Looks good! Have you tried any blending? I have carboys of Marquette, Petite Pearl, and Verona in the cellar ready for bottling. Grapes were from @Vern who makes a great field blend with them. I’ll be blending prior to bottling.
Did you age on oak?
petite pearl wine
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Did you age on oak?
That’s a lot of work! My 2022 Marquette is also a little tart on the after finish but not sour. Marquette seems to develop more flavor as it ages.
Since this is my first real vintage from my vineyard so my plan is to not blend this year. I want to taste each one alone. I did use oak chips during primary, but I did not use any barrel aging. I’m gone during the winter, so I need a low maintenance process for aging.
Good point. I think I will blend most of mine but leave a few bottles of each unmixed so I can do the same and see how they age.
By the way, those are the exact same red grapes I have planted, along with Brianna and Itasca for whites.
Here’s the labels. The green & red label was for one gallon of Marquette that I administered Malolactic on, stirred about 2 times in week following, then left it all winter without any sulfite treatment. I wanted to see if I would get any spoilage or off smell/taste. I think it turned out really well! Smoother that others that I used sulfite on about 10 days after treatment.
I also have 10 vines of Itasca! I didn’t take grapes in 2022 because they had some deer damage the first year before the fence was up. I’m anxious to see how they will be this year!
For those of you with Petite Pearl, do you have trouble getting a high enough Brix? I harvested today and the grapes looked great! They are full clusters with very few green berries, almost a black purple, but the Brix seems stuck at 13-15 and the berries are really compact and don’t seem to juice up much when crushing. Next year I might be able to push the harvest back a little, but weather will start being a problem. The berries are sweet to taste, but because they don‘t release their juice that readily, I wonder if that affects the Brix reading.
@BRossim those look beautiful!
Take another reading tomorrow, things might be different. What is the pH?
Take another reading tomorrow, things might be different. What is the pH?
I don't grow petite pearl but I got a 5 gallon pail of destemmed and crushed petite pearl grapes and they were 26 brix.
The Petite Pearl I got from Vern last fall were in the upper 20’s so I don’t think what you saw is the rule. of course he is in southern WI.
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I picked my Petite Pearl before the Marquette this year, at 22 brix (measured after crushing)
When I tested some samples before picking I got 24 brix, if I had got 22 when sampling I might have left them another week
When I tested some samples before picking I got 24 brix, if I had got 22 when sampling I might have left them another week
Cap Puncher
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I know a guy in our wine club that gets 25-26 brix consistently (but he drops a lot of clusters), others have been getting 22-23 brix in the Milwaukee area. The UW-Madison growers picked theirs at 22.7 this year.
I guess I just live too far north to get these grapes really ripe. I’m hoping next year we will have a warmer summer. The ph was 3.00, so I’ve got to make an adjustment there too. The joy of trying to grow grapes in a northern climate!
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I think you mentioned that this is the first year they produced, perhaps they had too much crop for the size of the vine?
I'm not sure about your area, but over here in Ontario we didn't get much heat or dry weather until September which delayed ripening.
it was the second year for a crop, but I am going to be much more aggressive about thinning clusters next year.
