I may be getting some late harvest baco noir or cab franc. They are being picked late since the acid is high and the brix low. The flavour seems o.k. It has been that kinda of a year in the NE.
Does anyone have a recipe for late harvest wine they can share?
Other suggestions for making the most of high acid low sugar grapes?
Hi Lum,
I think what Joe was saying was that they're high acid and low Brix NOW, but the hope is that if they leave them long enough to be "late harvest," they won't be high acid and low brix any more.
Dave
**************************************************************************** Dave Breeden snipped-for-privacy@lightlink.comBill - on average our Baco are ripe Sep 14 and Cab Franc Oct 5. This year I will probably be picking some Baco Noir this weekend. They look ripe to me (colour, taste, pips, stems) They are netted so I am too lazy to do regular readings. I will take a reading Saturday and report back on the Baco.
I have heard of people letting their Baco hang longer for a late harvest wine. Have you tried this? Do you pick at optimum Brix/TA or do you let them hang to soften the acid?
Joe Niagara Region
Sorry folks. Please excuse my confusion. Thanks Dave. lum
Hi Charles
Sounds like you are also in Niagara.
I am planning to pick my Baco soon. They still look healthy and they look ready. I have been waiting as Bill suggested to pick them as late as possible to help decrease the acid and maybe raise the brix a bit. But in the end I think they will be similar acid readings to what you have.
There have been a lot of good discussions on acid reduction techniques on this forum. I am thinking of using Potassium carbonate or Potassium bicarbonate. I don't have any experience with either I usually accept the acid, adjust the brix and blend appropriately later.
But I have heard that potassium precipitates easier than calcium carbonate after cold stabilization.
Bill has a wealth of experience with Baco and I think he suggested acid reduction techniques in an earlier post.
Joe
I'm actually up in Kitchener, my grapes are from Niagara though. I too have never done acid reduction like pre-fermentation but I am going to attempt it. I shall let everyone know how it goes :)
What is the outlook on the chardonnay down your way? I am really interested in getting some for a nice barrel fermented chard but I'm not sure if this is the year or not.
It was a hard winter for some. But I find me and most others not too far from the lake were o.k. There may be a slight reduction in harvest (10-15%) for some varieties and some of the reds will have high acid but I think Chardonnay had a good year around here and it should start next week.
How much are you interested in?
Joe
Not quite sure yet... 60 to 110 litres worth of juice, a bit more if it's not cold settled.
Charles
At this time I only sell grapes not juice but I will check around. It now looks like the chardonnay won't be ready until next week at earliest.
Joe
We picked the baco yesterday and crushed today, The readings were:
Brix 19 TA 1.40%
The weather is looking really nice for the next so I think I will look into getting some... would you mind emailing me prices and such? Just remove the spam. before my name! :^)
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