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!