Fall Activities is the Vineyard
White Wine Making
Fall activities at the vineyard are mainly clean up and winterize things. All the bird scare alarms, balloons are packed up and put away.
A fall application of weed control chemicals will be made under the vines to get a head start on 2007 weed control measures. This is something that has been very problematic for us in the past and we are starting a new program of these fall applications.
We will also cultivate all the rows one last time before winter. If the weeds are removed and we have bare soil in the spring the ground is warmer and there is less problems with late spring frosts.
White Wine Making
We made more wine this season that we usually do. Our winemaking depends on how big our crop was and what we have left.
The above picture shows about 5 gallons of St. Pepin, 10 gallons of Seyval Blanc and about 10+ gallons of Cayuga. About a week later we made another 10 gallons of Niagara.
All of the grapes were pressed soon after harvest, the specific gravity was checked and the wine was sweetened with honey to ferment out to 10 to 11% alcohol. Cambden tablets (sulphite), about 1-2 per gallon, were crushed and added to the juice.
A yeast starter was prepared with a gallon of fresh juice, boiled (to kill any wild yeasts), cooled and a package of Cotes de Blanc yeast added. This started fermenting real soon and the day after pressing and sulphiting the juice it was added in roughly equal amounts to all of the 5 gallon carboys.
In a few weeks the fermentation will be finished and the containers will be combined and topped up to remove and air spaces on top which will cause oxidation and vinegar.
In about 3-4 months we will rack the wine, sweeten it slightly, and more sulphite and some potassium sorbate to retard fermentation.
3-4 months later, if it is still stable and not started to ferment again we will probably bottle it.
Related articles:
Making Red Wine at the Farm
The Vineyard
Home Wine Making in the East
Mead Making
Winemaking Resources
More Winemaking Resources
For further information view our downloadable "Winemaking Booklet".
This is a booklet that we hand out at our farm to help winemakers
get started.
