Fermentation and Pressing

This year I again used BM45 yeast but also fermented some on 71-B as this was also recommended as a yeast to use for Marquette grapes. This year I wanted to see what skin contact time variations were like with Marquettes. I broke down the batches into A=BM45 with 6 days skin contact, B=71B with 3 days contact, and C=BM45 with 3 days skin contact.

My 2009 and 2010 vintages had a a bit of methoxypyazines (green pepper or herbaceousness) so this year I concentrated on eliminating it. I did not overcrop, I leaf pulled, I performed delestage (removal of seeds during fermentation), etc. I hope the extra work paid off but I'll need to wait a while to find out.

Rather than doing a "hard" press on the skins I did a "soft" press and made a "2nd" wine with the skins. This is the first time I try a 2nd wine with Marquette skins. Time will tell if this is a worthwhile effort and if the wine is at least "table-wine" quality.

Each day, after quiting for the day I enjoyed drinking my 2009 and 2010 Marquette wines. I can't wait to try my 2011 wine after it is ready.

A small taste of each batch of this year's wine assured me that my "quality control" gal did a good job and did not let any "stink bugs" or "multi-colored asian beetles" get into the must.

So far so good ... taste, pH and TA are all doing okay. The wine is now in carboys and doing fine and is now undergoing malolactic fermentation (mlf). Later, I will verify completion of mlf with a Chromatography test. Then, a few pH and TA adjustments, some biolees, some oak and then a cold stabilization then a few more adjustments and another 10+ months and we'll see how this year's wine is going to be. I may do a little blending also before bottling.

Here's some pictures I took ....

Harvest is here ....

This year the grapes are again coming in similar to the last 3 years ... Brix was a bit low at 19 and TA was about normal for this part of Nebraska at 13 g/l (1.3%) but pH was already up to 3.4 so I harvested. And they taste great!

We harvested half last Friday then rested up for a few days then picked the rest on Monday. Picking Marquette grapes is much more labor intensive than most other varieties due to their small size clusters. Marquettes are about 4 ounces rather than many other varieties weighting a full pound or more. Seems the picking is 4 times as much work to get the same number of pounds!! No wonder we were so tired after harvesting only half the grapes!

Here's some pictures we took ....

Grapes looking good !

Grapes are looking good so far. Leaves show no signs of PM, DM, or black rot.

Harvest should be in 3 weeks or so. It seems that we may be behind by a week or two this year.

I'm now modifying my press to accomodate the newly acquired larger pressing basket that I obtained while visiting my son on the east coast last year. I'll post pics when I'm done.

Also need to wash the crusher/destemmer and get it ready for later this month.

So far I've been able to keep the birds out of the nets. I did a much better job of "clipping" the nets this year especially aroung the posts and trunks. Losses from birds eating the grapes "through" the netting is still minimal. And, the electric fence is keeping out the raccoons so far.

It won't be long now......