A little bit 'bout harvest prep

As the sugars in the grapes rise to harvest levels so does the excitement of the pending season. Along with excitement comes the stress of the time crunch. Last week the first grapes were harvested from Washington state. This put everyone into a mild panic. We still have tons of bottling to get done and our bottling line broke down last Thursday. The part should be in today or at least that's the dream.

As soon as we broke down I ran out to the vineyards (from this point on I will ONLY be running) and gathered samples from all of our early ripening blocks. When I got back to the winery I smushed the samples and ran my pre-harvest analysis on the juice. The news was great! My numbers indicated that we still have a week and a half at the least.

Smushing the grapes in a colander to collect the juice.

What's the process of the maturity samples you might ask.  Well I normally grab the Rhino (its like a cross between a golf cart and a 4-wheeler) and a bucket for every sample. Then I drive through the different blocks collecting random but representative samples of 24 clusters per block, tasting berries as I go. I mash them up in a colander back at the winery and collect the juice. 

The juice after settling for a bit. In the front is my handy refractometer.

I let the juice settle, then I run three basic laboratory tests for acid and sugar. Sugar is measured in Brix with a refractometer. A drop of juice is placed on the measuring prism and the small cover plate is closed over the drop, then the prism is held up to the light, I look through the eyepiece and there is the reading. pH is measured with a pH meter (I just stick a probe in the juice and it gives me a reading). The final measurement is T.A. which is titratable acidity, often confused with total acidity although they are not the same. Titrating the T.A. a little more complex and boring to explain (if you are interested let me know and I will go into more detail). We use these numbers to decide when to harvest as well as to tell us how balanced the juice or wine is during the process. BUT, the final decision is always a sensory one. Swirl, sniff, taste! Taste, taste, taste! Then taste again!

  

Double take

A few weeks ago I was driving through the vineyards and out of the corner of my eye I spot this tiny garden. My first thought was that our farm workers were turning into hipsters, mostly because I totally thought that the scarecrow was a farm worker doing some lunch time yoga. On closer inspection it is just a simple vegetable garden with a simple scarecrow. I had to ask around to find out that the garden belongs to our vineyard manager, Miguel.
To me this is a great example of the passion you see in the wine industry. He spends 40-60 hours a week farming. He lives on the adjacent property. And yet in his spare time he is growing a garden.  This is not unusual in the wine industry. If you are invited to dinner at a winemakers home you will often get to sample both the wine they make at work and the alcoholic libations they make in their garage.
I personally cannot wait to take the next step of being a grown-up (buying a home). Once I make that move I will have space to make my own wine, cider, liqueurs or whatever spikes my interest. I also want a smoker and a vegetable garden. Ya gotta have good food to go with good wine.

Signs of change

Veraison. The official definition is the point at which the grapes change color. This is a beautiful time in the canopy of the grape vines! There is more to it than that of course, especially since not all grapes actually change color. This is a sign to the growers and winemakers that harvest preparation needs to start immediately if it is not almost done.

Grapes grow in what is termed a 'double sigmoid growth curve'. This means they initially grow in size (cell replication and expansion, the curve rises) then growth pauses for a bit, this pause is called the lag phase. Then at veraison the grapes start to ripen (the curve rises again) or accumulate sugars. During this time the acidity decreases because Malic acid is degraded, leaving tartaric acid as the main acid in the grapes. The top of this second curve indicates full ripeness, once completely ripe the plant no longer puts any effort into the berries and they start to die.

Although the plant is no longer producing more sugars for the berries does not always mean the grapes will be picked at that point. Once the plant stops caring about reproduction (fruit production) the berries of the grape clusters start to lose water retention due to the thinning of the outer waxy cuticle on the berry skin. This causes a higher sugar to water ratio, as well as an oxidation of some of the flavor/aroma compounds that can be highly coveted. The practice of leaving the grapes on the plant after they are ripe to get these effects is call 'hang time'