Harvest to Fermentation

Da Sleepmeister has 140 vines as I have previously mentioned. 60 Cabernet Sauvignon, 50 Zinfandel, 30 Petite Sirah, and 10 Petite Verdot. All Red Grapes, and yes, I only make Red Wine. I also buy grapes from a couple of different growers. This past year, I purchases some Barbera, and Syrah grapes from Rock Wall Vineyards. Excellent quality, and these wines are just HUGE.

FYI. Mature Vines each produce a half a gallon of wine at least. So, in an average year, I will get 70 gallons of wine from vineyard. The rule of thumb is that you will get about 4.5 bottles per gallon, after some loss due to evaporation, barrel tastings, etc. The barrels are oak, so yes they do evaporate water throught the wood, but this only adds to the depth of flavor.

Harvest. I like to harvest grapes when the Brix is 26+ and the PH level is close to 3.5. Starting around September 1, I test each of my rows for sugar content and acid levels once a week.

I have harvested as early as the second week of September, and as late as the third week of October. It all depends on the weather and the relative vigor of the vines.
Obviously a hot summer will cause the vines to ripen sooner. Another factor is that the damn vines grown like weeds. If left unattended the vines will just grow too many leaves, and will send off many secondary shoots. The problem is the plant devotes too much energy for leave growth, and this extends the growing season. I try to limit each grow shoot to 16 - 18 leaves. I have to constantly pinch off secondary shoots, and pinch the end of the primary shoot to limit the growth.

The first clue the grape vines provide to you that they are starting to ripen is when veraison (?spelling) starts. This is when the grape color starts to change from green to red. The rule of thumb is that 6 weeks after this starts, the grapes will be ready to harvest. As well during this time, I selectively pull off leaves that cover portions of the grape clusters such that you get even sun exposure to the whole clusters which aids in even ripening. Also at this time I have to apply Bird Netting to the vines. Robins, Blue Birds, Swallows, Finches, etc, all love ripe grapes, and if unattended they would strip a ripening vineyard in a week. I lost my first harvest this way. Still they end up getting about 5% of the crop anyway as they peck through the netting. I also lost probably 400 lbs of grapes to racoons three years ago.

When we harvest, we invite friends and family over, and we get started early in the morning when it is still relatively cool, say 7AM. Everyone gets a row, pruning shears, and a 15 gallon plastic tub to drop the cut grapes in. We use different color coded plastic tubs to ensure we don't mix the varietals.

After all the grapes are harvested, we load them into the back of my pick em up truck, and drive to my next door neighbors house, where the grape processing equipment is stored. We weigh each plastic tub, and record the yield grape varietal, by grape varietal. Next, we group the color coded tubs together, and dump the grapes into an italian made crusher/destemmer. Basically this machine pulls the individual grapes from the stems and also removes the leaves. The partially crushed grapes and released "free run" juice flow into another plastic tub. Then we take this and dump it into a 50 gallon "food grade" plastic white container. When all the grapes are processed we have multiple separate varietals in their own fermentation container. I then test the PH and sugar content of each. I have an electronic PH meter, where I place an electrode in the juice, and it tells me the PH. I test the sugar level, by getting about 5 ounces of free run juice, and pouring it into a tall narrow cylinder. I then drop an hydrometer into the juice. The hydrometer (from your high school chemistry) measures the specific gravity of the juice and tells me the sugar level, and what the expected alcohol level will be after fermentation.

After this, I may adjust the acid level a tad by adding granulated Tartaric Acid (naturally occuring in grapes), to ensure the PH is 3.5 or lower. Next I add some
sulphur dioxide to kill any bacteria, or any wild yeast. This is maybe a teaspoon of this stuff. You mix is all together, then cover the containers for 24 hours. 24 hours later, I add carefully selected wine yeasts. There are hundreds of em. Since I harvest at Brix 26+, I have to ensure I select a yeast that can handle an alcohol level of 14% plus. Plus the yeasts I select bring out a strong berry/fruity aroma.

If I chose to ferment outdoors, the fermentation would finish in less than a week. I choose to ferment in a basement where it is cooler, and slows the fermentation. This allows the fermentation to take about 3 weeks. This is also known as extended maceration. A slower fermentation helps build a solid tannin structure for aging potential, and also helps bring out a deeper red color.

A natural by product of fermentation is CO2 and heat. An active fermentation can make the juice look like it is boiling. It doesn't get that hot, but the temperature can get above 95 degrees, which in my mind is too hot, and can give the wine a "cooked" flavor. You can control the temperature, by fermenting in a cool place, and also punching down the cap. The cap is loose grape skins. Since CO2 is released during fermentation, this gas pushes the grape skins to the surface of the wine. This creates an insulating barrier, and prevents the heat from escaping so this raises the temperature of the fermenting wine. So I take a gold old "clean" garden hoe, and push the cap down into the liquid, releasing heat, and CO2. Plus pushing down the cap, helps increase the grape skin to juice contact helps extract color.

Next I'll move on to more testing, and pressing the grapes, but that is another post.