making wine from Marquette grapes

[wood1954]

Too bad about the Marquette, nice that you have two backups. How much tannin did you get from the barrel? My Marquette this year has no tannin

 

[VillaVino]

Wood, I guess I don’t know the answer to that or know how to measure the tanin level. Kinda new to the finer elements of wine making. Just started measuring pH and TA last year. Anyway, the barrel aging has been interesting.

 

[wood1954]

Villa, you can measur the tannins by seeing how dry your mouth feels when you swish wine in your mouth. Swish a little wine and then drag your tongue across the roof of your mouth you should feel the tannins

 

[VillaVino]

Oh, that way. I thought I was missing out on some new piece of lab equipment that came out recently.
Three big days coming up. Will be harvesting ~500 Sabrevois tomorrow, 350 Brianna and Louise Swensons on Friday and 300 Prairie Stars on Saturday. Winery threw me for a loop and asked to get all reds one day and all whites the next. The Saturday harvest is for the home cellar where we have a nice group to help and process the grapes through the destemmer and bladder press. What little Marquette’s I got are fermenting Very nicely. I’ll press them on Saturday as well.

 

[Rob Kneeland]

So I planted some Marquette having never tasted a Marquette wine. Thought it might be prudent to taste some before tripling the size of my vineyard. Turns out there's a small vineyard 10 kms from me and they sell a 2017 Marquette. And WOW!! not what I expected. Bold and full bodied. I love Cabs and this stands up to them. They barrel for 2 years, not sure that's the magic but I am IN. If I can come close to that I will be a happy camper. I am in Ontario well out of wine country. Excited!

 

[JWT_Can]

Anyone try an EM in Marquette to increase tannin levels? I just pitched yeast on a baco noir and am considering doing this. Will also add oak during ML fermentation to try and get more structure.

 

[wood1954]

I don’t think there’s much tannin in Marquette. My grapes were exposed to the sun all summer due to defoliation and still very little tannin. However I use Avante yeast which might have something to do with it. I added 50 grams of tannin at crush and there’s none left now.

 

[justsipn]

@wood1954 I’m very interested in your experience with these grapes. I have a vineyard by me that is willing to sell me the grapes, crush them and provide the juice and skins.

I really would like to make a local wine. However, I’m fairly new to wine making. I’ve made a batch of rhubarb and now am aging a Malbec kit.

Could a novice make a good wine from these grapes?

thanks.

 

[wood1954]

Yes you can. Get some cheap tannin and add a lot at crush as the protein in the juice will bond with all the natural tannin. After fermentation add more tannin to taste. Doing MLF will help deacidify the wine. If the grapes are ripe you can make a good light red that needs a couple years of aging, it’s a fairly neutral wine so I think it needs oak. I also use Avante yeast as it ferments so clean and doesn’t add any off odors or flavors.

 

[JustJoe]

Yes you can. Get some cheap tannin and add a lot at crush as the protein in the juice will bond with all the natural tannin. After fermentation add more tannin to taste. Doing MLF will help deacidify the wine. If the grapes are ripe you can make a good light red that needs a couple years of aging, it’s a fairly neutral wine so I think it needs oak. I also use Avante yeast as it ferments so clean and doesn’t add any off odors or flavors.

I have read a lot of good comments about Avante yeast but I have not been able buy any unless I buy a 500g pack. Is it available to the home winemaker in amounts that make sense when we are making 20 or 30 gallons per year.

 

[wood1954]

Yes lodiwinelabs.com sells carboy sizes

 

[JustJoe]

Yes lodiwinelabs.com sells carboy sizes

Thanks!

 

[wood1954]

This years wine is thinner and less flavor than last years. I think it has something to do with the fact I defoliated most of the crop when I overdosed the vines with phostrol. I was thinking about the nature of Marquette how it might respond to being made as a white wine or rose as it is high in acid low in tannin. It might make a nice cold crisp wine. Next years crop will guide me I guess. I did cut down a large tree that shaded the vineyard all afternoon and will cut down some scrubby oaks that shade the vines till about 9 am, should help ripen the grapes quite a bit. Can’t wait till next spring so I can start again.

 

[JWT_Can]

@wood1954 I’m new to hybrids (I like baco noir), but I wanted to try to drain some of the juice to make a rose and have a more substantial red as well. Have you tried that before?

 

[wood1954]

@wood1954 I’m new to hybrids (I like baco noir), but I wanted to try to drain some of the juice to make a rose and have a more substantial red as well. Have you tried that before?

Not yet if I get a good crop n 2021 I’ll try it