster Rouge, 0.8g Lallzyme EX, 7t tannin, 2T pectic, and in for a 3 day cold soak.

Once out, we got pH 2.96, TA 14, adjusted with 160g calcium carbonate (double salt method) to 3.59 and 9.0 respectively. Light toast (1c) and heavy toast oak chips (1/2c) went in, and we have almost 20 gallons of must.

Potential disaster averted

The must had a cap even before adding the yeast. I used 10g (2 packs) of 71B, again to try to manage the acid. Twelve hours later I coinoculated with VP41 rehydrated only with spring water. It took another day to get my MLB nutrient, 8g Opti Malo. The yeast was step fed with Fermaid K, and I also added 12g bentonite on day 3. By September 2, the cap was starting to drop, so it was time to move to carboy. While I put this wine through the press basket, I basically took only the free run wine and didn't actually press it at all. I think I have enough.

The following day I racked off the gross lees and added that second dose of tannin and 10 oak cubes per gallon.

The malolactic bacteria look better with this Frontenac than in the Foch, maybe because I remembered the bentonite in the primary. The color is good so far, only time will tell. Will seriously consider blending these two wines as is done up north.

2019 Wines - Chapter 1 - Foch

For the past 3 years I've been pronouncing this grape "Foke" to rhyme with "poke." It turns out it is a soft "ch" sound, as in "gauche." It will take me a couple of months to unlearn my old incorrect pronunciation.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the critters were taking this grape first. I later noted a trail from the back corner of the vineyard, and the Foch is the first grape these critters would encounter on the trail to dinner. After the first three vines were stripped clean despite bird netting, I decided it was time to pick, because at that loss rate, there would be no grapes left by my next picking opportunity.

Before

After

We picked August 17th, about 190#. Crushing and destemming yielded 68l must, with starting pH 3.09, SG 1.076. I didn't write down the TA but I think it was 14. I protected with SO2 but underdosed initially and had to go back a day later and make up the difference. I added 120g calcium carbonate using the double salt technique and this time, the pH was high enough in the small batch.

Some of the usual additions...

• 1.5g Lallzyme EX
• 1/2c heavy toast oak chips
• 1c light toast oak chips
• 4T pectic
• 3T tannin

...and then a 4 day cold soak. After rewarming, I added 1680g sugar to get to 1.090, and another 38g calcium carbonate. The final pH came to 3.48, which is fine because we're not after California Cab with this wine; we're after a red that can pair with food more like a pinot noir.

By the time I was ready to pitch the yeast, we already had a cap. I went with 71B because I imagine the malic to be very high in this wine. It was rehydrated with GoFerm and pitched. A day later I realized I didn't have the usual Booster Rouge and Opti-Red, so I made those additions, 8g each, later than usual. At that point I co-inoculated VP41. I didn't have any Acti-ML so I just rehydrated with spring water and fed with Opti Malo. Keeping fingers crossed on the MLF.

Two days after pitching the yeast, the SG was already down to 1.025. So the plan to step-feed was abandoned and I dosed one last time with Fermaid O. The following day it was 1.003 and I pressed, yielding 13g free run and 1g of pressed wine. Two days later, on August 27th, I racked off the gross lees and added oak cubes 10/gal. Hybrid reds are notorious for their post-fermentation color instability. Supposedly you can address this with the addition of grape tannins post ferment, but after pricing grape tannin I went with regular tannin, 1/2tsp/gal. This is double the usual dose of tannin - one regular dose preferment and a second dose post-ferment. This will be the plan with Frontenac as well.

I've heard from more than one source that Foch is a "love it or hate it" sort of wine. We had some for the first time in Wisconsin last month and we didn't hate it. Fingers crossed.

Critter Battles

After getting control of fungal issues with a good spray program, I'm now battling two new foes. One is a micro-critter: crown gall has affected many of the Norton and some of the other vines. And the macro-critters seem to find my grapes just as soon as the pH is above pucker. The netting we used this year seems too fragile and I've found holes where the birds or raccoons or possums got in and out. My pick decisions are driven more by how many grapes I have left after the macro-critters than any numbers.

Speaking of numbers...

	17-Aug		24-Aug		31-Aug
	Brix	pH	Brix	pH	Brix	pH
Traminette			18	2.76
Frontenac	18	2.66	21	2.97
Vidal	17	2.47	16	2.8	18.2	2.97
Chardonel	15.5	2.44	15	2.66	15	2.74
Chambourcin	13	2.37	13	2.45	14	2.76

I picked the Traminette August 29th and it was a good thing, because I got only 25# and by Aug 31st, despite netting, there was nothing left. The Foch was disappearing at a rate of 10%/day, so I picked it on August 17th at 3.09 and 18.4.  Not ideal. Today the only fruit left hanging is Chardonel, Chambourcin, and a little Norton. Next year we're planning on using the cleverly-named Aircrow.

2019 First Harvest

I tested the grapes today.

	Brix	pH
Frontenac	18	2.66
Chardonel	15.5	2.44
Vidal	17	2.47
Chambourcin	13	2.37

So for the most part not ready. I didn't bother testing the Foch today because I tested it earlier in the week at 21 brix. The critters were taking about 10% per day, so we went ahead and harvested. 

It had to be raccoons. 

Most of the vines were in better shape.

The yield was about 190 pounds. These nine vines equaled all of last year's harvest, and three of them were stripped by birds and raccoons. We still have about 40 vines to go.

Naturally once we got everything destemmed and crushed, the brix came in at 17.5; pH ~2.8. But the critters kind of backed us into a corner. If the current crop loss continued, at that rate we wouldn't have any grapes left at all by next weekend. So, no regrets. 

Fruit is Coming!

Normally by this time of the summer we are dragging hose and just trying to keep enough water on plants to keep them alive. But so far this year we've stayed wet enough to keep plants looking good and rain barrels in the greenhouse topped up. Growing degree days started accumulating late and despite some really warm temps over the past week, haven't really caught up too much. We're at 1842 since April 16 (average bud break). Also, climate change:

Despite two trips out of town, we largely stayed ahead of the beetle damage so far. We have veraison on Foch and Frontenac, but not Chambourcin:

 

Speaking of trips, we spent a few days at the Chalet. Bob and Sharon visited, and the weather and company was great.

Upon our return, we had water issues in the greenhouse. The point of failure with my demand pump is the pressure switch. The diagnosis was easy, as this has happened before. Feeling clever, I ordered not one, but three replacement switches. I didn't feel that clever when, after receiving my shipment, I found 2 more extra switches from my order the last time it failed. 

The GFCI outlet the pump uses also failed. In the process of fixing that, I fixed a stripped screw hole in the cover, making it watertight for the first time in a couple of years. The repairs were more satisfying that one would imagine.

This time of year lots of stuff fruits. Not only are grapes coming on, but we've finally got enough jaboticaba for a batch of wine. 

First time ever for a Second crop of Grumichama

Lemondrop Mangosteen

Dragonfruit

Not pictured are blackberries, because I'm embarrassed by the fact that the patch is completely overgrown. More pawpaws again this year, but I suspect it will be another month before they are ripe. 

Some of the Nortons are still struggling but we haven't lost any more vines. And in some really exciting news, we have about 5 of the cuttings take root.

Lisa and I had to work all week, but Allie and Joe were here and got some work done as well. We really enjoyed the visit, hope they did too!