Dancing Man v2.0

 Last year we were caught off-guard. Itasca ripens very early and the critters got most of the crop last year before we got any netting up. It was picked at 1.104, pH 2.8, no adjustments, but fermented cool. My best wine yet. This year, birds have just now started to get some grapes, so on 7/17 Lisa and I started putting the netting up. We netted and closed up the La Crescent and Itasca. 

We also netted the back two rows: Foch, Frontenac, Traminette, and Frontenac Gris. These rows are a mess to be honest. I thought I had pruned them hard, but evidently they need more pruning and shoot pruning in particular. They are extremely vigorous and I'm not sure we'll be able to seal them up like we did with the Itasca and La Crescent. We had a really hard time getting the netting over the vines and it only comes about half-way down. Note to self - prune and shoot prune the Foch, Traminette, and Frontenac very hard. 

2020 Wines - Chapter 3 - Foch

The 2019 Foch will be drinkable with decent color. We're trying some new techniques described here to preserve the color in 2020. 

Harvest brought in 51#, far less than the ~200# last year. Dancing Man kept some of the critters away, but we still lost 1/3-1/2 of the crop to critter losses. The yield this year was lower as well, probably due to a late frost. I calculated the TA at 17, pH 2.98. Crush and destem yielded over 5g of must. I treated with 50ppm SO2, then used the double salt technique 61g calcium carbonate to get TA to 10, pH 3.8. I added back some tartaric to get the pH to 3.41. 1.076 + 488g sugar to get to 1.090. Opti Red and Booster Rouge but no enzymes. 

I pitched yeast 8/16, VP41 8/17, then pressed 8/22 and immediately added 2.8g Enartis Tan Uva. Wound up with 3.5g plus a bottle for topping. Some oak cubes will help finish MLF. 

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 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!

Recovery Underway

Just in time for us to leave town again for another week, the grapes are recovering.

I lost about half of the Foch clusters and more of the Traminette, but the Chardonel and Frontenac still look pretty good. In fact, starting to see some early color on the Frontenac.

Irrigation is required as we have no more than a 20% chance of rain any day for the next 2 weeks.

Some trouble with shingles this week. Not the shingles I usually encounter - I'm talking about shingles that belong on the roof.

There was also one pesky shingle that has been out of place for several years. The need to repair this section prompted me to go ahead and fix everything. Adam says OSHA would not approve.

We are on garcinia watch. The G. uniflora set some fruit last year but dropped them early. This year, I got flowers from G. intermedia as well, and I went to work with my paintbrush. Still holding so far. The G. intermedia did not set any fruit.

Finally, just had to post a pic of the best ribs I think I've every made. Fourth of July ribs on the BGE. Recipe here, but we used Mango Coconut and Blackberry instead of the salted caramel preserves.