Harvest 2024: I'm not entirely sure why, but our grapes this year suffered badly from damage by yellow jackets. They pierce the berries and can remarkably quickly suck a berry completely dry. This was the smallest harvest from our little backyard vineyard in the 21 years I've been making wine from it. Given that we're running out of room to store wine and we can't drink it fast enough to keep it from accumulating, perhaps an occasional small harvest is a good thing.
I picked the grapes on Friday, October 10th. We got only 34.75kg (76.45lbs) of Cabernet grapes and 8.44kg (18.6lbs) of Sangiovese grapes – which is about half or less than half of what we usually get. That will yield only about 32 bottles. Normally we get 75 bottles or more. Because of.a couple of spells of very hot weather, the grapes were sweeter than they usually are at harvest, but partially because of desiccation.
The Cabernet measured at 25.3º Brix. About 24º Brix is ideal for the style of red wine I like. More sugar means more alcohol. Too much sugar results in a hot, unbalanced wine. So, for the first time since we started making wine here in 2004, I reduced the sugar level slightly, to 24º Brix by adding 1l of acidulated distilled water (adding 7g of tartaric acid/l). After a three-day cold soak, I inoculated the must with Rockpile yeast. The fermentation is now well underway.
The Sangiovese was pressed after 12 hours on the skins to make a rosé. The Sangiovese grapes measured at 23º Brix, which is perfect for a rosé. Normally, if anything, I have to slightly adjust the sugar level in the Sangiovese grapes upward. This year I made no adjustment. The Sangiovese, too, is fermenting, but there will be only enough to make about 7 bottles of finished wine. Normally we make about 15 bottles of rosé each year.
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