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Making wine with grapes past their prime

Has anyone made wine with white grapes that are past their prime?

I have about 25 chardonnay vines that I let go to long before harvesting. About a third are okay, brix 21, a third are underripe because a heat wave caused the vines to drop leaves, and the final third are dry on the vines - becoming raisins but not yet completely dry.

Has anyone made wine with old but clean grapes like these? Should I pick them off the stems and press them, or press them on their stems?....... Or just give up and toss them in the compost?

Reply to
sarahharpending
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You should be OK with over-ripe grapes. I'd skip the under-ripe grapes, as they are likely to contribute "green" flavors that you don't want. But the ripe grapes and the over-ripe should be OK. If a lot of the grapes are pretty dry, you might want to add some water to them (maybe soak them a bit before pressing?), and they might also need a bit of acid. But the flavors shouldn't be a problem.

Doug

Reply to
Doug

On Aug 22, 11:46 am, Doug wrote: If the grapes are raisins, they could contribute madierized aromas and flavors to your wine. If possible, I would sort these out.

RD

Reply to
RD

Agreed with the previous responses - sort out any 'raisins' that are truly dessicated, broken, or may have mildew. and sort out any green berries.

I would add the advice that you then need to sample the juice of the rest of the remainder for both acid and sugar. Meaning - 21 for one part of the selection is not indicative of anything, you need to know the numbers on a blended sample. The TA and pH readings will give you guidance on what, if any, acid adjustments you need to make.

Another observation; it's unusual for only part of a vineyard to be affected by a heat wave, and for the ripening to be so disparate. You might want to monitor your fertilzing and vine health more closely during the growing season. Sounds to me that have vines with differing maturation characteristics due to inadequate / poor vigor. I saw that phenomenon this year with some of my Marsanne - some undernoursihed vines ripened too quickly, while a couple others never ripened fully. But the healthy part of the vineyard all ripen close together.

Reply to
AxisOfBeagles

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