Crush is over and the Wines are sleeping

The madness is over and the pressure is off for the time being. This was a difficult crush and harvest because of the weather conditions during September. Ripeness was a challenge but we have wine in process that is sound. 2010 was the greatest vintage I have ever worked. 2011 actually had more ripening degree days than 2010 but the timing of rain made for diluted grapes that had less sugars, lower acidity and higher pH. I lost a lot of my early season grapes to birds, and the late season grapes were difficult to get ripe. In the end I picked defensively and brought the fruit in based on avoiding a complete loss. Fortunately I have considerable 2010 wine in bulk to help put a bit of depth into what I think are going to be considerably leaner 2011 wines.

The whites are going to be OK. I have Niagara, Cayuga, Traminette, Vidal and I took the first harvest of Gruner Veltliner off of vines I planted 3 years ago. I ripped out my Riesling and Gewurtztraminer to plant GruVee three years ago. Riesling and Gewurtz were not suited to my site, so we will see how GV does. So far so good, the vines seem to be easier to grow, and are less prone to disease than the former tenants of my small vineyard.

I am going to replant some of my reds as well. I am pulling some of my Cab Sauv because it is just too unreliable due to its late ripening. I am leaving enough to make about a carboy to use in a good year for a reserve wine. I took out all my Chancellor and some of my Chambourcin. I am replanting with Dornfelder and Lemberger. That will leave me with Cab Franc, a bit of Cab Sauv, a bit of Chambourcin, plus the Dornfelder and Lemberger.