Happily, Continuing Cool Temperatures
Tuesday the local paper reported on the front page that the two-week heat spell we just got through pushed so many grapes along so fast that the pickers could not keep up with the demand to "get it off the vine." It looks to me so far in the 2008 vintage here that a lot of fruit is coming in too early – before physiological ripeness.Than't not going to be a problem for our vineyard this year. Yesterday I pulled samples from the individual blocks of established Pinot. Both the clone 115 and the 667 gave identical 22.5° Brix readings – actually down 0.3° Brix from last Saturday.
This is what I expected (and hoped) to see as the vines recovered from the extended heat. I noted a bit of scorching on exposed clusters, but Eric Stern, visiting from Landmark Vineyards in Kenwood, said "Ãthis is nothing compared to some of the fruit we have taken in so far this year."
Eric noted that they are already 60% done with their Pinot harvest. I am still at least two weeks away. And the forecast this morning has backed away from predicting another warming trend – the predicted highs are in the low- to mid-80's for the next ten days, with nights in the 50's. It is 51°F, calm and overcast at the vineyard this morning.
When I think about "physiological ripeness" what comes to mind is a balance between the sugar and acid in the juice, but more important, the individual characteristics of the pulp, skin, and especially the seeds. As winegrapes ripen sugar goes up and acid goes down. But "ripening" is about so much more: the pulp softens and loosens up, the skin gets soft and gives up color easier. But the biggest and to my mind the most critical changes happen to the seeds.
The seeds start out soft, spongy-feeling, white and bitter-tasting. As they ripen they turn brown and get crunchy, and the flavor changes to something like cardboard with chocolate.
The balancing act in choosing when to pick arises because sugar, acid, pulp, skins and seeds all change at different rates. Picking at "the" optimum for all of these parameters is impossible – the best that can be achieved is a local optimum. Much of the time, waiting for seed ripeness can mean high sugar, low acid, and skins and pulp past perfection.
This year, for the first time in my 22 vintages, the seeds are mostly ripe before everything else. The color, texture and flavor of the seeds are there, but the skins are hardly giving up any color to the samples. Interesting.
Yesterday I also took our first samples of Syrah. The clone 877 block read 19.2° and the Tablas Creek clone A block, 19.5° Brix. Unlike the Pinot samples, the Syrah skins are already giving up some color.
I may be picking Pinot before the end of September, but I think I am 4 to 5 weeks from picking Syrah.
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