End of Season

Last week we harvested the rest of the Cab Franc, 2.5 tons sold to Camas Cove Cellars in Moses Lake and Beaumont Cellars in Quincy + Woodinville.

In all we were able to place over 4 tons of grapes, and with some very reputable winemakers. Not bad for our first season of production! I'm very proud of the fruit, although as the grower my eyes are always drawn to where we can do better next year.

Update: Pete Beaumont reports the "must" (crushed grapes) came in at 25 brix, .49 TA (titratable acids) and 3.4 pH. He's pleased with those numbers and says the must is "fermenting nicely." As the humble grower I'd say the sugars and pH are absolutely optimum, and the acids a little low. As the grapes ripen the acid levels drop while the sugar levels rise - your goal is to harvest at the moment when they are in optimum equilibrium (say, 25 brix and .60 TA). But you ultimately defer to the preferences of the winemaker who, after all, has to sell the wine!

Dennis @ Camas Cove reported slightly lower brix and was also somewhat surprised that he didn't get more volume of juice out of the tonnage of grapes. That may be a function of my style of growing, which is to severely limit the amount of water applied during the ripening phase. I believe this "deficit irrigation" concentrates the flavor in the berry. It does increase the ratio of skin to juice however.