OK.. today’s wine growing lesson is about sugar content and ripening.
We walked through the 2, three acre vineyards yesterday gathering 1 grape about every 5 feet and put them in clearly marked ziplocks as to which part of the vineyard they came from.
The content of sugar in grapes (well in all fruit) is called BRIX (pronounced bricks). Loosely translated that is 24% sugar present in the grape. For wine you want to harvest at at least 24 brix (some winemakers want it higher).
When you have sugar and you add yeast, the yeast eats the sugar, creates heat, then carbon dioxide and within about one week, you have ZERO sugar (dry) and approx. 13% alcohol. You have wine…..young zippy wine, but wine nevertheless.
Right now these grapes are at 21 brix. We have about 2 weeks until harvest… Hope to get some good hang time without the threat of rain.
As you can see by the photo, Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are very small. About the size of my pinkie. Last year was such a low harvest… only about 1 ton per acre. This year is abundant… will harvest close to 3 1/2 ton per acre. It takes 1/2 ton to fill one 60 gallon barrel. A barrel will produce 24 cases (12 to a case)…. We will bottle about 700 cases…. We are just tiny little Bonded Winery #6000.
Also, you can see the seeds. When unripe they are bright green. As the grape ripens, they turn a crunchy brown. They look like, well, the cereal Grape Nuts…..
OK, students…. that’s all for now….
wendy
