Marquette Harvest

I was just about ready to harvest my Marquette grapes when all of a sudden we got about a half inch of rain unexpectedly. That messed up the numbers a bit so I decided to wait a bit longer.


On Saturday (Aug 22) the numbers looked good again and rain was being predicted starting on Tues for 3 days straight. So, I decided to harvest on Saturday.


The numbers were not perfect but close enough considering the upcoming rains. Brix was 23, pH was 3.3 and TA at 13 g/l (1.30%). Being cold weather grapes, the TA will come down a lot during Malolactic Fermentation and cold stabilization so I should be okay.


I left the Brix alone at 23 (12.7% abv), added 20 ppm of SO2, opti-red, Lallzyme EX, tannins (enological and chips), nutrients, etc. and got it going. I didn't have the yeast I wanted to use so I used RC-212.

Here's a picture of the grapes on the vine on Harvest day.


























Here's a Picture of a Marquette cluster on harvest day. Berries are about the size of large blueberries. Clusters were about 5 ounces.

Here's a picture of a bucket full of my Marquettes.