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.

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.