Finger Lakes Wines and Grapes: Harvest is in full swing | Lifestyles

Harvest is shifting proper alongside; we began within the second week of September with the early ripening varieties marchal foch and Cayuga white. Originally of October, we’re progressively shifting to the mid-season-ripening grapes, lately bringing in pinot noir and a few Riesling. In our vineyards, extra Riesling, chambourcin and cabernet franc will likely be picked and transported to the crush pad till late October. With the nice and cozy durations in June, July and August, together with the plentiful rainfall, we’re seeing a bigger than typical crop this season, in some circumstances 20% bigger than regular.

That being mentioned, we see the sugar ranges (referred to as brix) decrease than final yr, and the acid ranges a bit decrease too. This may be attributed to the extreme rain of summer time, which truly diluted the juice within the grape berry. The grapes harvested up to now look fairly good. There’s some berry splitting and accompanying rot, however not an excessive amount of, and what’s there may be eradicated at selecting time or on the grape sorting tables previous to manufacturing.

After crushing the grapes, one of many first issues we do is analyze the juice. We’re on the lookout for brix ranges, titratable acidity, pH and YAN (yeast assimilable nitrogen). At present, we’re using the Cornell Craft Beverage Analytical Lab positioned at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva to do our evaluation of grape juice previous to fermentation. By realizing these measurements, we will make higher wine. If the brix ranges are too low, sugar may be added to the juice earlier than fermentation, and if the acid is simply too excessive, we will cut back it earlier than truly beginning the fermentation cycle.