My Marquette grapes are at 21 brix - I would like to get to 23-24 before picking. If sunshine and 85F weather were predicted, I would certainly wait. We have a week of damp/not so warm (70-80F) weather on tap. I have made the decision to wait another week. The grapes look OK for the most part - some black rot on stems and downed clusters, but most are doing OK. Any thoughts on waiting for a better brix, or picking now and probably not getting great wine.
Brix 21, wet weather, Marquette
- Thread starter farmer1
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I’d wait a couple weeks. With my Marquette, I wait for the acid to drop to get the pH into the 3.4s. This usually gets my brix to 24-26, but I’m more a fan of adding acidulated water to drop the brix, than trying to drop the acid.
Masbustelo
Junior Member
I know that some people would mix potassium metabisulphite with water and spray the clusters themselves in this situation.
Rain rain rain for a few days! I have not checked pH or TA yet - if the brix hits 23 this weekend, I'll harvest and check then. I have a very small vineyard, so I don't check pH/TA until I've harvested all the grapes. The main part of the vineyard is only 2-3 years old (about 45 vines) - next year should be my first big year (14 vines are 5 years old).
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If your growing season was anywhere near as wet as it was in New England(my vineyard had 11 inches of rain in August!), the wine quality will not be the best this year no matter what decision you make. Good luck with your harvest whenever you take them in!
