The first grape to be harvested and now the first to be finished with fermentation is Brianna. Last week, we racked it off the yeast lees and put it back into a tank to get it ready for the next steps in making wine. We pressed Frontenac and Foch off skins and seeds but had very little volume. These grapes will be used to make a small quantity of Nouveau. We added a mid-life yeast nutrient to our Marquette, Crimson Pearl, Verona, and Petite Pearl. On red wines, we punched down open bin fermenters twice per day. We finished fermentations of Edelweiss, LaCrosse, and Brianna (the latter from Maple Woods Vineyard. We processed Sabrevois on Tuesday, racked La Crescent off sediment and started fermentation of La Crescent.
In total, we grow 16 different grape varieties however we are only making wine from 10 of them this year. The quantity is very low but the quality is very good in most cases. We need to clean up our vineyards and get them ready for application of fertilizer in the spring.
