Vintage 2026: August Activities

Our summer so far: June was a month of hot and humid days followed by days of rain and July continued that trend. In looking back at July, it doesn't appear that there were too many days of rain, but what Mother Nature provided was enough to make our young shoots reach the top trellis wire and more!

When that happens, we are not in the vineyard and the vineyard will do it's own thing. In this case, the Chenin blanc will grow and reach across the alley and "hold hands".

In the photo above, the left side shows what the Chenin blanc looked like before we hedged and shoot tucked. On the right hand side shows what the alley looked like after we have hedged and shoot tucked. Ideally, the entire vineyard should look like the right side photo.
August is also when our white grapes begin to undergo the beginning of sugar accumulation called véraison in French. What this means for our work in the vineyard, is simultaneous to hedging and shoot tucking, we must also deploy our nets to protect the ripening grapes from birds and other critters that love sweet grapes.
We have a lot to do in August. We are hoping that Mother Nature is kind to us. Crossing my fingers!

The Impact of Ripening Stage and Maceration Time on Cabernet Franc

I am on a quest to understand how to tell the hallmarks of a good Cabernet franc wine. This article, "Sensory representation of typicality of Cabernet franc wines related to phenolic composition: Impact of ripening stage and maceration time," was in my email box and it seemed the answer to the question of what a good Cabernet franc tastes like.
The previous blogpost, What is JAR? was written to familiarize myself with the definition of "typicality" in wine and how to measure typicality using the Descriptive Analysis (DA) and Just About Right (JAR) Analysis. The authors focused their research on the influence of the harvest date and the maceration time on the wine style.
What are the hallmarks of wine quality?
There were 12 identical wines used in the DA and JAR analyses made from Cabernet franc grapes grown in the Loire Valley. For the DA analysis, a panel of 17 judges not related to the wine industry was chosen. Wine samples were poured at room temperature and resulted in the generation of 15 attributes from the judges. The judges scores each of the 15 attributes on a scale with “low intensity” on the left and “high intensity” on the right.
For the JAR analysis, nineteen judges (5 winemakers, 7 oenologists, 4 wine-merchants-maturers and 3 technicians) took part in the experiment. Twelve attributes were selected for evaluation. The judges were instructed as follows: “for each descriptor”, answer the following question: “do you think this descriptor is ideal from a typicality point of view, too strong, or too weak?” The 19 judges also were instructed as follows: “For each wine presented, answer the following question: “do you think this wine is a good example or a bad example of what an Anjou-Villages wine is?”
The takeaway from this analysis was that ripening stage was more important than maceration time in determining the typicality of a Cabernet franc wine from the Anjou-Villages in the Loire Valley.

• Prediction of wine quality based on the berry composition should also include their extractability during winemaking
• Ripening stage had a major influence on tannin extraction: tannin extraction from skins increased with ripening and then decreased
• As expected, acidity was lower and anthocyanin and alcohol contents higher with more advanced ripening
• Phenolic composition at harvest also explained the wine style
• Wines from later harvests were richer in proanthocyanidins, which may be related to their higher typicality scores
• From a sensorial point of view, harvest date was significant for typicality assessment: wines with the latest harvest date were more typical. Maceration time was not significant

To be honest, I wasn't surprised at their results. When we harvest our Cabernet franc, we are always looking at the balance of brix (sugar content), pH and titratable acids. If the harvest can be prolonged and sugar accumulation continued, then our Cabernet franc has the typicity of a good Cabernet franc that we are aiming for. Is there a typicality for Cabernet franc wine made and grown from grapes in our corner of Connecticut, that is the question.
References:
1. Yves Cadot, Soline Caillé, Alain Samson, Gérard Barbeau, and Véronique Cheynier, "Sensory representation of typicality of Cabernet franc wines related to phenolic composition: Impact of ripening stage and maceration time", Analytica Chimica Acta, 732 (2012) 91–99.

What is JAR?

We were in the midst of a heat wave last week that lasted from Thursday, July 2 to Saturday July 4. This week on Monday and today, we were getting pummeled by rain. These two events conspired to keep us out of the vineyard so it is a good time to read up on literature that I've downloaded and keep meaning to read.
The article that I am currently reading is called, "Sensory representation of typicality of Cabernet franc wines related to phenolic composition: Impact of ripening stage and maceration time," it is quite a dense article published in Analytica Chimica Acta.
One acronym caught my eye, called JAR, which means Just About Right (JAR) and refers to how to assess the typicality related to a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
Typicality is defined as the characteristics of a wine from a terroir including environmental factors, variety, cultivation and winemaking practices. The resulting biochemical and sensory characteristics of the wine make it possible to differentiate, identify and recognize the wine as coming from a specific PDO.
A little further into the article, I came across a tabulation of the descriptive attributes used to evaluate sensory properties of wines in the quantitative descriptive analysis (DA) and the Just About Right analysis (JAR)

Descriptive Analysis (DA)	Attributes	Description
Visual Olfactive	Color Intensity	Intensity of colour, from pale to dark
	Black currant	Blackcurrant (fruit and liqueur)
	Stewed red fruits	Jam of strawberries or raspberries
	Other red fruits	Fresh red fruits: strawberry, raspberry
	Pastry	Vanilla, cinnamon, candy
	Alcohol	Alcohol
	Empyreumatic	Smoky, toast
	Spciy	Pepper
	Vegetal	Green wood, freshly mown grass
	Humus	Undergrowth, moist wood, ground
	Animal	Leather, stable
Mouthfeel	Acidity	Intensity of sour taste
	Bitterness	Intensity of bitter taste
	Alcohol	Intensity of alcohol taste
	Astringency	Intensity of astringent taste
Just About Right Analysis (JAR)
Visual Olfactive	Color Intensity	Intensity of colour
	Shade	Shade of colour, from orange to purple
Olfactive	Odor intensity	Intensity of odor
	Red fruits	Shade of colour, from orange to purple
	Black fruits	Wine aromas that suggest black currants
	Ripe fruits	Wine aromas that suggest ripe fruits, candied fruits
	Vegetal	Vegetal, herbaceous, sweet pepper
Mouthfeel	Soft tannins	Tannins with smooth and fine textured astringency
	Acidity	Perceived acidity
	Thickness	The viscosity as an indicator of a full-bodied style
	Astringency	Drying and roughing sensation
	Length	The time that aftertaste persists in the mouth

The authors used these descriptors from Descriptive Analysis (DA) and Just About Right Analysis (JAR) and a panel of judges to enable them to draw conclusions. More about this aricle coming in another blog.
References:
1. Yves Cadot, Soline Caillé, Alain Samson, Gérard Barbeau, and Véronique Cheynier, "Sensory representation of typicality of Cabernet franc wines related to phenolic composition: Impact of ripening stage and maceration time", Analytica Chimica Acta, 732 (2012) 91–99.

Vintage 2026: July 1

The time is flying by as it usually does when there is vineyard work to do. On June 23, there was a huge rain storm that gave us 2 inches of rain. Rain in the forecast during flowering is a thing to worry about because it can lead to poor fruitset. I took pictures of our varieties on June 22 and most of our varieties were in bloom, if not the beginning of fruitset. The Cabernet Sauvignon was in prolific bloom so I wondered what the 2 inches of rain would do to the fruitset there.
Here are some pictures I took before the rain and after the rain:

Variety	Before Rain	After Rain
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabefrnet Franc
Barbera

Thankfully, the rain didn't affect the fruitset and the Cabernet Sauvignon looks very good. The next thing we have to worry about is the heat wave coming for the next four days!