Isleworth vineyard update 10

thanks for that -- yes -- last year I got the vines back to the stems by pruning hard - all the advice I saw on the internet was in the 'treat 'em mean' genre. good tip on burning -- I'd just composted but think you're right for hygiene purposes & will do that. Not all vines are productive (which might be my drastic pruning) so we only got about 40kg of fruit which equalled about 11.0l juice sounds like we got less than you did! -- as you say it is labour intensive and I was surprised how many grapes it takes to make a bottle!

In general though -- once fermentation has stopped (as mine has) do you rack, stabilise, clear then bottle when settled or do you leave it in bulk? I read an American site where they just said at this stage to leave (ie no stabilisers or clearing just leave it for 3 months) it whereas a UK site said stabilise, clear then bottle for maturation.... does it make a difference? Thanks

11 litres from 40 kilos sounds like you need a press. The lowest yield I got was from the riesling grapes, because they are small, 4.5 litres of juice and 3 kilos of pomace. Together, that's 7.5 kilos, so my cheap luggage scales are clearly inaccurate at the lower end. So you could have got at least 25 litres from you 40 kilos. However, even second hand presses are expensive and the cost of building one can also be high. A crusher makes life easier for large quantities, but foot crushing is very effective and costs nothing.
Burning also provides free potash which vines need every year to maintain a good crop, as well as some nitrogen, although not as much as for vegetables. Check the pH of the soil. Over time it tends to get acidic. Mine was 6.0 and I used LOTS of garden lime to neutralise it, as my pinot noirs actually prefer a slightly alkaline soil. Lime also adds magnesium, which improves disease resistance. Vines also need boron and iron. Regular addition of good compost in large quantities each year should correct any such deficiencies.
If you prune very hard, you may not get a crop until the following year. My approach is to remove any weak, damaged and excessively long growth, then thin to open the vine up to reduce the risk of mildews.
Once fermentation is complete, I rack and leave to clear out in the cold. When clear, I rack again and leave to mature in bulk, with oak chips for 3 months before bottling. Personally, I try to avoid sulphite and sorbate and so far have had no problems, apart from the occasional malolactic fermentation in the bottle causing leaks, because I bottled too soon.

That's great -- I don't really want to add all the sulphites and sorbate unless I really had to- so will move to the barn in bulk and leave it there for 3 months......

I'll go easier on the pruning this year - as you say - weak growths and open them up a bit and then work on clearing under the vines and adding nutrients to the soil after doing a PH....... Hard work as vines are on a heavy clay that is either rock hard or too heavy.... still - saves a workout session in the gym!

Ref the yield --- I wonder why mine was so low? I did one batch with a potato masher and the other with my feet (!) and then borrowed a press... the remains were pretty dry but I did notice some unsquashed grapes in the left overs..... is there a better technique or do you leave them in the press for longer?

:)

tonyhibbett said:

Burning also provides free potash which vines need every year to maintain a good crop, as well as some nitrogen, although not as much as for vegetables. Check the pH of the soil. Over time it tends to get acidic. Mine was 6.0 and I used LOTS of garden lime to neutralise it, as my pinot noirs actually prefer a slightly alkaline soil. Lime also adds magnesium, which improves disease resistance. Vines also need boron and iron. Regular addition of good compost in large quantities each year should correct any such deficiencies.

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Store up eggshells over the year and add them to the fire when you make the potash, as a source of lime for the soil. Crushed eggshells are also good for protecting vulnerable plants from slugs and snails, especially salad plants like nasturtiums, radishes and lettuces.

You could also try companion planting. Hyssop is known to improve plant growth, as do nitrogen-fixing plants, especially legumes. Peas and beans are probably the best choices as young can plant them between the vines and will get a crop from them, and clover is a good way of restricting the growth of grass. If there's the space, alder and wisteria are also options, as are honey-locusts if you have animals to feed the pods to.

Some plants, notably potato and lettuce, attract pests that might otherwise feast on your vines, so are useful if planted in a block close to the vineyard. Tansy, basil, pennyroyal and geranium are pest repellents, so are good planted in between the vines. Pennyroyal is also a useful ground-cover plant.

It is claimed that dandelions give off ethylene, which hastens ripening, so I let them grow between the rows.
Slugs and snails have no interest in vines, the the brown scale insect has proved a problem. They hide under the bark and suck the sap, weakening the vine. A winter wash did not kill all the eggs, but ants, which farm them, tell you exactly where they are lurking. Each adult is capable of producing thousands of eggs, so it's vital to track them down and EXTERRRRRMINATE! The ants also located a small colony of aphids. DESSSTROY! Woodlice are a minor irritation but the worst pest is the strimmer gorilla. From time to time, park staff use a mower to cut the grass and strim the margins and weeds in the beds, unfortunately including young vines and cuttings! The fox is another significant pest, as are rats, both of whom can undermine the nets which keep the birds off.
As for eggshells, I can't remember the last time I ate an egg.

The 'fragolino' batch has now cleared, without the use of finings and already tastes good, and better than the pinot noir. It is now bedded down with a new batch of oak chips. To celebrate this landmark, I have designed and printed a label for it, filled a screwcap bottle and finished it off with a shrink capsule to disguise the fact that it is a recycled bottle. I claim that this is the first and only bottle of genuine fragolino produced in the UK.

Photobucket.com is the best way to show photos on here would be intrigued to see your label and witness the birth of Fragolino!

I will look into that.
Meanwhile, my new 20 litre oak cask has arrived and once that has been conditioned, I will fill it with the Fragolino.

Now entering the final phase of year 2. I gathered together all the pips, skins and stems and piled them onto the vineyard compost heap. Very colourful!
The prospect of pruning 85 vines seems daunting. Most of them are new and very simple to do, but the old ones are a challenge because each one is unique. Many responded very well to last year's pruning, while others showed only a modest response, but at least none of them died this year!
There is a nice little bonus. Field mushrooms are growing in places, which I consider a signal that what I have been to the soil is appreciated.

I tasted the pinot noir today from the polypin and it's rather too tannic, whereas the batch in the oak cask was much smoother, without any oak flavour. The difference must be the slow breathing that takes place in the oak cask rather than the oak itself, as there were chips in the polypin. So it looks like I am going to buy another cask to add to the already high total cost of the project!
Alternatively, I could blend the pinot noir with the Fragolino, which is smooth and pleasant but somewhat bland.

that's a lot of wine you're going to end up with - do you have an outlet, are you licenced to sell it, or are you going to try to drink it all yourself?

no.. he's going to send me a case..(for a nominal fee of course )

At most 70 bottles, which won't last long. Selling wine involves registering with HMRC and paying them duty in advance of fermenting at almost £2 per bottle, so if you can't find customers, you are well out of pocket!

70 bottles might not be much for some people (a couple of bottles a night is just over 1 months supply), but going on my own average consumption that's easily 2 years worth.
I realised there were issues with HMRC etc, but thought that you'd end up with a lot more than 70 bottles, and maybe already had the correct things set up to allow you to sell it.

I hope you enjoy it, and that the extensive process hasn't put you off making more next year.

As was so aptly put: Making 5 gallons instead of 1 takes the same time and lasts almost twice as long!
On the news it said we should be on a Mediterranean diet to avoid dementia, so I should be ok as I drink 1 litre of wine per day, mostly with Italian microwave meals!

That should do the trick Tony! :twisted: