Jazz in the Vineyard

The tension builds. Harvest is upon us.  A year’s work hangs on the vines.  Probably the most important decision a winemaker has to make is when to pick.  It is not quite like an apple.  Most people agree when the apple is green, ripe or over ripe.  Sure this is true, but we are not going to eat the grapes, but turn them into wine.  What taste best may not make the best wine.

We sample the acid concentration in the grapes as well as the sugar concentration to help determine the harvest date.  We take several hundred berries from each acre for a sample.  The berries must be taken from both sides of a plant, and well scattered throughout the acre being sampled.

We are getting better at it.  Last week we sampled the Sauvignon Blanc at 23.80 Brix and a pH of 3.3.  This was precisely what we wanted, so we picked it, and was please to find the 700 gallons of juice had exactly the predicted sugar and acid.  This volume of juice is about 30% more that the same vines produced last year.  Remarkable for 30-year-old vines, they are perhaps the largest vines in Livermore Valley.  Jose takes good care of them!