Thursday, August 02, 2018

The times they are a-changin'.

Or at least the grapes are, veraison is upon Vinoland once more.  It is very early in the process, but veraison has to start somewhere and that somewhere is usually in the Syrah vines (this year is no different).  I will be checking in the Pinot Grigio tomorrow for signs of veraison there.
I love the cyclical nature of farming grapes and the influence Mother Nature exerts over the whole affair.  Veraison 2018 is about a week behind last year which doesn't surprise me one bit.  After all, it has been a cooler than normal growing season.

8 comments:

Thud said...

Blackcurrants 3 weeks early here.

Vinogirl said...

Thud: All that fantastic weather you have been having?

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Thud: As a wine descriptor, I'm quite confident you'd pick-up on the black currant in a Groth Cab Reserve.:-)

VG: Question: The pellenc leads the grapes into the rollers, but I noticed a considerable amount (to me) of leafy/stemmy material in the 'soup'; what happens to that material in the tank and ultimately into the wine-making process? Basically: how is that chlorophyll-material removed, or is it?

Vinogirl said...

NHW: Where did you see this particular Pellenc in action? The Pellenc at TWWIAGE does a wonderful job of destemming and sorting the grapes - fabulously clean and efficient, and the berries are for the most part whole. Of course, at TWWIAGE there are two sorting tables to remove the MOG before the grapes fall into the Pellenc's hopper.
Wineries would love not to have any green tissue make it into the fermenters, it would certainly lessen the pyrazine levels in Cabernet Sauvignon.
Pellencs do a brilliant job of sorting...much better than the human-sorters at TWWIAGE ever did.

New Hampshire Wineman said...

VG: Watch carefully as the Tank fills at the 2:25-2:35 min. mark:
Tank

Vinogirl said...

NHW: Have not seen that video before, but it is a great example of how a Pellenc works. At the 2:25-2:35 point, as the now destemmed fruit falls into the hopper (through the grate), I only see two very small leaf bits. That's about as clean a sort as a winemaker could possibly wish for. Only an optical sorter could get the sort cleaner, however, they tend to sort out a lot of viable grape material also.

Unknown said...

VG: thx for the education.
You are the Obi-Wanda'Kenobi! ;)

Vinogirl said...

NHW: Just don't ask me a mathematical question :)