Week 12 (Sept. 2 - 6th)

The day has finally come! Harvest season has begun! The much anticipated harvest was kicked off this week with the picking of MN 1259. It is a very early ripener, so we will have to wait a few more weeks to pick he next variety, but the five lugs which we picked from 7 or 8 vines was a successful opener to the season. 

Across the board acid levels are dropping, while sugar levels rise as we progress into late summer. Due to this, I am tempted daily by the luscious, hanging fruit, as this is the first time that they are actually palatable. I find myself mindlessly plucking a berry and popping it into my mouth every few vines, but this isn't always a rewarding act. Within seconds I either pucker, cringe and spit or smile and enjoy the sweet, flavorful fruit. Most varieties by now look ready to pick, but only a few in actuality have reached their desired, full potential. I guess I'll just have to wait to experience the best that the vines can offer! 

In the field we cut each cluster, pick out the bad fruit and shot berries, and then carefully lay them into these yellow lugs. We then transport them to the winery, record their weights by vine, randomly select 50 berries and record their total weight. 

Next we press the fruit. We use this mini bladder press, which is filled with water from a hose. We allow the rubber bladder inside to reach 25 psi (or around 2 bar), release the water, mix up the pomace with our hands, and then do it again. Three presses effectively squeezes out all the juice while retaining the stems, skins and seeds inside. 

Green and orange horn worms like this are becoming problematic in the newly planted vineyards. They are stripping the leaves from the young vines at a rapid rate. We use an integrated form of pest management to control this problem (we squish them). 

We spent the tail end of the week preparing for Saturday, our open house fall tour. We invited close to one hundred local residents and growers so that they could learn about grape growing and breeding, taste grapes, and tour our vineyards. Peter, Raina, and I spent Thursday and Friday collecting three clusters from 75 varieties. The grapes ranged from table grapes to V. vinifera wine grapes to MN wine grapes. It was fun to be able to compare different varieties side-by-side and determine their intricacies in sugars, acids, textures and flavors. I was also able to network a little and meet local grape fanatics like me!