Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Planning for Harvest

I should have my best crop ever this year. I've been selectively thinning the crop to improve overall quality and reduce the demands on the vines. Despite the fact that we've had a dozen or so days with daytime temperatures above 100 degrees I am starting to see hints of powdery mildew appearing in spots in my vineyard. This needs to be corrected early because if it spreads to the clusters you lose those grapes. I came across an old fashioned remedy that appears to work. Mix one part milk with nine parts water and spray directly on the powdery mildew. It apparently kills the mildew on contact and helps prevent repeat appearances. I'll report later on the results.

I expect to get close to 1000 pounds of grapes in this harvest from my vineyard, maybe more. I'm guessing 700 pounds of Zinfandel 200 - 300 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon, and 100 - 150 pounds of Petite Sirah. This yield would produce about 25 cases of wine 18 months from now, but I plan on buying grapes from a grower in Amador County. I expect to buy some Syrah, and Barbera grapes as well. Probably 500 lbs of each, and I may just get some more Tempranillo, as my first attempt at making wine from this grape was ok, but the potential is there.

When it gets this hot the vines basically shut down so it doesn't really help the grapes ripen. It's supposed to cool off (drop below 100) by tomorrow, so this will help a lot.

It is important to buy grapes in certain lot sizes to accomodate barrel sizes.
1000 lbs fills a 60 gallon barrel, 500 lbs fills a 30 gallon barrel, 250 lbs fills a 15 gallon barrel (although this barrel size is almost impossible to find, and doesn't justify the cost).

Friday, July 14, 2006

Wine Competition News

I live in Placer County, California. My winemaking neighbor and I shipped some wine to the Orange County Fair for a large Home winemaking competition, and came away with two silver medals. We entered our wine in an unofficial tasting in Placer County months ago, and went head to head with 18 professional wineries with our Petite Sirah, and our 2004 Petite Sirah was judged best overall of all Professional and Home made entries.

Now we are submitting two Petite Sirah's (2004 & 2003) to the California State Fair competition.

I won't know the results until August 21st. In the interim we will submit wines for the Nevada County Fair during the first week of August (while I am in Hawaii).

It's been a pretty hot summer to date, and the vines are doing great. It looks like an earlier than expected harvest. I'm guessing mid-September. We'll see how it works out. I have a huge and healthy crop. I'm thinning the crop to reduce the strain on the vines, and to improve the quality.