Brix @ 5.5

All there is to say at the moment.  This has been the slowest fermentation I've experienced with these grapes, and the only thing different this year was the application of sulfur to the vineyard for the powdery mildew, so that is the only thing I can attribute to the slower ferment.

The morning after...brix @ 23.5

Well, this was a first.  In years past I've had to add sugar to get the brix to 22, and this year, with no significant signs of raisins on the vine, I got a brix of 23.5!  It seems to me to be a combination of better trellis management and the vines getting a little more mature.

Inoculated once again with Assmanshausen yeast (its done very well in years past).  I think I will be adding something to keep ML from getting stuck like it has every other year, but we shall see.

Harvest and Crush 2012

We got 63 lbs this year.  Considerably better than last year, but still less than two years ago.  We had some decent loss to rodents and to powdery mildew, plus two Pinot Noir vines that normally produce didn't give anything this year and may need to be replaced.  But with some trellis changes in the works for next season, and some help from our friends at Hydrex to deal with the mice/rats, hopefully next year will break records!

Julia surveys the vineyard

Per her request, we surveyed the status of veraison in the vineyard.

Veraison after powdery mildew

I've officially graduated to full fledged grape grower.  I finally had to learn to treat my vines for powdery mildew.  One does not tend to remember that sulphur really starts to stink after a week or so...phew!!

The grapes are going through veraison and I seemed to have averted the majority of cracking associated with a bad powdery mildew infection.  I just need to be vigilant until harvest

Vines in May

Here are some shots of the vines at the end of May.

The baby inflorescences

Inflorescences that have "flowered".  Fruit set is soon to follow

The vineyard in spring

Just a few photos of the vineyard shortly after bud burst and as the vines are beginning to really take off.

2011 is in the bottle

We managed to squeeze out 5 750mL bottles and 7 375mL bottles.  It tasted pretty good, but it definitely will benefit from some time in the bottle.

Bottled and waiting in line for corking

Working the corker

Awesome little wine elf!

All it needs now is a cool label.  I wonder who will be on it?

Cane pruning -- Kickin' my butt...

You would think by now that after 5 years of doing this pruning I'd at least have a little bit knowledge and be decent at it.

Nope

Once again, as I venture forth into the vineyard (all 28 vines) I discover that I did an absolutely terrible job of planning for the year ahead, and have no usable canes from the previous year, so vigorous vines that should be finally producing a whole lot of great grapes aren't going to give me what they could have, simply because I suck at cane pruning.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/viticulture/4/3

Oh well...this is a learning process, neh?

We have wine!

Well, the 2011 harvest has come to a close here at the Borin Family Vineyard.  This year's yield was a bit shy of two gallons, slightly less than I had predicted.

The wine ended up at -0.5 brix.  The first year I let it go to just past -1.0, and last year was also at -0.5, so I'm hoping I have a teeny, tiny bit of residual sugar.  It is also very interesting to me that this year, I got a significantly slower fermentation (Yr #1 and Yr #2 were both 7 - 8 days, and this year was 11).  I don't know what that could be attributed to.  I've been lucky all three years in that I haven't had to worry about stuck fermentation, or fermentation not starting.

I've also not had to worry too much about cold soaking to get more oomph out of the skins.  My cultivar (UCD 23 'Mariafeld') seems to like to give up whatever it can from its skins.

After the press, the family stayed for a pasta feed (while I was outside cleaning), and the 2011 vintage is now aging in its respective carboys in the garage.

in vino veritas!