Rain at Harvest: Finishing the End Game

I located an excellent, if long article written by Mark Chien of Penn State Cooperative Extension titled Rain at Harvest: Finishing the End Game. This seems especially relevant to our situation this year where we are finding our grapes reaching maturity sooner than last year which was in late September. Looking into the weather forecast, we are seeing the remnants of hurricane Hermine headed our way during the Labor Day weekend. This is what Mark Chien has to say about what to do when faced with rain at harvest:

• Rain is only one factor that forces growers to pick fruit before it is fully mature. Others include disease, birds, and frost. All will compromise wine quality if they shut down the vintage early. Keep fruit protected and clean, i.e. use nets and keep spraying even after veraison.
• Too much moisture on the fruit can be as bad as in the soil. Pick the grapes when they are dry. That may be difficult in our humid conditions with morning dew. If it rained at night, wait for the fruit to dry. Leaf blowesr can be used to blow moisture from the clusters and canopy prior to harvest.
• Do not let rain accumulate in grape bins. If it starts raining, bins need to be covered or moved under cover. Should macrobins have drain holes or not? That is a perennial question. Some varieties juice more than others and that juice is lost. But if it rains, it is certainly helpful to allow the water to drain. Some growers have used holes with plugs.
• Manage your yields carefully. This has to do with getting the grapes in the barn as soon as possible. Over-cropping will delay ripening and expose the fruit to more risk on the vine.
• Harvest fast. In some situations a machine harvester is the most expedient tool (and expensive). But if it is an option it should be in the decision loop. If not a machine, then a large enough, skilled crew of pickers (i.e. not friends, family, Kelly girls, etc.).
• Sorting fruit is really, really important, not just for stinkbugs and lady beetles but also rot and unripe fruit. I can think of few vintages in the past dozen that would not have benefited from fruit sorting, even the dry ones. Sort as often as can be tolerated - in the field and on the crush pad (if possible before and after the destemmer). Good wine can only be made from good grapes so get the bad stuff out.
• I used to think gadgets like concentrators and rotary fermenters were a form of cheating in the cellar. Now I believe they are no worse than using irrigation in an arid region. A few years ago Parker gave these wine making gizmos his stamp of approval. They are widely used in Bordeaux as a tool, but the wise vigneron does not depend on them as a crutch. I have been told that if used properly, they may help raise a declassified wine to a second label, but never a second to first. They can just as easily ruin a wine as help it if used improperly. I have tasted some 2009 red wines that were made using a rotary fermenter and they clearly have more depth and concentration than other reds from this difficult vintage. Gino Razzi at Penns Wood Winery told me that he think 75% of all wines would benefit from the proper use of a rotary fermenter. Saignée is the traditional method for dealing with grapes that have been diluted by rain and can work well if done correctly.