Chilean Grapes

[K&GB]

I'm considering buying some Chilean grapes from a local winery here in MD that imports them. It would be my first time to try to make wine from grapes instead of a kit. I'm thinking of trying Malbec and Viognier. They come in 18 lb packs, so I'll get 5 each to make 6.5 gal malbec and 5-gal viognier. Any thoughts?
Ken

 

[ibglowin]

If you can get them I say go for it! Most of us can't seem to get our hands on them so if you can your lucky.
Keep us posted!

 

[Bartman]

Definitely go for it! Keep in mind you will need to do a lot more of the "prep" work than with kits - crushing/destemming and pressing the grapes (FVW has that equipment on site for rental, but it would cost around $500 min. to purchase the smallest volume equipment new, and can easily go up from there for larger volumes - makes rental attractive for once-a-year use); and testing and balancing the grapes for acid, sugar, pH, etc. Don't forget choice of yeast and oak (if desired), and clarifying agents; since wine from fresh grapes will demand longer aging than kits, you may decide to avoid clarifying agents (bentonite, isinglass, etc.) entirely and let time and gravity do the work.

For almost all these "needs", there are workarounds that are crude and usually effective, but not efficient or tidy. For example, instead of a fruit press, you could squeeze the grapes by stomping (a la I love Lucy), but a press is *much* better in every way, unless you are filming a sitcom. A crusher/destemmer does the work in seconds that would take you hours to do manually, but you *can* pull the grapes off the stems and break the skins by hand. Airborne yeast will probably go to work on your grapes, but you won't get to choose from the various profiles of yeast available in the marketplace. And if the grapes are in good condition and ripe, from a good vineyard, then there may be little balancing and adjusting to be done anyway - there is something to be said with a "natural" approach of fermenting what the sun and soil and vines produced without adjustment.

So, lots of possibilities and lots of stuff to think about before the grapes arrive. But I would jump at the chance if I were you! What sort of prices is the dealer quoting? - FVW sold the California lugs (36 lbs each) for $32-$44 each last fall, if memory serves. Don't know how shipment costs will vary from Chile, but are there a lot of choices of varietals available? If only Malbec and Viognier are available, it may be 'surplus' grapes and you ought to get a better deal, than if you are pre-ordering a custom 'selection' of grapes and quantities.

All kinds of issues to think about, but it's all part of the fun!

 

[harleydmn]

Where in Md? I really like to get some and do my first wine from grapes.

 

[K&GB]

Thanks for the advice. I'll need it! Here's the website. You'll see there are a number of choices, and they're all about the same price.
http://stores.harfordvineyard.com/-strse-template/grapes_chi/Page.bok

 

[harleydmn]

Thanks, I order 2 buckets of sauvignon blanc juice. This time juice than in the fall going to make wine with grapes. Very new to this and learning a great deal. I'm very excited to be getting the juice buckets. I may have a ton of questions.

 

[Bartman]

Wow, what a difference in prices between the juice and the fresh grapes! By my calculation, 5 lugs of any of the grapes would cost about $140 (plus crushing/destemming and pressing costs) to make 5+ gallons, while juice is only $50 for 6 gallons. The fresh grape prices are a little higher than FVW's, but the juice prices are surprisingly low - in fact, that is cheaper than the most concentrated kit! I can only wonder if there is something wrong with the juices, lower quality in some way.

Ken, I would consider getting 6 (instead of 5) of the 18-lb lugs unless you have a 5 gal carboy and some one gallon bottles too - FVW's orders were for 36 lb lugs (~2 gallons each), and 3 lugs was just a little over 6 gallons after pressing. I doubt 5 those 18 lb lugs will yield 6 gallons unless you press them excessively, which would be bad because too much pressing squeezes out bitter juice and other stuff from the seeds and skins (if you like fresh grapefruit, you could compare it to squeezing the grapefruit rind after the flesh is squeezed dry). Unless you plan on using a 3-gal carboy and some 1 gallon bottles too.

I wouldn't recommend it on your first go-round, but if you have smaller vessels and want to experiment, you could try different yeasts with the same type of grape in 1-gallon carboys (as well as other 'experiments' with blending, MLF, oak, aging, etc.). There is enough to learn and struggle with the first time that I would strongly advise you to keep it as simple as possible - one varietal, one yeast, one carboy, one process rather than varying it with different 'test' batches.
The website's description of winemaking from grapes is pretty complete; simplified down to the basics, but you'll discover it is not quite as easy as that makes it sound

. There is always a problem or two that crops up; experience is a great teacher, of course. And it doesn't address the various 'options' available to you when making fresh grapes compared to kits - for example, what kind/toast and how much oak, how long to leave it in contact, etc., but keeping it simple will give you a baseline and not be as overwhelming.

There are quite a few other folks on this forum with a lot more experience with fresh grapes/juice than me (two 'harvest years' of making wine with grapes), so don't be afraid to ask. I recall some of the basic problems seemed like there should be an obvious solution (and there was), but it wasn't obvious to me! Once you get past the pressing stage and it is aging in a carboy, the process is the same as with a high-end kit - bulk-age it for 9 months+ and rack it every 3-4 months with a little sulfite (if necessary). Good luck!