Wines I'm Making: 2025 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc

I was away the entire month of September, which made it impossible to monitor the vineyard at a fairly critical time – the period during which the critters have decided the grapes on the vines, even if not fully ripe, are ripe enough to eat. Despite being fully netted and an electric fence around the perimeter, something, probably raccoons, managed to get inside and completely stripped one of our two rows of vines of fruit. Zero fruit. Two vines at the front door, with no protections, were completely stripped as well. Had I been here, I might have prevented some of the damage. The second row was intact, however, and the fruit, despite some incursions and damage from yellow jackets, was in remarkably good condition with virtually no mildew or other rot.

I harvested the Cabernet on October 10. I got 104lbs of grapes from the single row of grapes, which is a very good yield and more than I expected judging from the state of things on my return from overseas. The grapes are now crushed and resting. The must (the crushed grapes, juice, skins, seeds, and all) tested at 22º Brix, which is at the low end of the acceptable range of sweetness (and may require a slight adjustment). Ideally, I would have waited another week or two in the hope of seeing the sugar levels rise a little more, but at some point it becomes a question of balancing the potential for additional ripeness with the potential for more animal damage. 

In the next day or two, I'll inoculate the must with yeast and the 2025 Cabernet will be off to the races. Almost no Sangiovese grapes were left on my return. I glean a couple of handfuls of berries (literally) from the stripped vines and chucked those grapes in with the fermenting Cabernet. We usually make rosé from the Sangiovese, but there will be none this year. And so it goes...

[Edit] Circumstances have prevented me from getting to the vineyard supply store to pick up yeast. As of today, Monday, the crushed Cabernet grapes have been sitting for three days. While I've kept them cool in the garage, they have spontaneously begun to ferment, as grapes will do, yeast naturally present on the skins starting the process. Vineyards sometimes promote their wines as natural and authentic because fermented with "wild yeasts," but I've never in 21 years of making wine tried to just let the fermentation go. The conventional wisdom is that using a commercially available yeast strain developed specifically for winemaking is more consistent and reliable. At the same time, I've read that the "wild" yeasts hanging around in winemaking areas are often the very same yeasts sold commercially, having become present in the air from decades of their introduction and use in making wines. Without analysis, it's impossible to know what strain of yeast is now working on my gape juice, but, everything else this year having been left to chance because of various circumstances (mainly my absence in September, but then being unable to go out on Saturday and Sunday because of my participation in the ArtTrails open studios event, the store being closed today, on Monday), perhaps it would be appropriate to just let the 2025 wine go and see what the result of the fermentation is. Tomorrow I'll try to confer with the experts and see what they suggest. 

Wines I'm Making: Harvest 2019—Not Quite Yet

Thinking our backyard grapes might be ready to harvest, I did my first full testing of their ripeness today. A sample from the Cabernet vines showed brix at 23.5, which is very close to ideal (24 brix is where I normally like to pick), but with the pH a bit on the low side (pH 3.34). PH squared x brix = 262, which, according to Jeff Cox's From Vines to Wines (Storey Books, 1999), means they are ready for picking (the goal by this measure is 260 for a red wine), but the seeds in many of the grapes are still a touch green and another week on the vines will be perfect, I suspect. The problem is the raccoons—or whatever it is that steals grapes in the night. Ideal ripeness has to be balanced against potential animal losses. Happily, this year, almost none of the grapes will be lost to mildew, so I feel like waiting another week is the way to go. Thus, harvest 2019 is projected for October 5.

The Sangiovese, from which we normally make rosé (and last year used to make a little sparking wine, even), tested at only 19 brix and a pH of 3.31—on the low side (pH squared x brix = 208, again, within the acceptable range, according to Cox's measure (for whites and rosé 200 is the goal), but I think we can get a little more ripeness). I like to pick the Sangiovese for rosé at 22 brix. Although 19 brix would probably be just right for sparkling wine, I'm not equipped with enough of the right kind of bottles to make the whole Sangiovese harvest into sparkling wine, so I will wait to pick the Sangiovese as well. Today, I will check the integrity of the nets and make sure the electric fence is working and hope the animals are deterred as much as possible....

Wines I'm Making: Vines Netted (August 10, 2012)

I've more or less finished netting the grapes vines. A few rocks have to be repositioned to hold down the margins. The electric fence will soon be on. I'm hoping this year to shut out the animals before they figure out there's anything of interest hanging on the vines. In the past I've generally thrown the nets on in a hurry--in response to mangled branches and missing grapes. It seemed wise to get them on before the grapes take on color and become tempting. The Sangiovese grapes are just beginning to turn. The Cabernet grapes are still green. Hoping for the best....

Wines I'm Making: The Critters Are at it again (September 8, 2011)

I had hoped this year to completely foil the critters (probably raccoons--although I've never been able to catch anyone in the act), but I looked at the grapes this morning and found about 25 clusters of Sangiovese mostly stripped of grapes and the Cabernet disturbed in a few places as well. It's so discouraging.....

That said, it's my own fault. While I netted the grapes a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't finished completely securing all the possible entry points, particularly at the top of the vines, and I hadn't yet turned on the electric fence. Needless to say, I'll be doing both today, securing things (I hope) before nightfall.

I checked some of the fallen grapes with my refractometer. They tested between 15.5 and 17 brix. I aim to harvest at about 24.5 brix, so we still have about a month to go, I'm guessing, but the grapes are (obviously) already ripe enough to attract animals. Past experience has taught me that about 14 brix is sweet enough for a raccoon to find a grape attractive.

Looking back at old posts about the ongoing fight with the various animals that want my grapes as much as I do, I see that I've put the nets on as early as August 12th in the past. I think I need a new rule--ALWAYS get the electric fence on and the nets secure (including the top nets that cover the seam in the nets that run lengthwise along the rows) by August 1. That way (one hopes) all access is denied long before the animals have any reason to pay attention to the fruit. I'll try it next year. The problem with winemaking is that you do it all only once a year. It's easy to forget from year to year what works and what doesn't.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes Netted (August 24, 2011)

I got the nets on the grapes today. The berries started to take color about a week or so ago (both the Sangiovese and the Cabernet Sauvignon)--maybe a trifle earlier. As the grapes take on color and begin to gain a little sweetness, they become attractive to raccoons and other animals. I've noticed that a sugar level of around 14 brix is enough to please a raccoon, although to make wine that will please a human, the sugar  needs to be at around 24 brix. I think this is the first year I've succeeded in getting up a physical barrier before losing any grapes. The sulfur I used this year seemed to mix better in the sprayer and create a heavier layer on the grapes, so they are virtually mildew-free as well. I'm very much hoping to lose almost none of the grapes on the vines at the moment, but harvest is still about six weeks away.