Recent content by JimInNJ

Gino Pinto is a little over an hour from me, and the Carmenère is tempting. Single variety, or should I be thinking about blending partners?

Lando545, what color were those grapes supposed to be, and when did you harvest? My Cab Franc wasn't a whole lot darker than that when the frosts shut down the vines in late October. Photosynthesis doesn't work well in the 100s, or without the sun.

Red and white in the same cluster it seems. Breed in Peru from Spanish parents. Valued for use in the local brandy. Subtle ripe tropical fruit aromas. In addition to salcoco's questions, where in the US would you like to grow it, and what is the intended use?

I had some Medium French, so I included that in the picture too. The American that I said tasted the lightest looks the darkest, exactly as Ajmassa5983 predicted. Hungarian and French almost identical.

First off, thanks for all of the words of encouragement. And I agree with all of the above comments, especially regarding the surprising intensity of the French oak. If this had been a blind tasting I probably would have assumed that the French and Hungarian were the same origin but different...

I have some preliminary results from one of the experiments I'm running on my 2018 Dornfelder. The wine was fermented with BDX, D80 and RP15 yeasts and kept separate until after MLF was complete. Some of each was set aside for a yeast comparison experiment. The rest was blended, then divided...

From News12 New Jersey: It’s official – 2018 was the wettest year in the Garden State on record. Climatologists say that New Jersey saw over 64 inches of rain on average statewide this year, which is almost 20 inches above normal. “2018 is going to go into the record books as the wettest year...

I've used CH16 several times over a few months. I fold over the opened end of the packet and put the packet into a vacuum sealer pouch and seal that. Then into the freezer. When you take it out of the freezer let it come up to room temperature BEFORE you open it. Otherwise condensation...

Are there still separate xoaker/cube batches? Eagerly awaiting Christmas for an update on this thread.

I had a cheap one that was virtually useless. But the Extech PH220 continues to exceed my expectations. Every time I get it out I expect the probe to be dead, but instead find that it is still good and even in calibration.

Extech PH220 has worked very well for me. I only had to replace the original probe once a few years ago because the temp sensor went bad in it. You do need to let it sit still in the sample for a minute or two to get a stable reading. Very accurate and holds calibration well. Take good care...

Cane to cordon is easy. The other way might be a bit more work, haven't tried it, but as long as you keep a healthy spur near the trunk I think you'd be good. Tuns of information about spraying and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) here and on the university extension web sites. Is the...

Dornfelder is vinifera, so you will need to work out a spray program and stay ahead of the diseases. You get a year or two to figure it out before you have to do it for real with fruit on the vines.

Thinking back, it was during the Dornfelder harvest that we first saw the DM this year. It started raining the next day and I had to try to keep leaves on the Syrah and Cab Franc for another month. Next year will be better.

I have 6.5 foot for each of my Dornfelder. I have read that cordon and spur may not be the best way to prune them because of a tendency not to set fruit on the first few buds. I have not tested that. I cane prune mine. They have long internodes and are fairly vigerous, and I'm finding that...