Kennell Estates Vineyard & Winery

[OilnH2O]

Bob, my apologies for not checking your thread sooner. Seeing your house tore down tore at my gut. I can't imagine what it was like for you. Glad you're back into the game.

BUT... the news about the grapes you just came by is wonderful! And, you now you now know how "red" and "white" got its name!

Here's my suggestion -- two labels -- one simply all RED and the other blank, or "white." Think of the ink you can save!

Best wishes,

Dave

 

[grapeman]

Check the numbers and make the best wine you can from them. Just call them ByChance Red and ByChance White. I'm thrilled you got some.

 

[ibglowin]

Fantastic news Bob!

Call it Heavens White and Heavens Red!

Better find a press soon!

Very happy for you!

 

[travolta1179]

Hi guys,

Last weekend my youngest daughter went to a wedding and at the reception she started talking to an old friend she had not seen for awhile. He told her that they had just purchased a place and there was a vineyard on the property. They had been trying to find someone to use the grapes before they all went to waste. Brittney told him that I made wine and would probably want some grapes......he gave her my number. I called the next day and arranged to go get some grapes. When I got there I found that he had 30 rows 300ft long divided into what I think are 3 different varieties. Two red and one white. I checked the brix and found one of the reds to be ready to harvest ( some grapes in this bunch were even starting to raisin). With no crusher/de-stemmer I crushed and de-stemmed enough that I now have 12 gallons of must that I added a yeast starter to last night.

With none of the posts marked how do I determine what varieties of grapes these are???

Can they be sent off and tested to find out what they are. The owners have a call into a guy that helped establish the vineyard. Hopefully he can remember what they are

I got fresh grapes after all...... I just don't know what I have..... LOL !!!!!

I tried to pay them some for the grapes, but they said they were just going to go to waste this year anyway so just use what you can. I plan to go back again !!!!

BOB

Hi,

I wanted to know what happens if you don't add yeast? My father never added yeast and his wine is good. Yet I wanted to make some good wine and not sure what route I should be taking to succeed. any tips? I don't want to add to many chemicals like bisulfide. For example my dad always crushed the grapes and never removed the stems. I want to improve the wine making. I appreciate your help.

Regards,

Fred

 

[fivebk]

You can let natural wild yeast ferment your wine, but it can be very unpredictable. Good one time not so good the next. If you use a wine yeast what that strain can do is very predictable. I myself would not try and make a wine without the addition of some sulfites AKA K-Meta. There are way too many things that can take over a wine and spoil it. I have been told that if you ferment a wine with too many stems it can become very bitter.

As with anything your choices need to be yours and not what someone else tells you to do.

BOB

 

[fivebk]

Dave ( OilnH20 )

Great to hear from you again !!!!

BOB

 

[travolta1179]

Thank you Bob,

I'm just concerned for health reasons, where sulfates can be bad. Ok so adding yeast sounds like a good thing to do to control fermentation. I live in Montreal Quebec in Canada and we purchase grapes from California. Which means that the grapes have been harvested at least 7 days before and shipped to Montreal. Now is taking the refractive index at that point a wasted time?also is purchasing a bladder press a good investment?

Thank you in advance,

Fred

 

[fivebk]

Fred,

You can use a refractometer and take a reading, but in the end you will be going by a hydrometer reading. a PH reading and a TA ( total acid ) reading. I would be more concerned after waiting 7 days to get them crushed tested and started quickly.

A bladder press would be a great investment if you can afford one, but it's not at all needed to have that good of press unless you plan on doing a whole lot of grapes in the future.

I pressed 12 gal of red must this morning and ended up with 10 gal of wine. My press is just a screw type ( not even a ratchet type ) and I think it worked fine.

BOB

 

[fivebk]

Update: I talked with the owner of the small vineyard that I got grapes from last fall. He told me that he wanted to try and work the vineyard this year,but had not a clue how to do so. We talked for awhile and I agreed to help him care for the vineyard (for free grapes this fall). The last 2 weeks I have been going over and pruning grapes whenever the weather was nice. counted the rows and the vines. There are approx. 1440 vines in this vineyard......WOW am I going to be busy or what!!!!!!

BOB

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds like a good trade depending on how much work you have to do and how much you get back in return. Did you ever find out what variety these are?

 

[grapeman]

Yes you should be pretty busy this year with all the work in them. Good luck and how is the pruning coming. My pruning is going REALLY slow as I only have enough stamina for a row or two a day. I need to get the boys busy out there soon so we can get them going good.

 

[fivebk]

Good morning Mike,

I talked with the vineyard owner again about finding the owners that started the vineyard and finding out what the three varieties of grapes are. He told me not to hold my breath on him finding them for he has had no luck so far. He would like to sell grapes this fall (pick your own type of thing) but I told him that may be hard to do if you can’t tell them what type of grapes he has.

I am pretty sure one variety is concord. If I had to guess about the other red I would say it is Frontenac and the white…… WHO KNOWS!!!

Rich, good to hear from you

I am glad to say that pruning is done. It was a BEARCAT!!!! You see these vines have had no care the last 2 years. They were tangled, overgrown, broken and had sucker shoots everywhere. Cordons needed re-tied. Some needed re-started. Some I even had trouble figuring out what was the cordon and what wasn’t. Wires still need to be tightened, some repaired . Out of 28 rows (48 vines per row) the owner pruned 5 and I did the rest. My back, arms, legs and hands are SHOT. I still don’t know how you take care of all those vines by yourself.

Rich, my wife and I have had you and your family in our prayers everyday. Stay strong and keep a positive attitude……..God will take care of all the rest!!!!

BOB

 

[grapeman]

Sounds like a lot of work for sure Bob. Glad you got it done. Be sure you lay claim to enough grapes to make all the hard work worth your effort.