The Microbial Community of Grape Berry - Part 2

In the previous blog, The Microbial Community of Grape Berry, the topic was about the four groups of microorganisms that include (1) residents, (2) adventitious, (3) invaders, and (4) opportunists that can populate the grape berry. This is Part 2 on the topic of the microbial community of the grape berry.
In this blogpost, I will take a closer look at the grape berry and in particular, the skin also called epidermis and/or cuticle.²

The grape berry cuticle is comprised of:

• the insoluble cutin, a chloroform-insoluble complex polymer consisting mostly of C16 or C18 ω-hydroxylated esterified fatty acids, the major structural component matrix
• a mixture of waxes: the intracuticular waxes, which infiltrate the cutin framework, and a thin amorphous epicuticular wax layer which accumulates on the surface and is composed of a very complex mixture of long-chain lipids
• the major components of cutin are C16 and C18 fatty acid esters
• the composition of the cuticular waxes changes during the period from flowering to maturity, revealing an increase in waxy deposits and significant modifications on the wax surface morphology
• differentiation of the cuticle layers and a decrease in the thickness of the primary cuticle is further detected at harvest leading to the susceptibility of ripe grapes to B. cinerea infection
• during the final stage of growth, the berry surface is smooth, continuous and homogenous, with a 3 μm thick cuticle

The grape berry cuticle plays several important roles:

• constitutes a physical barrier between the external environment and the inner tissues
• provides protection against biotic and abiotic stresses
• are metabolically active during development and ripening
• exhibit endocrinal function
• during the early stages of infection can act as elicitors of plant defense responses
• may dissolve and retain some isoprenoid volatile organic compounds released by grapes – a potential nutrient carbon source for the berry microbiota, particularly the resident community

We now know the microbial community present on the grape berry, a bit more about the cuticle surface that these microbes live on and the function of the cuticle. Stay tuned for further blogs on the "Microbial Community of the Grape Berry".
References:
1. V. Loureiro, M. M. Ferreira1, S. Monteiro1 and R. B. Ferreira, "The Microbial Community of Grape Berry", The Biochemistry of the Grape Berry, Chapter 12, 2012, 241-268.
2. Dunsford, P.A. and Sneyd, T.N., "Pressing for quality", Proceedings of the Seventh Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference.

The Origins of Zinfandel

I came across this interesting article on the origins of Zinfandel in Tasting Table and learned that there is a group called Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, or ZAP, an organization that celebrates all things Zinfandel. This article hooked me and reeled me in, in so many different ways.

First of all, it began by siting the Trincheros who purchased Sutter Home Winery in 1948. I wrote about the Trincheros in a blogpost that I titled Sometimes a Stuck Fermentation...., in it I confess that Sutter Home White Zinfandel was one of my go to wines. (Drinking wine must begin somewhere!) This sweet blush wine and the best seller that it became saved the Zinfandel grape from being totally replaced by sexier varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon in California.
Secondly, one of the mysteries of Zinfandel was it's country of origin. It was observed that Zinfandel and Primitivo from Italy appeared to be the same grape variety. Prof. Carole Meredith, highly acclaimed UC Davis plant genetist, observed that Primitivo grew in Puglia, just across the Adriatic Sea from Croatia. She became interested in researching the grape varieties in Croatia. In 1997, Prof. Meredith and a Croatian team together tramped through vineyards until they found a scant handful of vines that turned out to be an ancient grape variety called Crljenak Kaštelanski, which Prof. Meredith determined is genetically the same as the grape we call Zinfandel (and also Primitivo). With the help of a historian, Prof. Meredith traced the history of the grape variety to the Middle Ages when it was an important variety in the Adriatic region, which was then called Tribidrag.
Thirdly, I had written about Founder Varieties from an article written by Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times on October 2012, called "Where it all began...", where Jancis Robinson lists Tribidrag as a founder variety.

Variety

Description

Tribidrag

Tribidrag is also known as Crljenak Kastelanski and Pribidrag in Croatia, Primitivo in Puglia and, most famously, as Zinfandel in California. This ancient variety migrated across the Adriatic to Puglia and thence to California – probably via nurserymen in Vienna and New England. Since its origins have been definitively identified as Croatian, it has been enthusiastically planted there, with the total number of known vines having mushroomed from 20 to more than 200,000. The Zinfandel connection also halted a widespread decline in the area planted with Primitivo in Italy, particularly in the western Salento peninsula in Puglia. But most of the world’s plantings are to be found in California, where it is the second most popular variety after Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of these vines are 100 years old in some of the world’s oldest vineyards. Wines vary from syrupy pale pink “White” Zinfandel to spicy, long-lived relics of the state’s early Italian immigrants.

Lastly, I followed the link to Prof. Meredith's website Lagier Meredith at the end of the article and looked at all of the information including the type of wines that she and her husband, Steve Lagier make and sell. They offer their Tribidrag (aka Zinfandel) as well as a wine called Precious Bane.
I was interested in why Prof. Meredith named her wine Precious Bane because I read a book by Mary Webb called "Precious Bane" because Jancis Robinson had alluded to that book as the reason why her first name is Jancis. So, a little more sleuthing. Googling Jancis Robinson and Precious Bane lead me to Jancis Robinson's site Jancis Robinson – the long version, where I discovered a surprising answer. In January 2013 Jancis Robinson learned that by a strange coincidence Professor Carole Meredith, a grape geneticist and co-owner of Lagier Meredith vineyard and winery on Mount Veeder high above the Napa Valley, is the great niece of Mary Webb. Her paternal grandfather's sister, maiden name Gladys Mary Meredith, was the author of Precious Bane!
This very strange and interesting cosmic connection had me hooked and I just had to blog about it!
References:
1. Meggan Robinson, "The Origins of Zinfandel", Tasting Table, January 21, 2023.

Happy Lunar New Year

We celebrated lunar new year or Chinese New Year last night. My mother, sister, brother and sister-in-law made this fabulous spread of food.

They made scallops with a beurre blanc sauce, mushrooms, garlic shrimp, grilled kielbasa, steak, fresh green salad, potato macaroni salad and rice. All we had to do was get some wine.

The wine stores are really providing some outstanding choices. We got a 2010 Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia and a 2018 Ridge Geyserville to pair with the food. Our dsughter, son-in-law and grandson also joined in the celebration and brought green tea and vanilla mochi ice cream which was the perfect way to end the degustation!
Gong Hei Fat Choy!

The Microbial Community of Grape Berry

During the 2022 growing season, we did a really good job of taking care of our canopy and keeping diseases out of the vineyard until.....the disastrous rains came.
We were able to harvest the Auxerrois on September 25 and the Chardonnay on October 2 which came in free of rot and later the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Barbera on October 21 which were also clean.
However, in the middle, the Chenin Blanc harvested on October 16 and 17 was doing very well until the rains came on October 6, 8, and 13 and each time it rained, we lost a little more of our crop to rot.
Now is the time to look back and figure out what we can do so that we are not repeating this unfortunate scenario in the future.
Fortunately, I came across "The Microbial Community of Grape Berry", a chapter in the book called The Biochemistry of the Grape Berry.¹ The book was published in 2012 and this chapter is a very comprehensive look at what kinds of microbes are present on a grape berry at any given time.
It is a very long chapter so I'm going to break it up into digestible bites which will be written up in subsequent blogposts. The one big takeaway from this report is that there are 4 distinct groups of microorganisms that can be present on the grape berry.
This is a summary of these various groups from a table provided in the chapter:

The residents are microorganisms on the undamaged grape, from berry set to harvest, that use nutrients available on the surface of immature or mature berries.
The adventitious are those detected on berry surfaces, at any phase of berry development, but without the ability to grow and whose presence derives from mere contamination by both biotic and abiotic vectors.
The invaders are those which manage to penetrate through the intact skin tissue by their own means to gain access to grape pulp (or leaf) nutrients. They thrive from berry set to veraison and do not require the existence of skin lesions.
The opportunists, also called copiotrophic residents, are those able to grow, typically after veraison, at the expense of grape pulp nutrients as a consequence of microfractures or wounds in the berry skin.
It is not enough to know what types of microbes are present, it is also important to know when they are resident on the grape berry and what impact it has on the condition of the berry. These are some topics I will cover in the next blogposts. Stay tuned!
References:
1. V. Loureiro, M. M. Ferreira1, S. Monteiro1 and R. B. Ferreira, "The Microbial Community of Grape Berry", The Biochemistry of the Grape Berry, Chapter 12, 2012, 241-268.

2021 Chinon

It's a little disorienting to go to a wine store that you've never been to before to pick out a wine. We knew we wanted a rose and looked at the selection and shook our heads. Nothing interested us until we came to an aisle that had a bit more wines that caught our eyes. My husband picked out this Chinon rose for approximately $24.00. We knew that we wouldn't go wrong with this Chinon because it was imported by Kermit Lynch. Furthermore, my husband recognized the maker---it was Charles Joguet! We were pairing it with food from Side Strret Inn. It was perfect! The wine wss dry with strawberry notes balanced with a nice acidity. We would buy this Chinon again!
In searching my blog I found that we had a 2010 Charles Joguet Chinon Cuvee Terrior in 2015, a Cabernet Franc which we enjoyed paired with duck l'orange!

Ruby Roman Grapes

Sticking with the topic of wine oddities such as World's Oldest Wine, here is an interesting story that came through my news feed on the most expensive grapes in the world.
According to this article, the most expensive grapes are called Ruby Roman grapes. These Ruby Roman grapes are grown in hothouses in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. My husband and I regularly tune in to our NHK app so we know a little about how the Japanese take extra care in growing their grapes.

Each grape is monitored and manicured so that every grape in a bunch looks identical. Each grapes must weigh at least 20 grams and must have at least an 18% sugar content. Ruby roman grapes have a uniquely sweet flavor, are mouthwateringly juicy and have a low acid content.

The annual harvest consists of a mere 24,000 bunches. There are three grades of Ruby Roman grapes (1) superior grade, (2) special superior grade, and the (3) ultra and rare premium class grapes. The superior grade accounts for 90% of the Ruby Roman grapes and costs between $90.00 to $140.00. The special superior grade Ruby Roman grapes account for approximately 10% of the total harvest and can sell for $450.00 a bunch. The loftiest category, the ultra and rare premium superior grade Ruby Roman grapes are exactly that, ultra and rare. In any given harvest there might be two bunches that meet this category. To achieve this status, each grape must be 30 grams and the bunch must weigh a minimum of 700 grams. This category of Ruby Roman grapes is certified and can cost $1000.00 a bunch!

In 2020, there were only 25000 Ruby Roman bunches available for purchase. It’s so expensive that in 2020, one bunch was sold at auction for 12,000 USD. This equates to around 400 USD per grape!
References:
1. Mashed, "These rare Japanese grapes could cost you thousands", Hannah Beach, January 15, 2023.
2. Ruby Roman Grapes.
3. Thuy Fang, Japan Ruby Roman Grapes: The Most Luxurious Grapes, October 26, 2022.

World's Oldest Wine

I really enjoy reading about the amazing longevity of wine. Bottled wine is a living entity and how long it lives speaks of it's composition, the specifics of the vintage and how carefully it was stored and handled.
Previously, I've blogged about:
1540 Steinwein Tasting, where Hugh Johnson tasted the 1540 Steinwein, along with a Rüdesheimer 1857 and the Schloss Johannisberger 1820 and of those three wines, the 1540 Steinwein was still alive!

I read about this nearly 1700 year old wine in IFLSCIENCE¹ which had a link to the original story. The Historical Museum of the Palatinate in the western German city of Speyer houses the world's oldest bottle of wine found in a Roman grave near Speyer in 1867.
This bottle of wine has been on display in the museum for 100 years. Ludger Tekampe, heads the department responsible for storing the wine. The wine is in a 1.5-liter bottle adorned with dolphin-inspired handles and is estimated to date back to 325 CE. The longevity of the wine can partially be attributed to the fact that it was sealed with wax and not cork, which would have discomposed long ago. In addition, a layer of olive oil was put into the bottle to protect the wine and currently accounts for more of the volume in the bottle than wine. So far, no one has clamored to want to taste this wine. Everyone is afraid of handling it. Ludger Tekampe himself has only handled the bottle twice in the 25 years that he has been at the museum and opined that he wasn't sure what would happen to the wine if it became exposed to air. Still it is a remarkable discovery and just to have it on display is quite the nod to wine longevity and history.
References:
1. Rachel Funnell, "The World's Oldest Bottle Of Wine Might Actually Be Safe To Drink", IFLSCIENCE, Tue, 10 Jan 2023 12:32:46.
2. Museum scared to open ancient Roman wine, The Local, 9 Dec, 2011.

2019 Maison Lou Dumont Bourgogne

My husband is in his winter experimental cooking mode and recently he was dabbling with pork chops. He made a delicious stuffed pork and wild rice. The friends we invited to partake in his experiment brought the perfect simple green salad with a balsamic, olive oil and honey dressing. The dessert was a seasonal apple galette.
Pinot Noir is what you want to pair with a white meat like pork so we paired the meal with this 2019 Maison Lou Dumont Bourgogne. I wasn't paying much attention to the aroma and the flavors of the wine as I enjoyed the stuffed pork, fortunately we have a bit more of this Bourgogne to taste and I might append notes to this blog.

However, I did learn that the wine is made by Koji Nakada and his wife Jae Hwa Park. Koji Nakada was a Japanese Sommelier who left Japan in 1996 and moved to Beaune to study enology. His French teacher was Jae Hwa Park whom he married. They make their home in Gevrey-Chambertin and began their negotiant business in 2000. The name of their business, Maison Lou Dumont comes from his goddaughter's name "Lou" and from the French word for mountains. If you look closely on the label, you can also see the Japanese kanji for sky, earth, and man.

Koji Nakada makes his wines with minimal intervention. He strives for aromatic complexity and fine tannins and above all expressiveness of fruit. I am looking forward to tasting this wine again with more attention to the aromas and flavors.
References:
1. Vineyard Gate Selections, An Afternoon at Maison Lou Dumont, June 14, 2014.

Vintage 2023: January Weather

It is now 9 days into the New Year! This is the first vintage report. I found it interesting to look back to 2022 to see what the January Weather was a year ago. It was definitely warm but on the 10th and 11th there was a cold snap. This year seems to be following the same trend as temperatures have been in the 40's!

We have yet to see our first real snowfall and the days ahead look to be equally mild. Usually the month of January is a time that we catch our breath from the previous year's work, but it appears that we could be in the vineyard sooner than we planned.

2011 Salice Salentino Rosso Riserva

We were able to have this 2011 Salice Salentino Rosso Riserva on that fateful candlelight New Year's Eve dinner when the lights came back on and my husband was able to see the cork to pull it out. This was a good pairing with the takeout pizza that we feel fortunate enough to have scored from one of the area pizza places open on New Year's Eve!
First let me say that this wine is already 11 years old! The aroma was one of black cherries, black raspberries and the flavor was fruity with a back end of acidity which really appealed to me. The pizza was the perfect foil.
The label on the back of the bottle gave more information: The wine is made from 90% Negroamaro and 10% Malvasia Nera and the wine is aged in oak barriques for 6 months.
This wine is imported by Skurnik, who also imported Victorine de Chastenay Crémant de Bourgogne, that I wrote about earlier.
In looking at my tasting notes from February 13, 2011 (which I found during my end of the year cleaning) I noted that this wine was $14.24. In 2022, it was not that much more expensive, you can get it for Less than $20.00 which makes it a very good value for your money.

Vintage Notes

One thing that I didn't get to do at the end of 2022, was to collate the vintage notes. I have been keeping vintage notes from 2015, when we made our first wine, under the tab called Vintage Notes.
Here are the vintage notes for 2022:
Projecting a 5 Year Harvest---2022
Vintage 2022: Winter is Definitely Here
Vintage 2022: February Update
Vintage 2022: March Update
Vintage 2022: First Day of Spring
Vintage 2022: April is Here
Vintage 2022: April Update
Vintage 2022: It's May!
Vintage 2022: Annual Cycle of Growth - Budbreak
Vintage 2022: June Update Annual Cycle of Growth
Vintage 2022: It's July!
Vintage 2022: July Heat Wave
Vintage 2022: Véraison in the Auxerrois
Vintage 2022: It's September
Vintage 2022: October
Vintage 2022: October Update
Vintage 2022: Summary of Our Yearly Harvest Statistics
Vintage 2022: December Recap of this Vintage
All in all, it was a good year for us. Again, we'd like to thank the people who helped us throughout the growing season, all of the people who came to help us during harvest, and Jonathan Edwards and his crew that made Vintage 2022 a success!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you! On New Year's Eve, we had dinner by candlelight.

The mood was set not by choice but because a transformer near our home caught on fire. This was the third of "terrible" incidents on a holiday that we experienced at the end of 2022!
We are happy to turn the calendar to a New Year. My New Year's Eve resolution---be more conscientious about keeping up with blogposts!