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Harvest time!

I have been letting it hang out here -- trying to get as much time on the vines since we've had 70's and 80 degree days, in the 40's at night. "Indian Summer" here in Montana and, if it wasn't for the constant smoke in the air, it would be absolutely delightful. (The smoke from fires, bad cell service, and mosquitoes all keep the riff-raff away, you know!)

We have had close to 60 days without precip here in Zoo Town, but the WX Guy said earlier it was going to "change on Wednesday") and last night, said a cold front was coming in and with it, a slight chance of rain, maybe at most, a trace -- or just a little more. So last night, after dinner, I raised up all the bird netting in anticipation of getting the grapes in, in the morning before it warmed up.

At 5:30am this morning a trip to... well, woke up... and heard the lightest of light rain drops on the skylight -- not much. Since I'd planned to pick today, I thought I can be leisurely, have coffee, read the paper, let what little rain there was drip off the vines, and start clipping a little later. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. BUT, SWMBO, who still works (Aside: even though I am semi-retired -- I heartily recommend this arrangement!) and gets up at 6:30, said "Sweetie... I can see snow on the skylight...." Rats.

But, I got up, put on the coffee and took a look outside. 35* Some light snow on the fence post tops, a little on the railings, and just a bit of white on the gathered-up bird net on the top wire of the rows. "Not even enough to show up in a picture," I thought. Just as I picked up the paper and got my coffee, my wife said, "Look outside." Thinking it was a deer-alert, I asked, "What?"

BIRDS!

Is there NO rest for the laborer in the vineyard?
 
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Bwahahahahahaha.... :)

That will teach you!

That little vineyard is being watched 24/7 by those flying rats. Did you cover back up or harvest?
 
:u

My fingers were freezing -- and SWMBO says, "Smile!" :pic

Then, "I can't see the grapes!" :w

(Yep. The white stuff is the reminder that this is NOT a grape appellation!)

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Why we grow pinot noir in montana!

"Even a blind pig finds an acorn, now and then..."

My hands aren't as purty as Rich's but I sure do like these grapes! Big, heavy clusters of Pinot Noir -- wow. (Oh, the Foch and Millot weren't bad, either. Although one Foch vine had lots of still-green grapes -- I'm sure I screwed it up, somehow! BUT, my, what nice Pinot!

The bushel basket will give some idea -- that's some Edelweiss in there as well.

(Must is right at 20 brix)

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Two big thumbs up Dave. What a day it sounds like you had. And I think your hands are just as purdy as mine. Bwahaaahhhaaaha !

Love the Pinot.
 
Chem 101

Two big thumbs up? That's more than I deserve, Rich - but it does give one a little satisfaction that some payback can eventually find it's way to even the most obscure vineyard! Thank you.

But, I've still got a looong way to go and much to learn. Wow, though - but it's a kick! :)

Okay - basics (Thanks, Mike!)

Brix - 20.0
Temp. 9.9* C (or 49.8* F)
pH - 3.37

So... maybe I ought to put this on a different sub-forum, or start a new thread somewhere else... but I need to figure out how much K meta to add - I need about 50ppm for "sterilizing the must" -- but I probably need to figure out what's there first. (Then, there's TA!)

The must is in a 30-gallon food grade "garbage can" -- with all the skins and much of the stems (I didn't finish getting them all out - needed a glass of wine!) When I washed the "can" I rinsed with K-meta and I'm sure there was some residual in the can, in drops on the sides, etc. So that's something to figure out.

What does that can look like? It looks like this!

:) :) :) :)

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You are definitely the ugliest "Lucy" I have ever laid eyes on! :)

Congrats on a Pinot harvest in Montana!

As far as a "wipe the slate clean" KMETA dose you need to make up a 10% solution of sorts. 10gm/100ml H20 or 5gm/50ml or 2.5gm/25ml then you add 15ml for 10 gallons of must. Take it down from there if you have less than 10G must after crushing.

I honestly didn't worry about it on my little backyard harvest as I went from harvest to crush in such a short period of time but you may have more than me.

Very happy for you Dave!
 
Mike,

To be honest, I'm thinking about just pitching the yeast tomorrow and seeing what happens. Although I must agree, "chaptalization" has been on my mind! (Cox, Vines>Wines) says sometimes, "...or add none at all and trust to luck." Meaning: the k-meta) Adding the sugar is easy enough - I can figure that easy to bring the brix up.

Part of the problem is that we are leaving for 8 days (Durango) to meet SWMBO's parents for a fall camping trip. That will be time for my junior partner (whose tuition I pay and says he'll stop by each day and punch down) to step in so that our labels that say "Mihalic and Son" actually MEAN something.

Other than a few spiders and at least one earwig, I'm not sure what's in there that is really bad!
 
Dave great pictures and thanks for sharing.

Oh, about the barrel picture. There are about a dozen captions one could come up with for that one. :)
 
Dan, thanks to you... ("How?" you ask? I bought one of the Milwaukee pH meters that Mike said you had, and said you liked it. It worked slick!)

Mike, I just checked the must's SG -- it's at 1.086 - so according to the table I have (and adjusted for the temp at 49-50* it would be 1.085) it comes out at 11.9 percent alcohol. So... I'm thinking, the more I think about it... to just leave it alone and see what happens? Your thoughts? I'm not married to that decision, so if *anyone* reading this has a good idea, I'm game to listen.

Oh, and Dan, when my wife wanted to take those "crusher" pictures, I asked "Why?"
"So you can post them on the forums, Sweetie!"

So, I had warning. But Mike's right = no, I'm no Lucy... Ethel, maybe -- at least my legs! :db

(Oh... and there are more that I could have posted!)
 
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I would bump it just a bit, say 12.5-13% but thats just me you could let er ride as they say!

I didn't see any TA readings. The pH is low due to not being fully ripe but you may or may not have plenty of acid as it drops off as the brix increases usually.
 
I'm going to add some sugar to bump it to about 22 brix - and the TA was color change started at 6th 10-cc was swirled in - noticeably greyer/darker as the 7th milliliter finished. I'm guessing then, 0.65 TA - maybe .7?
 
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Very nice! What size is she? I just used mine for 450lbs today. Last 4 primaries. Could not have asked for nicer pressing weather!
 
It is a 25 -- and will probably be the right size (SWMBO thinks so; thus, it's right -- but I was going to get a 35. But, the shipping is the killer. I ended up with the smaller size, but still paid almost the same price as the 35, un-shipped. It will be good for smaller sizes, and other fruit, sure - but the 35 seemed to be the one that would have worked best for the 40 vines I hope to eventually have producing. But... a 25 is better than none!
 
It works!

Pressed and, while the 25 is small, it does the trick (I had to load it twice). I did not press the grapes too much, because as I did, very quickly the juice started to taste bitter. I probably ended up with too much of that bitter juice but was just shy of a 6-gallon carboy. For 93 pounds of grapes, that's a Goldilocks amount! *

So, we'll see what this year's "vintage" does!

* ("just right") :i

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