Whether you had the harvest season you’ve always waited for, or you’re just now stabilizing those wines from an unideal vintage, maintaining post-harvest momentum is a challenging thing. The crunch time of harvest is draining: physically tiring and emotionally taxing. If you didn’t take good notes through the harvest season, it can be difficult to […]
Harvest
Producing Quality Red Wines with Unripe Fruit
When a vintage goes less than planned, it can often produce hardship in producing high quality red wine. There are several issues that are concerning with regards to red wines: Lack of color intensity Excessive astringency or bitterness High acid (sourness) Lack of alcohol Incidence of green flavors, many that may smell like “green bell […]
Winemaking Strategies for Rainy Vintages: Remembering 2011 and Preparing for 2018
With Hurricane Florence threatening most of the Eastern seaboard and Mid-Atlantic, I think it’s an important time to take a moment and communicate a practical plan for your winery staff. There’s a few days left to get organized, and not a moment to waste. Remember that keeping your family, employees, and families safe is the […]
Harvest Must-Haves: Having the Right Plan Can Set You Ahead of the Winemaking Curve
Planning, though time consuming, can be your best friend during the hectic harvest season. Taking the appropriate action steps to think through your winemaking production process is a game changer. As head winemaker or general manager, writing down and documenting your winemaking process for cellar employees can Improve your management practices Enhance communication Get everyone […]
YAN… to the Rescue!
It’s impossible to talk about the pending harvest without talking about YAN. Every year, I run into winemakers asking me what nutrient additions to make when they do not know their starting YAN, or yeast assimilable nitrogen (aka yeast available nitrogen). Not knowing the must’s YAN concentration when treating fermentation with nutrient supplements is equivalent […]
Preparation to Ease Harvest Chaos
The start of summer is the beginning of the end for winemakers: we know harvest season is just around the corner. That means the grape harvest chaos is ready to unleash itself upon us: the frequent and unplanned grape deliveries, tank space situations causing stress, wondering if correct additions were made, late hours, sore muscles, […]
