Wines I'm Making: Grapes Coming Along Nicely (2011)

Having recently added nets and raised the level of the electric fence around our grape vines, it's now been about a week without any further damage or losses to the raccoons or possums or whatever it is that eats them at night.

It's the time of year that grape growers sit back and wait, periodically checking sugar and acid levels, looking also at the visible signs of ripeness in their grapes. This morning and yesterday I tested a couple of berries for ripeness. I was a little surprised to find the Sangiovese at 19 brix, the Cabernet Sauvignon already at 20.5 brix. The berries are deeply colored. The Cabernet seeds are uniformly brown and they are crunchy. In other words, the Cabernet fruit is looking rather more ripe than I was expecting. I think it will still be two to three weeks to harvest (I try to pick at about 24.5 brix), but the grapes appear to be coming along nicely, aided by uniformly warm weather in the past week or so. The forecast is for temperatures into the low 90s for the coming week, which should keep sugar levels rising.