Time to Check Some Numbers for Our White Varieties

On Friday, September 22, we were looking at the prospect of a rain soaked weekend. Although we were spot checking the Brix (sugar content) of our white varieties, Auxerrois, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay we had not done a thorough assessment. We picked representative berries from all of our white varieties which meant walking nearly 2/3rd of the vineyard.
These are the numbers that we got for our white varieties:

Variety	Sample Date	Brix	pH	TA
Auxerrois	September 22, 2023	18	3.25	6.3 g/L
Chenin Blanc	September 22, 2023	17.5	2.89	13.5 g/L
Chardonnay	September 22, 2023	18	3.12	8.2 g/L

As a comparison, we took some numbers for our white varieties a week earlier last year:

Variety	Sample Date	Brix	pH	TA
Auxerrois	September 15, 2022	19	3.02	12.2 g/L
Chenin Blanc	September 16, 2022	18.8	2.82	13.8 g/L
Chardonnay	September 15, 2022	20.6	2.88	12.1 g/L

The comparison shows that the sugar accumulation in the Auxerrois and the Chardonnay are definitely lagging although the pH and the titratable acids (TA) are where we want it to be. The Chenin Blanc appears to be very similar to last years numbers although a week behind.
We have some decisions to make to determine when we will harvest our white varieties. Hoping Mother Nature brings us no more rain!

Daizenji: Grape Temple In Japan

Mother Nature is giving us a day off today by sending us some rain. We took this time to relax and watch NHK World this morning and a program called Seasoning the Season featured a Grape Temple named Daizenji in Japan. This resonated with me in so many ways. First of all, my mother is a Buddhist minister so I thought of sending her this information and since we grow grapes it was very interesting to me. I looked on line and found a link on The Sun Daily that showed a picture of the Buddha with a bunch of grapes:

Legend has it that in 718 AD, during the Nara Period (710-784 CE), a famous Japanese Buddhist monk and traveller called Gyoki was visiting the Koshu Valley. During this visit, Gyoki was said to have a dream in which he met the Buddha of medicine, aka Yakushi Nyorai, who held a bunch of grapes in one hand and a bottle of medicine in the other hand.
This dream inspired Gyoki to found Daizenji in the Koshu valley, located in the Yamanashi region, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Tokyo, which is famous as the home of Mount Fuji.

Gyoki also began cultivating the koshu grape for medicinal purposes. He taught the Yamanshi residents how to make wine, proclaiming the fruit’s health benefits. Gyoki had the farmers collect and ferment damaged grapes, mixing it with copious amounts of sugar, creating Koshu wine.
To honor the Buddha of his dream, Gyoki carved a 85.5-centimeter-tall statue of Yakushi from a single block of cherry wood. Currently, this statue can be seen and worshipped when it is unveiled once every five years.
Today, the temple’s head monk, Tesshu Inoue, is also the lead vintner. He has made koshu wine for 40 years and holds tastings for visitors. The winery at the heart of Daizenji temple, produces 9,000 bottles of wine annually. Currently, the koshu wine is one of the few Japanese wines that has garnered international attention.

Although I could not find any information on when the Koshu grapes become ripe, it has me wondering if it is harvest time at Daizenji Temple.
References:
1. The Sun Daily
2. KCp International
3. Koshu Valley
4. Wooden statue of Bhaisajyaguru（Yakushi Nyorai

Getting Ready to Make Wine

We made our annual trek to Musto Wines Grape Company to get our yeast in preparation for making wine. Over the years, we did our homework and researched some of the yeasts that we were interested in using to ferment our white and red varieties. We used the Scott Laboratories Handbook and have settled on a few yeasts that we feel are the right fit for the grape varieties that we grow.

Variety	Yeast	Yeast Characteristics
Auxerrois	QA23	S. cerevisiae bayanus Alcohol tolerance 16% YAN requirements: Low Temperature range: 59 - 90 °F Fermentation speed: fast Competitive factor: Yes MLF compatibility: Very good Sensory effect: Evc Fruity (esters) Tropical (thiols) Citrus (esters and thios) Floral Spicy Aromatic whites: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc
Chenin Blanc	QA23	S. cerevisiae bayanus Alcohol tolerance 16% YAN requirements: Low Temperature range: 59 - 90 °F Fermentation speed: fast Competitive factor: Yes MLF compatibility: Very good Sensory effect: Evc Fruity (esters) Tropical (thiols) Citrus (esters and thios) Floral Spicy Aromatic whites: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc
Chardonnay	D47	S. cerevisiae cerevisiae Alcohol tolerance 15% YAN requirements: Low Temperature range: 60 - 82 °F Fermentation speed: moderate Competitive factor: Yes MLF compatibility: Very good Sensory effect: Evc, M Fruity (esters) Citrus (esters and thios) Floral Mouthfeel Aromatic whites: Chardonnay Rhône Style Whites Rosé Suitable for barrel fermentation
Cabernet Sauvignon	F15	S. cerevisiae cerevisiae Alcohol tolerance 16% YAN requirements: Medium Temperature range: 68 - 89.6 °F Fermentation speed: moderate F15 is for the production of fruity, well-balanced red wines with good mouthfeel (high glycerol production). It is suitable for the vinification of musts with potentially high alcohol concentrations, especially Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.
Cabernet Franc	FX10	S. cerevisiae cerevisiae Alcohol tolerance 16% YAN requirements: Low Temperature range: 68 - 95°F FX10 is for the production of elegant wine, with more volume on the palate (polysaccharides) and silky tannins.
Barbera	F83	S. cerevisiae cerevisiae Alcohol tolerance 16.5% YAN requirements: Low Temperature range: 68 - 86 °F Fermentation speed: moderate F83 has been selected for its ability to produce fruity, round, supple wines for early release on the market. Due to its short lag phase and easy implementation, ZYMAFLORE® F83 guarantees efficient and complete fermentations.

Here is the link to the Scott Laboratories Handbook, it is a very handy reference to have:
Scott Laboratories Handbook

Vintage 2023: Veraison

It's that time of the year when we begin to see our grapes soften and change color, indicating that they have begun the process of ripening or veraison. For the red varieties, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Barbera, veraison is a visual thing because they change color from green to red. We first noticed the change in color around August 24th and a week later, most of the grapes had turned color.

Veraison in our white varieties, Auxerrois, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay is one of using our sense of sight and touch. The dark green color of the grape will turn to a pale green and the hardness of the grape will give way to a softening to the touch. At that time, the sugar level measured by our hand held refractometer is around 12 degrees Brix.
It was time to update the Annual Cycle of Growth. Having missed bloom, I was not going to miss veraison.

When the grapes begin to accumulate sugar, it's a race against the birds. We have yet to find a way to have our netting at a level where the grape tendrils don't wrap around the netting. Every year, we talk about putting the netting at the lowest slot on the line post, so that it is just a matter of raising the netting to the appropriate slot and deploying it, but once again, we are cutting tendrils and shoot tucking.
Fortunately for us, we have some dedicated friends, Mary and Barry (and for a few days, Mary's sister and brother-in-law), Curt from Old Saybrook and our granddaughter who eschewed going to the beach with her family to help us clothes pin the netting on Labor Day!

2017 Bel Lago Auxerrois

Recently, we had this 2017 Bel Lago Auxerrois with some Japanese food. To us, it tasted like a well balanced wine with lemon flavors and a kick of acidity at the back end. It is fermented and sur lie aged for 11 months in neutral oak barrels.
We are very interested in tasting Auxerrois made by other wineries because we grow Auxerrois ourselves. For us, it is the first of the varieties to ripen and while we track the Brix, we determine harvest by the pH and titratable acidity (TA) of the grapes. We don't want the pH and TA to get too high, which might lead to a flabby tasting wine. When harvested, the Auxerrois provides us with a wine that is between 11-12% alcohol.
Our journey with Auxerrois began when one of us was being adventurous and ordered a glass of Clos des Rochers Auxerrois. It tasted like a very different expression of a white varietal and made a big impression. We learned that we could obtain the Clos des Rochers Auxerrois from a nearby wine purveyor and when we went there, our friend who used to be one of the wine purchasers admitted that he was the one serving the Auxerrois!
When it came time to decide which grapes to plant in our vineyard in 2013, we ordered custom grafted Auxerrois from Mercier because of the three white varieties we chose to grow (Auxerrois, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay), Auxerrois would ripen first followed by Chardonnay and then Chenin Blanc. This order has proven to be correct. It is important not to have to harvest all your varieties at the same time and have a little bit of a break after each harvest. For us, each of our harvests is an expression of the conditions of the growing year.
Auxerrois we have tried and I have blogged about:
2012 Adelsheim Auxerrois
2011 Clos des Rochers Auxerrois
2012 Odinstal Auxerrois
2008 Josmeyer Pinot Auxerrois
2017 Bel Lago Sparkling Auxerrois
2018 Shiba Wichern