Fall in the Vineyard

October is here and before we got too full from turkey dinners, a lot was going on in the vineyard

This year wine was made from Siegerrebbe, L'Acadia Blanc, Chardonnay, Osceolo Muscat, Madeleine Angevine and Sylvaner, Epicure, Amiel, 48-05-83, Labelle and Leon Millot. That is a pretty good harvest! Some of our shorter rows had low yield, so I expect there will be a bit of blending going on.

Petite Milo had very nice looking fruit but sadly I think too much was left on and it never really got above 17 brix, and much of the fruit on inner parts of the bunches was only at 14-15 Brix. Lesson learned for next year.

At this point the vineyard is set for winter. Irrigation has been repaired and the system drained and all the bird netting has been rolled away for next year.

Below is a final tally of the Brix readings for this year. Bracketed numbers are the final 2016 readings.

WHITES

Siegerrebbe: 18 (2016 20.5 brix). Large cluster with large berries. Picked this at 18 this year in order to hold the acid levels.

L'Acadia Blanc: 21 (2016 21.5 brix). Loose cluster and medium size berries

Chardonnay: 18 (fruit removed to powdery mildew in 2016). Medium size clusters and berries

Osceolo Muscat: 21 (2016 19.5 brix). Loose cluster, but large with medium berries

Auxerrois: 18 (fruit removed due to powdery mildew in 2016). Very little fruit this year due to heat stress

Madeleine Angevine: 20.5 (fruit removed due to powdery mildew in 2016). Medium to Large berries and large cluster

Madeleine Sylvaner: 19.5 (fruit removed due to powdery mildew in 2016). Large clusters and berries

Epicure:  18 (2016 19 brix). Loose clusters with medium berries

Petite Milo: 17 (2016 21 brix). Medium size clusters and berries.

Amiel: 18 (2016 20.5 brix) - Large clusters and berries


RED

48-05-83: 18 (2016 17.5 brix). Medium cluster and berries

Labelle: 18 (2016 21 brix). Loose clusters, small berries

Baco Noir: 19 (2016 16 brix). Very little fruit this year due to heat stress.

Zweigelt: 17 (2015 20 brix). Very little fruit this year due to heat stress.

Leon Millot: 21 (2016 20.5 brix). Medium bunches with medium berries

Pinot Noir:18 (2016 17.5 brix). Loose medium size bunches with medium berries

Regent: 18 (2016 18 brix). Very little fruit this year due to heat stress.

In a lot of cases slightly lower numbers then 2016. It is possible we could have tried to hang the fruit a bit longer; however our weather did take a bit of a cool turn so it likely would not have made too much of a difference. While our summer was quite hot and dry, I think overall our season was a bit shorter this year given the cool spring and early fall temperatures.

As always comments are appreciated,