Hello winegrowers, makers and drinkers. If you have grapes to sell or are looking to buy grapes, you can go to the Lamorinda Winegrowers website and click on the Add Post button on the top left to create an announcement that will go to members.
Other sources of grapes:
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.
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
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!!
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
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:
LWGA Board
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 Spectator News