The Mission Grape at Mission San Gabriel

My husband has us subscribed to SOMM TV this winter and it is really interesting to watch the various shows on this program. One of the episodes that peaked my interest was about the Mission Grape planted at Mission San Gabriel in Los Angeles.
I have blogged about the Mission grape before in Red Grapes of California and California's First Woman Vine Grower and Two Horticultural Wonders.
This episode featured Terri Huerta, the Director of Development and Communications at Mission San Gabriel and the vine growing on the property known as the Mother Vine or Trinity Vine. From photographic evidence it was deduced to have been in existence as far back as 1765.¹

In the 1830s the vineyard at Mission San Gabriel had expanded to more than 170 acres producing as much as 50,000 gallons of wine per year! As Pierce's disease and Prohibition took its toll on grapevines, they fell into neglect with the exception of this Mother Vine that survived due to it's proximity to an underground aquifer.
In 2020, Huerta reached out to three Los Angeles winemakers Jasper Dickson and Amy Luftig from Angeleno Wine Company, Mark Blatty from Byron Blatty Wines and Patrick Kelley of Cavaletti Vineyard to see if they could propagate the vine. The winemakers noticed the grapes growing on the old vine and came up with the idea to make wine from one of the oldest grapevines planted in California.²
Harvest day came on November 3, 2024. Volunteers with BYOL (Bring Your Own Ladders), reached up to the grapes growing on a pergola. ³

Volunteer Jossalyn Emslie was enthusiastic about her participation in the harvest, saying that she was hooked. Nearly 400 pounds of grapes were harvested.

From this bounty, Dickson, Blatty and Kelley used a recipe found in the old Mission records and made their version of Angelica. The winemakers decided to use the Solera system, which is generally used in Sherry production to blend wines across vintages. Older wines add depth and complexity, and younger wines add acidity and freshness. For the Angelica, juice from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages were combined with the initial wine from 2020.⁴
As the harvest ended, a bottle of Angelica, with a depiction of the Mother Vine as the label, was served to the harvesters. The volunteers sipped beneath grape leaves that swayed in the cool breeze, noting the sweet and fruity nature of the wine.

Post Script: Something I learned about the Mission grape. From DNA tests conducted in 2014, the grape vine at Mission San Gabriel is a hybrid betweenVitis girdiana, a wild grape native to Southern California, and Vitis vinifera.¹ The Mission grape is a prolific varietal that originated in the Castilla - La Mancha region of Spain and brought to California by the Franciscan Friars.
The Mission Grape is also known as Listán Prieto in Spain, as Criolla Chica in Argentina and Pais in Chile.


References:
1. Scerra, Jennifer, "The Unfurling Story of the Homestead’s Grapevines", The Homestead Museum, May 27, 2020.
2. Snyder, Garrett, "Wine from the ‘Mother Vine’: A trio of L.A. winemakers are harvesting historic grapes at San Gabriel Mission", Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2020.
3. Romano, Natalie, "How ‘Angelica’ was born: Winemakers honor San Gabriel Mission", Angelus, November 21, 2024.
4. Duzdabanyan, Ani, "Los Angeles wineries release bottling from 18th century vine", Decanter, November 29, 2023.
5. Agran, Libbie, "The Mission Grape – Five Centuries of History in the Americas", Wine History Project, February 25, 2021.

2024 Chenin Blanc and SAD: Part Three

This is the final blog detailing the problem we had with our 2024 Chenin Blanc experiencing a sugar accumulation disorder (SAD) and suppression of uniform ripening (SOUR) problem.
The first blog 2024 Chenin Blanc and SAD: Part One was an overview of the grape ripening disorders that can occur.
2024 Chenin Blanc and SAD: Part Two focussed on sugar accumulation disorder (SAD) and suppression of uniform ripening (SOUR) both classified as grape ripening disorders that occur shortly after the resumption of ripening in stage 3.
In order to discover why the grape berries stopped accumulating sugar, the authors of the article noticed that:¹

• Once initiated, the impaired sugar import into the berries triggers downstream effects on primary and secondary metabolism before the visible symptoms of berry shrivel (BS) appear
• BS berries remained low in K+ (which, like sucrose, is imported via the phloem) and pH
• BS berries showed a higher total acidity in BS berry juice, possibly due to a concentration effect of less turgescent berries
• There may be a genotype that succumb to BS, which includes varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Blauer Zweigelt, Pinot noir, Pinot blanc, Durif, Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Nebbiolo, Chasselas, Humagne rouge, Gewürztraminer, Melon, Merlot, and Cornalin

BS is associated with major shifts in primary and secondary metabolism at the transcriptional level, resulting in distinct metabolic profiles. The authors made the following observations between healthy and BS affected berries:

• The brush, an opaque flesh consisting of vascular tissues in healthy berries, remains attached to the pedicel when the berry and pedicel are pulled apart; in contrast, the brush lacks flesh when BS berries are removed
• In BS berries, a higher percentage of cell death is observed near the seeds in the inner mesocarp
• In BS-afflicted clusters, the extent of the plugging of sieve tubs is much greater than in healthy berries

While the authors made all of these observations, they were uncertain as to the cause of the BS in the grape berries, they could only point to a disturbance in the onset of ripening.
I still found this an interesting review article to read. We will certainly be on the look out for SAD and SOUR in our grapes during the coming season.

References:
1. Griesser M, Savoi S, Bondada B, Forneck A, Keller M. Berry shrivel in grapevine: a review considering multiple approaches. J Exp Bot. 2024 Apr 15;75(8):2196-2213. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erae001. PMID: 38174592; PMCID: PMC11016843.

2024 Chenin Blanc and SAD: Part Two

Recently, I blogged about 2024 Chenin Blanc and SAD: Part One. This post is a continuation with the goal of trying to figure out what causes impaired sugar import into the grape berries. Sugar accumulation disorder (SAD) and suppression of uniform ripening (SOUR) are both classified as grape ripening disorders.
In order to understand why SAD and SOUR can occur in grapes, we have to go back to how grapes ripen since these disorders occur shortly after the onset of ripening. After fruitset and the first growth stage, the grapes enter into a lag phase before véraison. This progression of first growth, lag phase and véraison in grapes is characterized by a double-sigmoid curve, which is best summarized by this graphic:

For additional information about grape berry ripening, please check out this post: Grape Berry Development - Heading into Véraison.
Ripening involves higher levels of abscisic acid (ABA), brassinosteroids, and ethylene. Grapes affected with SAD or SOUR exhibit the following symptoms:

• Grape berries look deflated
• Reduced berry weight, symptoms appear shortly after onset of ripening
• Low (10–13 °Brix) due to arrested phloem influx
• Titratable acids often high due to berry dehydration
• Tartaric and malic acid content per berry not changed; oxalic and citric acid reduced
• Most amino acids reduced; higher hydroxyproline, arginine, and alanine
• Low yeast-assimilable N, K+, and other nutrients; low K+ in rachis and pedicels
• Low anthocyanins, genes for biosynthesis delayed; elevated skin tannins
• Rachis and pedicels are green and show no symptoms

Here are pictures of unripe Chenin blanc that we dropped prior to our harvest. Many of the grapes did have low °Brix that we checked for using our hand held refractometer or by taste test. The rachis and the pedicels did appear green so that did not help us in the culling but in the process of dropping nearly one ton of grapes, we were able to hone in on which bunches were likely to be affected with SAD and SOUR.

Next blogpost will be on the possible causes of SAD and SOUR mentioned in the review.
References:
1. Griesser M, Savoi S, Bondada B, Forneck A, Keller M. Berry shrivel in grapevine: a review considering multiple approaches. J Exp Bot. 2024 Apr 15;75(8):2196-2213. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erae001. PMID: 38174592; PMCID: PMC11016843.

A Visit to Ko Hana Agricole

Full disclosure, we were in Hawaii recently and went to visit the Ko Hana Agricole. We were interested in this distillery for two reasons, (1) our neighbors at the Taugwonk Facility are rum distillers and (2) we watched an episode of Taste Makers that featured the Ko Hana distillery. The distillery is located in Kunia, on Oahu.

We signed up for their tour and was met by Chiffon, who took us on the winery tour. Their name is Hawaiian for Ko "sugar" and Hana "work. She explained that they grow around 34 varieties of sugar cane that was brought over by the Polynesians when they came to Hawaii. Outside of their tasting room, they grow the various sugar cane that they use in their rum.
We then went into their barrel room where Chiffon explained the various barrels that were used to age the rum.

As we exited the barrel room, we were fortunate enough to see some fresh pressed sugar cane juice being pumped into their outdoor tanks, where it is fermented. After fermentation, the alcohol is put through the distiller. There are various cuts that are made in order to get just the most concentrated portion that would be free of other products such as methanol and ethyl acetate.

Then it was time for the tasting! It's very difficult "taste" rum so what I did was merely to sniff the rum and very carefully take a very small sip.

I learned that the Ko Hana rums come directly from the sugar cane juice, as opposed to other rums that come from molasses. Chiffon explained that there are only three ingredients that go into the making of a Ko Hana rum: cane juice, a special yeast selected to ferment cane juice and water.
We enjoyed our visit and came home with a souvenir that we plan to share with Veritable Distillers.