Small lot hobby winemaker here in NJ interested in buying grapes in the 100-500 lb range. Willing to pick, willing to drive a few hours. Primarily interested in some of the newer east coast friendly varietals such as cab franc, blaufrankisch, Marquette, Albarino etc. but not against hybrids.
Racked my spring crop of Chilean Cab Franc and it’s offshoot rosè and Piquette. Did a lot of carboy and equipment washing outside in my backyard with the hose. Hot day here so it was a fun way to cool off a bit and get some water on my dry grass.
Might be a good idea to make a few lots with different acid and tannin levels prefermentation which might integrate better when added to wine for corrective purposes
This fall:
6 gallons of Soave Classico juice from Italy
6 gallons of Verdicchio juice from Italy
6 gallons of Valpolicella juice from Italy
15 gallons of yet unblended Mourvedre,Grenach & Syrah from Amador grapes. Trying to copy Ch. Beaucastel
5 gallons of Primitivo from CA grapes
5 gallons...
Check out the site below. It's a marketplace for NY vintners. While they might not want to sell in smaller quantities, at least you'll have an idea of who has fruit available. Most of the time they'll be ok with selling you a few lugs.
https://flgclassifieds.cce.cornell.edu/ad-category/grapes/
Just a noob here when it comes to winemaking but I work for an importer of some of the finest rosè out of France and have tasted hundreds of them. I agree that blending is the way to go. It sounds to me like you'd benefit from blending a more aromatic varietal such as Viognier to lift up the...