Wines I'm Making: 2025 Cabernet and Sangiovese

The grapes in our little backyard vineyard are coming along nicely. One of the four endposts rotted through over the past winter. I finally found someone to replace it, so the drop wires supporting the canopy growth are now back in their proper position. The grapes have been dusted twice with sulfur so far this season and there are no signs of mildew. Next chore will be to put the nets on that protect the ripening grapes from raccoons and other critters. Then, it's a waiting game. Last year, the grapes were greatly damaged by yellow jackets (a problem I had not had before), so this year I have yellow jacket traps up. Hoping for the best....

Wine I'm Making: Harvest likely to be late in 2023

When wine grapes start to take on their mature color, they begin to ripen. Red wine grapes go from green to pink to whatever color they will end up being – anywhere from a pale red to a deep purple-black. The French call the start of the color change veraison. In my little backyard vineyard (34 vines – 21 Cabernet Sauvignon, four Cabernet Franc, and nine Sangiovese), veraison is usually in mid-July. In a normal year, the grapes have taken on their full color usually by the end of July or early August at the latest. This year, reflecting the very long, cool spring season we had, veraison is still not complete in the middle of September. I usually harvest the grapes in the last week of September in an early year, in the second week of October in a late year. This year I suspect the grapes may hang until early November. 

Wines I'm Making: 2020 Cabernet Finally Racked—Smoke Taint Gone?

For many reasons that I need not enumerate, 2020 was a challenging year. On the wine front, wildfires that left our little vineyard covered in ash and shrouded for several days in dense smoke, were the primary challenge. Many local commercial vineyards chose to abandon their grapes on the vine when testing suggested wine made from them would be tainted.

I don't understand the chemistry exactly, but it appears that grapes absorb smoke through their skins (and more easily the closer the smoke exposure is to harvest). That exposure can lead to the presence in the grapes (and any wine made from them) of volatile phenols that we perceive as off flavors and scents (I understand the main culprits are free guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol). 

I went ahead and harvested our grapes and made wine from them. The Sangiovese, as usual, I made into rosé, thinking that the short time rosé wines spend on the skins during the winemaking process would reduce any smoke effects. The resulting wine is a bit more pungent than usual, but quite drinkable. The Cabernet, on the other hand, smelled funky from the outset and sampling the young wine suggested it was beyond hope. As a result, I neglected it. I couldn't quite bring myself to dump it out, although I had resolved to do just that. Time went on. It sat in its containers, on the lees, until last week without racking. Normally it would have been racked into clean containers, treated lightly with sulfites, and I would have added oak staves sometime around December or January, after malolactic fermentation finished. 

I smelled and tasted it last week for the first time in a couple of months, still intending to dump it. Surprisingly, it smells and tastes quite normal now. The taint appears to be gone. Anecdotal evidence is all over the place. I've heard stories about this happening (the taint disappearing) but also stories about taint suddenly appearing in a wine that at first seemed unaffected. Who knows? Anyway, I decided to rack it, sulfite it, add oak staves, and let it go to completion. I'll check it again at the next racking. If it seems stable, I'll bottle it sometime in the autumn and we'll see how it holds up. Eleven gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc are now resting in the garage. 

Wines I'm Making: Shoot Thinning 2021

Working on shoot thinning in the vineyard this week. It's a bit overdue. It's easier to do when the shoots are shorter than they already are, but it's not too late. Next chore will be to dust the shoots with sulfur, which prevents mildew later in the season. I'm hoping that this year smoke from wildfires won't taint the wine, making all the work a waste. I've had to pour out the entirety of the Cabernet from 2020. Only the 2020 rosé (which we make from our Sangiovese grapes) proved drinkable. In the photo, the row of vines in the foreground has been thinned, the row behind will get thinned tomorrow. 

Wines I'm Making: Harvest 2020--Sangiovese

I decided to harvest the Sangiovese grapes today. The berries appeared to be mature, judging from the seeds, and some were already turning to raisins. With a heat wave predicted for today and the next couple of days and the next opportunity to harvest likely next weekend, it seemed the time was right. We got a total of 53.2lbs of grapes, which is roughly normal. We've harvested anywhere from about 40lbs to over 70lbs in the past. 

A juice sample before harvest showed a brix of 19.5 degrees, which, corrected for the temperature, is around 20.25 degrees. The crushed grapes tested at 20.25 brix and a specific gravity of 1.080. As I often do with the Sangiovese grapes, from which we make rosé, I bumped up the specific gravity with a small addition of corn sugar (450 grams or so), which raised the specific gravity to 1.090. That should yield a wine of about 12.6% alcohol. The pH of the must was 3.58. I crushed the grapes a little after noon and will press them this evening after they've had about six hours on the skins--which is less than usual. I frequently leave them overnight, so that they've typically had about 18 hours before pressing, but that would mean pressing first thing in the morning and there won't be time to do that before work starts. The color this year is likely to be a bit lighter than usual. We'll see. 

Wines I'm Making: Harvest 2020--First Test of Grape Ripeness

I took a sample of the Sangiovese grapes today, Tuesday, September 15, 2020, the first check I've done on the ripeness of the grapes this season. They are at 19 brix. I usually like to harvest the grapes for the rosé we make every year at a somewhat higher reading than that (ideally 22 brix) and typically we harvest a little later than this, but I'm worried that the very hot weather we had at the beginning of September (up to 111 degrees!) may have accelerated ripening. I can't find my pH meter, so wasn't able to test the pH level.

Many of the seeds are completely brown, suggesting the berries are ripe even if the sugar is a little low. Do I wait or do I pick soon and chaptalize, if necessary? A little research is in order. I'll have to go back and look at what I've done in the past. It's hard to remember the details from year to year. I need to refresh my memory. 

Wines I'm Making: Shoot Thinning Finished (spring 2020)

Yesterday evening I finally finished thinning the grapevine shoots. Both the Cabernet and the Sangiovese started growing aggressively when, finally, a few days ago the weather began to warm. It has been a long, cool spring this year. The next task in the vineyard will be to dust the shoots with sulfur to prevent mildew. Will try to get to that soon.

Wines I'm Making: 2019 Spring Shoot Thinning and First Sulfur Spraying Done (May 4, 2019)

A Cabernet vine before thinning

Yesterday I finished the biggest spring chore in our little vineyard of 34 vines. I thinned the excess growth from the vines, which will put out dozens of unnecessary shoots if left unchecked. I then sprayed with sulfur, which is a mildew preventative. The rows look neat and ready for the upcoming growing season—although the longest shoots are already 18 inches or longer. This is the second season since the neighbor behind us thinned out the trees that were shading the vines. They look stronger again and I think they will yield more fruit than they have in many years. I look forward to a nice crop this year if the mildew and the critters can be held at bay.

A Cabernet vine after shoot thinning

After sulfur spraying

Wine I'm Making: First Berry Sample of 2018 (September 14, 2018)

I took my first sample of the 2018 vintage of fruit on our 34 backyard vines today. The Sangiovese looks healthy and comparatively plentiful this year. The berry sample I took showed a brix of 19 and a pH of 3.22. The Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc sample showed a brix of 22.6 and a pH of 3.16. I like to pick the Sangiovese (from which we usually make rosé) at about 22 brix and the Cabernet at about 24-25 brix. So, we've probably got a couple of weeks to go in both cases.

So far, it looks like we'll have much more Cabernet fruit this year than last because of the removal of trees that were shading the vines, although there is a disheartening amount of mildew in some areas, despite careful sulfur spraying and exposing the fruit more than I usually do by pulling leaves earlier in the season. I don't know what the answer to that problem is, but, at least we've had no animal or bird damage so far. Fingers crossed.

I'm also watering the vines today. They'll get a six-hour drip, but this is only the second time they've been watered this year. It will probably be the last time as well.

Wines I'm Making: First Sulfur Spraying 2018

Having the day before finished removing excess growth on the vines in the backyard vineyard, yesterday I did the first sulfur spraying of the season to prevent mold. Last year the grapes suffered badly from mildew, the result mostly of my own laziness. I should have been more diligent in my spraying--but it's the chore I least enjoy in growing grapes for wine. I've resolved to do it right this year, spraying every two weeks or so until mid-season. More light and air in the vineyard will help, I hope; last year my neighbor removed a row of small trees behind the vines that were increasingly shading them.

Wines I'm Making: 2017 Sangiovese Harvest (September 25, 2017)

I picked our Sangiovese grapes on September 25, 2017. The juice from the just-crushed grapes was at 21 degrees Brix and a pH of 3.57 (although the pressed grapes tested much higher--at 26 degrees Brix). I got only 44lbs of grapes, which is a very low yield. I did not sulfite at all, but pitched the yeast (Epernay II) immediately. While the loss to animals this year was zero--proving my belated understanding that the key to preventing animal damage is getting the nets and the electric fence on early, while the fruit is still green and of no interest to four-legged intruders--there was a much more mildew damage than usual. I had to throw away probably a third of the grapes and even in the grapes I used there was more mildew damage than I'd have liked. I'm hoping the wine will not show evidence of unhealthy grapes. Time will tell. Because of the mildew, I pressed the grapes right after crushing them, so there was only about an hour of skin contact. In the past, I've let the grapes sit about 18 hours before pressing, which results in a deep rosé. This year the wine is likely to be a much paler pink. Our Cabernet grapes are still on the vines.

Wines I'm Making: 2015 Wines Pressed

I pressed our 2015 Cabernet and Sangiovese wines the other day. We ended up with only two gallons of Sangiovese, three gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc--the smallest harvest we've ever had. This appears to have been typical even at commercial wineries around the county--very low yield this year. The wines are now resting, ready for inoculation to initiate malolactic fermentation. I'm also in the middle of a hard cider fermentation and trying to make wine from the neglected Zinfandel grapes (mostly raisins) my neighbor gave me.

Wines I'm Making: New Leaves on the Vines (2015)

Bud break was early this year with the lack of rain and unusually warm weather. Our Sangiovese vines already have about a foot or more of new growth on them. The Cabernet vines have shoots of about four to six inches. It's already time to do the first sulfur spraying, but with rain in the forecast yesterday and today, I'll be waiting until the weather clears again. Tiny grape clusters are already visible, the raw material for our 2015 wines. 2015 will be our 12th vintage.

Wines I'm Making: Fermentation (September 29, 2014)

I inoculated our pressed Cabernet grapes yesterday, after a four-day cold soak. We picked the grapes on the 24th. This morning, the wine is beginning to bubble a little. The fermentation appears to have begun. The Sangiovese rosé fermentation is now in day four. Having had minor problems with hydrogen sulphide in the past two years I decided to use the yeast nutrients usually recommended (DAP and Fermaid K), although I've never used them in the past. I'm hoping better nutrient availability will prevent hydrogen sulphide problems this year. We'll see.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes Coming Along Nicely (September 3, 2014)

We're probably still several weeks to harvest, but I tested a couple of berries on the vines today, just to see how things were progressing. A single Sangiovese berry measured 21 degrees Brix, a cabernet berry 20 degrees Brix. In a couple of weeks I'll start taking sample berries from clusters all around our little vineyard to get an idea of the average ripeness of the fruit, but above 20 degrees Brix at this date suggests harvest may be on the early side this year. I like to pick the Sangiovese (for making rosé) at about 23 Brix, the Cabernet at 24-25 Brix. Depending on the weather a one degree increase in sweetness can take a week or more. We may be picking toward the end of September rather than in the second week of October, which has been typical. 2014 will be our 11th vintage. Soon I'll bottle the 2013 Cabernet, which will give us ten years of winemaking in bottle. Time for a vertical tasting soon.

Wines I'm Making: First sulfur spraying 2014

Finally got around to doing the first sulfur spraying in the vineyard this year. Everything looks good, but normally I like to have done the first spraying a little earlier. The weather has been cool, clear, and mostly dry, though, so mildew risk has been low, and now the earliest growth on the vines is protected. Looking at the plants as I worked, I notice that the Sangiovese buds are just starting to open. The Cabernet vines, as usual, are behind but should be flowering soon.

[Naturally, we had an unexpected rain shower the following day, so I'll have to do it all over again....]

Wines I'm Making: Shoot Thinning 2014

It's that time of year again--time to thin shoots on the vines ahead of the first sulfur spraying. As it's supposed to rain tomorrow, I'm waiting to spray until the showers are behind us. In the meantime, I've been trying to get the shoots thinned out so the vines are ready for sulfur treatment as soon as things dry out again. The photo above shows Sangiovese vines in our backyard before thinning. The photo below shows some of our Cabernet vines after thinning.

Wines I'm Making: New Growth on the Vines (April 17, 2014)

The grapevines in our backyard have come to life again. As usual, the Sangiovese vines are ahead of the Cabernet vines, but all the plants have leafed out. The longest shoots are about a foot long. It's almost time to thin the shoots and to spray the new growth with sulfur for the first time this season. In the photo above, you can already see the tiny flower clusters that will become this year's grapes.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Rosé Bottled (December 19, 2013)

Yesterday, I bottled our 2013 Sangiovese Rosé. The wine is a beautiful, deep, pink-amber this year--deeper in color than in past years. I don't know why. This year, the grapes soaked about 20 hours with the skins before pressing, which has been fairly typical. Depth of color should mostly be a function of the time the grapes spend on the skins--all else being equal--but the 2012 wine spent 22 hours on the skins and it was a paler color. Whatever the reason for the deep color this year, the wine is pretty. I'm very pleased with the results in general. I think this may be the best rosé we've made so far, edging out the excellent 2009.

We had some very cold weather while the wine was resting (down to as low as about 19 degrees F). Cold causes the formation of tartaric acid crystals in the bottom of the container (photo below), which is very convenient, as it creates a hard crust over the deposit of dead yeast and other precipitates that can be a pain when siphoning wine. With the rosé, siphoning is always a breeze as there is nothing floating freely to cloud the wine or suck up from the bottom; it's all encapsulated by the crust of crystals.

We had the first bottle last night with an asparagus and portobello mushroom risotto that I made. Excellent, if I do say so myself. Now it's time to design a label.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Sangiovese Rosé Racked and Sulfited (November 6, 2013)

I racked and lightly sulfited the 2013 Sangiovese Rosé today, transferring five gallons of new wine to a new carboy of the same size, leaving behind a layer of yeasty sludge. I got a taste of the wine when starting the siphon and I'm very pleased with it. It's a nice deep pink. Although a little cloudy still, at this stage, it already looks pretty--as a rosé should. I sulfited the wine to about 52ppm (four Campden tablets in the five gallons of wine). If it clears quickly enough, we might be able to start enjoying some already at Thanksgiving, but it will probably have to wait until Christmas.