A Walk Alongside Ripeness
Written by Alex Russan
How ripe your grapes are when picked is one of the most important factors in determining what your wine will taste like. Delicious wines of drastically different styles can be made from the exact same vines, simply as a result of harvest time (viticultural practices make a big difference as well). From a consumer perspective, you can see production trends these days shifting from the very ripe styles of the 90s and 2000s (big, lush, powerful wines), to much less ripe offerings (lighter, fresher, elegant wines), with many of these lighter wines being produced from the same vineyards that their bigger counterparts come from. As a home winemaker (and often as a commercial one), if you are purchasing grapes, pick time may be the one factor in the vineyard you can control, and, thankfully, it is a huge one!
This article is a journey in the life of a grape from under- to over-ripeness. From bright fruit to dark, earth to opulence, pyrazines to field oxidation. All grapes develop in their own ways, so to an extent these are generalizations that may not always be the case for all grapes of all sites, but it is a solid guide, aiming to help you harvest at the moment that will be most parallel with your stylistic goals as a winemaker.
Let’s get something out in the open here: The concept of ripeness is a moving target, and, quite frankly, a bit of a mess! Ripeness does not progress in a simple linear fashion. All of the different factors that determine ripeness develop somewhat, or entirely, independently of one another, and each will have a different pace every year. Vineyard management practices will also affect the pace of many factors. Sugar levels, acidity levels, and grape taste are the most common parameters used to decide when to pick, but there are many more — 20 worth considering, according to the insightful Winegrape Berry Assessment Handbook by Winter, Whiting, and Rousseau!
If you’re growing your own grapes, you’re able to pick at will, and micromanagement of any and all ripening variables is an option. For the rest of us who are purchasing grapes, however, Brix and, perhaps, acidity levels will likely be the only indicators of ripeness we will receive prior to requesting a harvest date. That being the case, understanding the grape variety and site is crucial to understanding how “ripe” the grapes will be (and how close they will be developmentally) relative to those numbers — which, to be clear, are very important numbers, but do not tell the entire story.
For example, a Chardonnay picked at 21 °Brix in a hot climate will be very different than that of a cool climate: The hot climate will be well into tropical aromatics with lower acid, whereas the cool climate will remain on the stony and citric side and contain more acid. In the same vein, a Chardonnay picked at 3.1 pH in the hot climate would likely be grossly underripe and green, with very low sugars, whereas the cool climate may be well developed with reasonable sugar levels. Understanding where the different ripening variables will be relative to one another for a grape in a specific climate is paramount to picking at the moment that will lead to the wine you want.
The same goes for vintage variation, although you cannot completely control the pace of the many ripening variables (and vertical tastings would be boring if you could!), you can choose to pick earlier or later, aiming to keep the wine in line with your style goals and for what would be best for that vintage.
A factor I rarely hear discussed, and one I consider of the utmost importance to pick decisions, is the stage of aromatic development of the grape at the time of picking. This, of course, is not a factor that can currently be measured and is also one of the only factors that cannot be directly manipulated post-harvest. Brix, acidity levels, tannin, and color can all be measured, as well as manipulated after harvest. Beyond what the grape provides, aromatics can only be imprecisely tinkered with via yeast selection, added to with oak, or, especially in whites, use of enzyme preparations high in beta-glucosidases. The type of aromatics a grape will yield change tremendously during ripening, and, I believe, so does the degree to which a grape can express its individual terroir.
Of course, matching an appropriate grape variety to a vineyard site is critical in growing grapes in which ripeness characteristics will come together harmoniously in most years. In vintages or areas where they do not, the aforementioned manipulations or additions may be necessary.
Viticulture Guidance: Tissue Analysis
If your vines or grapes are not looking fully healthy or fruit set or production has been an issue, it could be due to a lack or excess of either major or minor nutrients and minerals. (or over or under irrigation, mildew or poor soil health, etc)
One of the tools to assist with nutrient and mineral adequacy is a petiole (leaf stem) and/or leaf tissue analysis. This test will provide a report of both deficiencies or excesses. And the analysis can be used to improve the future health of your vines and grape quality and/or quantity.
Such vine tissue analysis tests are typically either done during bloom/fruit set or veraison. Since we are just at veraison, if you are interested, now is a good time to do a test. There are several companies who do such tests. One testing company others and I have used is FGL. Here is more info for the FGL analysis:
Request the comprehensive leaf/petiole analysis. They will bill you $58 for this. Follow instructions for sampling at veraison. Make sure to collect your samples in the morning, and cut the stems (petioles) of the leaves right away otherwise nutrients can flow from petiole to leaf, and brown bag them in separate bags instead of using ziplocks. I send them in one usps priority mail box instead of overnight but if you dont mind paying the upcharge you can also send by overnight ups, etc. If you use priority mail, get them to the post office before noon on either monday or tuesday so they get to the lab before the weekend, and send them to the Santa Paula address.
The January LWGA meeting will be focused on viticulture topics, so if you do a tissue analysis and have questions you can bring them to this meeting.
May your grapes be happy and your wines red or white or pink
Gerard van Steyn
Board Member
REMINDER: Lamorinda Wine Growers Association General Meeting – Sunday, July 29th at 3pm – Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette
Dear Members,
Just a reminder that the bi-monthly membership meeting that will be held at the Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette on Sunday, July 29th at 3pm.
The winners of white and light red wines from the members choice wine judging on April 29th will pour their winning wines and talk about how they were made.
Please bring a bottle of wine and appetizer to share. Parking is limited so having people carpool would be ideal.
If you haven’t paid your 2018-2019 dues, please make a payment thru the website or bring your checkbook to the meeting.
We hope to see you at the meeting!
LWGA Board
Summer Vineyard Managment Operations
Fellow Growers,
Happy Summer!!
Captain Vineyard July 2018
if you are out and about your vineyard the activities that you would expect at this time of the summer are:
1- Check your water system for faults and breaks
2- Sucker, tuck, hedge your vines for accessibility and visual appearance
3- leaf thinning, north side of the canopy, to expose the clusters to air & sun
4- Take a stroll between your vines and assess your 2018 quality and quantities of grape
5- Proper integrated pest management, is for sure, a must in the Lamorinda Area
6- Make sure you have a home for your 2018 crop, if you are doing any trade, please consider the attached document between grower & winemaker
If you have any questions please contact: susan@captainvineyards.com
Cheers!!
Lamorinda Wine Growers Association General Meeting – Sunday, July 29th at 3pm – Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette
Dear Members,
We hope to see you at our bi-monthly membership meeting that will be held at the Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette on Sunday, July 29th at 3pm.
The winners of white and light red wines from the members choice wine judging on April 29th will pour their winning wines and talk about how they were made.
Please bring a bottle of wine and appetizer to share. Parking is limited so having people carpool would be ideal.
If you haven’t paid your 2018-2019 dues, please make a payment thru the website or bring your checkbook to the meeting.
We hope to see you at the meeting!
LWGA Board
New Plans for Meetings!
Fellow Winemakers and Winegrowers,
To make our association both more informative and fun, we will now have a meeting every other month, instead of every third month, and the meetings will include new information and resources for improving winemaking and winegrowing. See below for our new and improved plans for meetings!
Also, mark your calendars and hold the date: the next meeting will be on Sunday, July 29th from 3 pm to 6pm. Location TBD. At this meeting some of the members choice white and Pinot winners will be pouring tastes of their wines and talking about how the wines were made. This will be a fun and informative meeting!
New Meeting Schedule:
- Viticulture and Farming EducationalMeeting – last Sunday, January
- Topics such as pruning, foliar sprays, organic options, sunlight and leaf pull, irrigation, mildew control, leaves/clusters, soil health, etc
- Potluck and social
- Member’s Choice Wine Rating – Last, Sunday, March
- Members submit wines for judging, with categories for within and outside the AVA
- All members can taste and rate wines.. all they need do is pick their 1stand 2nd choices in any category of wine
- Everybody gets to taste and broad range of AVA and non-AVA wines and compare notes.
- Annual AVA Celebration and Dinner/Fundraiser – 4th Thursday in May
- Celebrate AVA and generate some funds
- Promote local AVA wines
- Examine the unique terrior of different areas within the AVA
- Eat, drink and be merry.
- LWGA White and Light Red Wine Member’s Choice Winners – Tasting, Winemaking Explanation and Discussion – last Sunday, July
- LWGA Red Wine Member’s Choice Winners – Tasting, Winemaking Explanation and Discussion – last Sunday, September
- LWGA Holiday Party – 1st Thursday in December
- Fun potluck/wine/social party!
LWGA Board
Wine Results and Upcoming Meetings
Happy Mother’s Day/Sunday Wine and Vineyard Folks!
It’s been a very nice spring, and vines in Lamorinda generally are starting out with more, and larger clusters. We don’t want to jinx things, but its safe to say we are off to a good start to the 2018 growing season!
Following are the results from the AVA Celebration Wine Tastings. Thanks to all the members who participated in the judging. Next year we are thinking to redo the wine judging at a separate meeting devoted just to that. And to make the judging easier for members, instead of rating each wine, all we will need to do is taste them all and then select your two favorite wines (in each category). This type of members choice rating format will be more fun and will let more members participate as well!
Now we can get to the fun and informative end-result of the evaluations:
The next meeting will be on Sunday, July 29, 3 – 6pm. At this meeting, the makers of winning whites will be pouring samples of their wine and will explain how it was made. This will be a fun and informative meeting, with lots of great white wines to sample!
And then at the following meeting, which will be on Sunday, September 30th, the winemakers of winning red wines will be pouring and explaining. This meeting should be even more interesting, because we will be able to taste and compare side by side more AVA and non AVA wines made from the same grape! One thing we will be focusing on is what unique characteristics are in AVA wines.
Next will be our annual Holiday party, which will be on Thursday, December 6th. Mark your calendars, start getting your party hat designed and dancing shoes shined, cuz this is going to be a fun night. We will also be sending out more information soon about the new plans for meetings to occur now every other month.
Here is a link to a slideshow from the AVA Celebration: https://lamorindawinegrowers.com/photos/?wppa-occur=1&wppa-slide&wppa-album=16
LWGA Board
Wine Due Today, Celebrate on Sunday
Hi Vine/Vino Folks,
Your wine submissions for the 1st AVA Celebration Wine Rating event are due by end of today. If you are dropping your wine off tonight, Bill Scanlin will be dressed in his chef’s apron and will be handing out freshly baked cookies. (okay, the part about the cookies is fake news, and we are not really sure what Bill will be wearing)
We have a good group of judges on board, including Lamorinda’s poet laureate/wine writer and the wine buyer for Diablo foods. Plus, we have members as judges as well, just so we all can agree to disagree with whatever they say.
So, if you have been playing classical music (or Milli Vanilli) to your bottles of wine, getting them fully prepped for the event, today is the day to get them to Bill, dressed in his apron and all. (6 Lois Lane, Lafayette)
And if you still need tickets, or more tickets for friends or family, or fans of Milli Vanilli
LINK FOR TICKETS: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-lamorinda-american-viticultural-area-celebration-tickets-44563386288
Important: Each bottle of wine needs to be labeled with the following:
- Wine/Winemaker name
- Wine Type and Varietals if a Blend: ie Cabernet Sauvignon 90%, Cab Franc 10%
- Year of Vintage
- Source of Grapes: ie: 100% AVA sourced: Orinda or Non-AVA Napa: Mt. Veeder
- $5 per wine entry, 2 bottles per entry (so Bill can drink one)
LWGA Board
Please Submit Your Wines for the 1st AVA Celebration Members Choice Wine Rating
Hello fellow LWGA members. The AVA Celebration is right around the corner: this Sunday! Now we need your wines for the first members choice blind wine rating event. We encourage everyone to enter at least one wine. You will get blind feedback from members, which may or may not be accurate, but it certainly will be interesting.
As an added incentive, we are excited to announce that Amy Glynn, the first Lamorinda poet laureate and wine bard will be tasting wines and joining our celebration. Amy will be impressed by the quality of Lamorinda wines and could help to build the reputation of the Lamorinda AVA by her future articles and community involvement.
All wines entered will be brown bagged and rated by members who wish to participate in the judging. Who knows how the members judging will turn out, but one thing is certain, it will be fun and informative – and your own private “judging” notes will be given to each submitter at a later meeting. Plus, at future meetings we will get to taste the winning wines and hear how they were made!
Wine Rating Logistics:
All wine entries need to be dropped off by this Friday, April 27th, so we have time in advance of the wine evaluation event to get everything set for the blind tasting. Please submit 2 bottles of wine for each entry, as this will provide enough wine for the evaluation and the remainder will be made available for other members and the general public to taste during the AVA Celebration.
Please drop you wines off at Bill Scanlin’s house, 6 Lois Lane, Lafayette CA, along with a check made out to LWGA for $5 per entry to cover costs. If someone is not home in the Scanlin’s house when you drop by, there will be an ice chest by the front door wherein you can leave your wine and the entry fee.
Important: Each bottle of wine needs to be labeled with the following:
- Wine/Winemaker name
- Wine Type and Varietals if a Blend: ie Cabernet Sauvignon 90%, Cab Franc 10%
- Year of Vintage
- Source of Grapes: ie: 100% AVA sourced, Orinda or Non-AVA Napa, Mt. Veeder
Event Details
- When: 4:30 to 5:30pm. Sunday April 29, Lafayette Community Library
To signup to be a wine judge/evaluator, please email gerardvs1@gmail.com or call Gerard at 707-758-7441. If you have any questions, or wish to volunteer to help out, please email Gerard at the email above or Daniel Howsepian at5powderhounds@gmail.com. If you want to coordinate your wine drop off with Bill, his email is bscanlin@gmail.com.
We are looking forward to a fun wine tasting event! If it works out as hoped, this could the first annual!
LWGA Board
