First Racking

We took a look at the calendar today and realized it's been over a month - almost two - since we pressed! So, we racked each of the 2009s, getting most of the lees off of the wine. While racking, added 25 ppm potassium metabisulfate.

Volume of wine whittled down to 16 gallons Cab, 6.5 gallons Zin, and 2 gallons pink. The pink is really more of an experiment, a very light wine from slightly watered down juice taken off the skins early. Smells a bit like acetone - yuck! But not bad enough to pour out yet. Good news is the Cab & Zin both seem to be doing OK - Zin has fruit and spice, smell isn't great yet and it feels like it could use some oak. Cab just tastes young & raw, hard for us to know how it'll do. Still no vinegar :-)!

First storm of the year

Wow, our first storm of the year last week was a big one - we don't have a rain gage but neighbors report anywhere from 3-6 inches in one day. About 5-6 days before the storm, I decided to do a foliar application of iron, zinc, and boron. Iron & zinc are better applied in the spring, but I've read uptake this time of year is OK, so went for it. There are studies of whether boron applied through the leaves is effective; the results are inconclusive BUT once the leaves (with boron having been applied) fall, they do the trick.

This a shot from shortly after the storm.

Time to Press

This year's cabernet grapes have been fermenting away for a few weeks now; the past couple of days the cap's been very weak, and we're going to try pressing a bit earlier this year. So, today we pressed all of our wines - the Zin which has been on C02 for just over a week now, and the Cab which we've been punching down 3-4x/day since pitching the yeast.

Yield was MUCH greater - we think juicier grapes, adding pectic enzyme, or getting skilled with the fruit press is getting us more, well, juice. Our 30 gallons of Cabernet must yielded 18.5 gallons once pressed out; and our 18 gallons of Zinfandel yielded about 12 gallons.

Now we let them sit in the cellar for about a month, then we rack off the 'gunk' (which is already settling out).

Carboys to Bottles

This evening we managed to bottle up almost 9 cases of wine! Rough breakdown:

- 2 cases Leach 07. I was afraid it would taste flabby, but we think it's pretty good. Fruity, strong but smooth. Yeay!

- 2 cases Estate 07, which we think will need to age a LONG time to age (still tasting very sharp & acidic).

- 2 cases Estate / Leach 07 blend. More like a big Cab; likely due to the presence of the very acidic / strong 2007 estate. I think it'll be OK with big red meat or marinara sauce.

- 2 cases 08 Zinfandel. Fruity, light but heavy alcohol (especially noticeable when eaten after a mouthful of cheese). I imagine this one may mellow out over time.

- 1 case of an 08 blend; mostly Zin with some estate Cabernet. It's very reminiscent of the Zinfandel above (fruity, but with a Cab kick). Needs time to age.

As last year, we've been saving wine bottles all summer, soak in ammonia to remove the labels, then clean and store until bottling day. Within an hour of bottling, I re-rinse and sterilize, either with boiling water or a solution of water & potassium metabisulfate.

We also added 25 ppm potassium metabisulfate before bottling - a token amount to ensure nothing goes awry while aging.

Cab: Fermaid K Yeast Nutrient

I remember reading that more yeast nutrient should be added midway through fermentation - after re-looking it up, you add another dose after 1/3 sugar depletion. We're using FermaidK, which to my surprise includes DAP. Added today (although sugar 1/2 depleted, so added a bit less than recommended dose). Fermentation is looking and smelling great so far!

Zin cap fallen

Zin cap is fallen - so off to the cooler part of the garage. We're keeping it in the primary fermenter with a shot of C02 on the surface to reduce exposure to oxygen. That way we can press the same time as the Cabernet (ETA next weekend 10/18).

Yeast-pitching, ML innoculation, and other fun

After adding 25 ppm potassium metabisulfate & pectic enzyme, then letting the must sit for about 30 hours, we added yeast and ML culture as follows:

Yeast: Lalvin BM 4x4 (more reliable cousin to Lalvin BM45)

added Fermaid K - 2t per 15 gallons must

added DAP - too little, about 1t per 15 gallons must; will add more generously on second addition midway through ferment.

Also innoculated with Malolactic culture. No leucofood needed when c0-innoculating BTW.

In addition, we gave the fermenting Zinfandel a nudge by adding a bit of yeast, and additional Fermaid K. As a just-in-case measure (no notable problems with fermentation thus far).

In all cases, we decided to try simply sprinkling the yeast on top of the must, then mixed about 80% of it into the top inch or two of must. We've heard this works just fine, and it worked with our first batch, so we're trying it again.

Fingers crossed!

Harvest 2009

Just wrapped up Harvest 2009! 16 volunteers and 3 hours later, we got the nets removed, grapes picked, hand de-stemmed (thanks to Gary Marcos to the closeup on this operation), and crushed - by feet!

We almost doubled our yield this year - right around 30 gallons of must. Still far short of what we should be getting out of 100 vines, but given the oaks, birds, hillside, and us still learning we think we're doing all right.

Stats:

Brix 25Ph 3.6
Ta 6.375

After crushing, we added 25 ppm potassium metabisulfate (4/10 teaspoon per 15-gallon

fermenter) and roughly 1 teaspoon of pectic enzyme for every 3 gallons (5 teaspoons per 15-

gallon fermenter).

TA is surprisingly low (after years of being surprisingly

high), but well within the realm of acceptable acid levels for a red wine.

El Dorado County Zin In

Our friends up in Fair Play once again offered up some of their Zinfandel for our home wine making efforts - yeay! We worked around an already packed weekend by having Mom deliver the must down in 5-gallon paint buckets (already treated with potassium metabisulfate), which we then transferred into our primary fermenter. Awesome!

Must was watered down to:

18 gallons must

Brix 23.4
Ph 3.5
Ta 9.3

To that we we added DAP & Leucofood (per last year's measurements), and this year threw Pectic Enzyme (5 teaspoons) into the mix for extra fruit / color extraction.

To our surprise, we returned 12 hours later to add yeast and found out the native yeast had already started fermenting the wine. Hmm, after some research and advice from our mentor that yeast doesn't make all that much of a difference, we decided to let it do its thing; will monitor fermentation closely to avoid a stuck fermentation by ensuring good temperature and nutrients for the yeast.

Now we punch down, this year more aggressively and will err on more punchdowns in a day.

Estate Cab almost ready to harvest

Got back from a busy weekend and did a spot-check of Brix only on the estate cab; measured 23-ish brix; so we're on target for harvest this weekend.

Only problem is the birds - STILL getting under the nets to munch on the grapes. So, a few times a week we stroll the vines and re-clothespin any holes that we see.

The birds think they're ready

Did our full sugar & acid measurement of the grapes this morning, and found that the birds are definitely getting in under the nets - many times tearing them open at the base to get in. Probably 10-15% eaten. Yikes! Sure enough, we're getting there but not quite ready to harvest:

* Brix 22.7
* pH 3.5

* TA 9.4

We gave them a good dose (7 hrs) of drip irrigation, knowing that this will probably be the last they get until harvest.

Sugar rising

Just back from a weekend away; the grapes are at 20-22 brix (depending on where in the vineyard) - average seems to be right around 20.5.

Water log

We've been getting a few more benchmarks from friends & neighbors about how much water they're actually giving their vines this time of year, and it sounds like we're on the low side. So we're watering 4 hrs weekly until harvest. Including today.

Sugar & Water Update

We used a refractometer to measure Brix this morning, so got to test row-by-row. Results ranged from 17.5 brix towards the top of the vineyard to 21 brix towards the bottom. Seems like the bulk of the grapes are at 19. Didn't bother with TA measurement this time, we'll do that again as we get closer to harvest.

Watered this morning - 4 hrs drip. Mostly because we've been reading more and more about watering grapes to keep them hanging and developing longer without raisining up. Sounds like the berries getting too much water and exploding is not so much of an issue where we live (California + hillside) -it's more a function of not wasting water.

Water log

4 hrs drip across ALL rows now that 4-6 are turned on again ;).

Water 4 hrs drip

Our first full measurement on the grapes!

They are:

* Brix: 19
* pH: 3.2
* TA: 9.5

Decided to give the vines 4 hrs drip on the top and bottom rows (1-3 and 7-9).

Possible Potassium Problem

In the 'let's water a bit more' spirit, decided to give the grapes another dose of water (4 hrs drip) . In looking through the vines, I noticed a very unique leaf patter - not straight-up dry, but a weird coloration / drying pattern. Referring to my trusty UCD guide, it looks kinda like potassium deficiency. More investigating and soil ammendments to come post-harvest.

Vines in Mid-August

Starting to look dry and a bit tired; normal but thinking of upping the water a bit, so let the drip go for 6 hrs overnight after netting.

Desperate birds

Yikes! It looks like the birds have gotten a head start on sampling the grapes. Weird, I thought they waited until JUST before they're ripe. In any case, we figured we better put out some of the nets; were hoping to do that later in the month but I'd rather get a few out now and not loose the entire crop. On a side note, we haven't been putting out the hummingbird feeders, which are supposed to help keep other birds out (to some extent). Note for next year = attract hummingbirds! Even if it doesn't really make a difference, it's just plain neat-o anyway.

Tight clusters

Finally, after years of half-munched, half-dried out, half-absent grapes, we have a few clusters that are nice and dense. I don't care so much how they look as how they taste, but it's good to see our grapes are starting to look fuller and healthier (we think!)

Vines around Veraison

If I remember correctly, this may be one of the last seasonal Stylet Oil Sprays, so I'm giving 'em a good spray - well, only 1% concentration but very thorough coverage. Note to myself: rows 9-4 top done; rest throughout the week.

70% Veraison

It's early August and suddenly we have purple grapes! Seemed sudden but that might simply be my perception this year. We're at about 70%, which means 70% of the grapes on the hill are purple, the other 30% are still green or green-ish. We decided to give the grapes some water again yesterday (deep soaking), and will probably start reducing the amount they get from here out.

Water log

Sounding like a broken record, or a gal that's gotten into her summertime groove, here's the update: gave the grapes 5 hrs drip yesterday morning, followed up with a 1.5% stylet oil spray, followed by another 2 hrs drip for good luck (and to address the fact that some leaves are looking yellow & dried up already).

I saw 2 grapes that were purple but I think they were outliers, no other signs of veraison.

of 7 plus halfway back on bottom of 7.

The Healthy Ones

Look! Some of our grapes are looking perfectly healthy - like these. We're trying to keep it that way - keeping powdery mildew at bay given the ideal temps for it to thrive (mid 80s). So this weekend was spent thoroughly spraying the vines with good ol' stylet oil. Most rows had enough vegetation cleared such that spray got through the canopy, but rows 4 and 5 have taken on a life of their own. Will spend next week gradually getting the leaves in the fruit zone pulled, and getting those laterals removed (again - seems like they keep on growing them!)

Too Shattering?

Spent the morning continuing leaf pulling in prep for stylet oil spray. Our fruit set is good in some cases; other cases (like the ones below) looks like we're loosing more than we care to - 'excessive shatter'. Mostly happening on very top and bottom rows - so as a just-in-case measure gave them (everything but rows 4-6) 4 hrs drip irrigation.

Back at the Ranch

We're back from a week away, and despite the fact a young buck had an eye on our plastic fencing and the grapes within, it looks he didn't make it in. Whew! It is getting hot, and dry, so we gave the vines a good 4 hrs drip (all rows).

Water log

After pulling leaves over the weekend, I gave the vines a good 8 hrs of water. Mostly because (a) there may be excessive shatter going on, and (b) some of that brown/yellow coloring makes me think a bit more water is in order. Despite the, hmm, vigor.

Leaf pulling

It's that time of year - we had our second annual leaf pulling party, friends joined us for an hour's worth of yanking leaves out of the fruit zone, and pinching off secondary shoots. In the end you get big piles of leaves and secondary shoots on the vineyard floor - like this.

We're letting the vines go a little out of control compared to last year; this may come back to bite us as post-leaf pulling party there was still a long way to go (mind you, our friends got a LOT of it done). Little bits here and there throughout the next month should pull us ahead.

Paranoia Begins

This is about the time of year paranoia sets in. I start to see things that are not right and think that the entire vineyard is destined to die off.

This time, it's browning on the edge of the leaves. I noticed similar leaf oddities last year, but yellow rather than brown. And this is definitely more an issue far from the veins. Also, strangely enough, the phenomenon is scattered through the vineyard (3 vines on row 7, 1 on row 4, 1 row 3). I'll do the research over the next few days.

Rows 1-6 got their dose of training followed by stylet oil throughout this past week. Vines still growing!

Rows 7, 8 and 9

I've been heading out in the mornings trying to train the vines to be sure they grow into their trellis system (instead of trailing down on the ground). Lots of juggling, weaving, and being very careful not to break the vines themselves.

This morning I got through the top 3 rows - and the top 2 are hardly growing at all. Most are in bloom (the shot here). Top row got some foliar nutrients, the rest just 1.5% mix of Stylet Oil. Good news is that the vines seem really healthy - row 7 took a whole tank full of water/Stylet Oil mixture.

main

Out-of-control vines

growing like weeds! no water for you!

Water log

Vines looking pretty good; decided to give all rows about 3 hrs drip.

Backpack Sprayer

We left today for an extended 3-day weekend, and with temps in the 70s-80s predicted decided to give the vines a good 1.5% solution spray of Stylet Oil - mostly as Powdery Mildew prevention tactic that seems to be working well.

Water log

Watered all rows with 4 hrs drip.

Weedwacked!

This weekend was a first - I let Bruce weedwack between the rows. Also sprayed a first good spray of Stylet Oil with zinc & iron.

Mothers day

Mother's Day looking up. The poppies and vetch are looking beautiful!

Orange County Fair Entry?

Here's a link to information on entering our wines in the 2009 Orange County Fair Homewine Competition. Cost = $11.50 + a bottle of wine (the latter being more precious, as we're already running out of the 2006).

It'd be cute, but I'm just not the competitive type. Hmm.

Cinco de Mayo Update

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody! We returned to the vineyard and found that the deer had NOT gotten at the vines in our absence. Growth looks pretty healthy. Yeay!

I've been plugging away row by row nipping troublesome shoots at the bud (literally). Also found a few bugs munching on the leaves, which I've been hand-pulling off the vines. It's time consuming, a bit tedious, but usually relaxing work.

New Growth

The day before I leave for a week, the vines are on the border of needing their first PM prevention spray of organic stylet oil. So, I mixed up a 1% solution (a bit lower than my usual 1.5% mix) and sprayed vines with at least some shoots over the 6" guideline. Vacation is when terrible things happen in vineyards, so we'll hope my week off doesn't lead deer breaking in and gobbling up the new growth.

Vetch clearing

Our cover crop, which started as some vetch, poppies, periennial grasses, and things that aren't helpful, has year-by-year been taken over by vetch. Vetch is a great bonus to the soil, as it adds nitrogen without the use of chemical fertilizer or other sources (steer manure anyone?).

The speed at which it's spreading is alarming however, and it's so happy this year it decided to take on the vines. So, I've decided to pull near the vines themselves, but let it do its thing in between the rows. It's pretty easy to pull, especially since we apparently want to leave the roots in the soil, as they have nodules that will add a slow, steady stream of nitrogen to the vines. That said, I probably hauled 50 or so bundles into a giant compost pile.

As far as the invasiveness, hmm well I may have my CNPS (Native Plant Society) membership revoked. Makes me wonder how many times native plant people have gotten into fights with organic gardeners.

When poppies compete

This super sturdy Orange flower appeared within a thick bunch of vetch - upon closer inspection I found a huge California poppy!

Easter Sunday

Slowly growing; I've got my eye on that cover crop that seems to be taking over; but for now I'm off to prep for Easter with the nieces & nephews.

Row 6

A closeup of growth so far. Yeay to new vines!

Bud Break on the Hill

We're calling it! Bud break is here at Overlook Vineyards - over half of the vines have itty bitty leaves. Last year it progressed from the bottom of the hill to top; this year we pruned on the late side, plus we started pruning at the top of the hill moving to the bottom over a 3-4 week period. This may have contributed to bud break happening a bit more consistently.

The winter was odd - unseasonably warm and dry through January, but then come mid-February we got hit with above-average rainfall, then relatively cool temps in March. Not sure if this confused the poor vines. I'm also letting our cover crop (mostly vetch) go a bit crazy; not sure if that's contributing to a later bud break compared to last year.

Early Bud Swell

We're JUST now starting to see buds swell a bit, and some of the very outer buds actually bursting. So far, it's only ones that are destined to be chopped off - but it's something to show us the vines are still alive.

Second Racking of 2008s

The vines are still dormant - by this time last year we had some pretty significant bud swell, but as of today nothing aside from the vetch taking hold.

So, instead of primp the vines we decided to do a second racking of the 2008s. Bruce lugged a carboy up and saw a yellow ring around the top. Wine smelled fine, but we went into panic mode and found this helpful Q&A from the Wine Wizard of WineMaker Magazine.

Whew! I have to admit winemaking is a LOT of cleaning and sanitizing, sounds like there's no room for slacking on that front.

Pruning for 2009

We pruned on the late side this year - here's a shot midway through.  

What have we enjoyed lately?

Not only do we make wine, but we are known to drink some on occasion. The bottles we like, we keep in our kitchen windowsill so we can recall which ones are worth getting more of. Figure we'd do the world a public service by sharing our favorites. While we usually peruse Safeway and TJs, this assortment is largely from local retailers: Locals in Saratoga and Beltramo's in, hmm, that weird strip along El Camino someplace between Menlo Park, Atheron, and Redwood City.

After my amazement at the quality of Patagonian wines last year, I have to say I'm a big fan of A Lisa of Patagonia.