Yeah.  So I know you are all beer whores and could care less about wine.  Oh well, you're missing out.  

Last winter was ROUGH.  Last year I got 17 gallons of wine out of my Cayuga vines.  Then the winter.  I ended up having to cut them all off at ground level with my chainsaw; they grew back, but it will take 2 more years to get back up to full production.  So none at all this year.

My Oberlin Noir were moderately hit; but then I tried to let them hang long to get the acid down, and over less than 4 days the yellow jackets took the whole crop.  Total loss.

The saving grace was my Marachel Foch.  Last year the wine turned out decent, but the acid was still a bit high for ideal.  So this year I vowed to play with fire and let them hang as long as possible (sugar increases, acid decreases).  I pulled them Saturday.  I probably lost 20% to yellow jackets and bad berries.  I will get about 4-4.5 gallons of finished wine in the end.  The good news is I nailed the chemistry, the acid level was ideal and the sugar was as good as can be expected in this climate (minimal sugar addition).  The negative is that despite the typical sulfite addition, when I went to add the yeast I already had active fermentation with wild yeast.  I've been making wine for ~13 years and never had sulfites fail to stop wild fermentation.  So I added more sulfite, a double dose of the intended yeast, and am crossing my fingers.

Last year I got a silver medal with my Cayuga and a bronze with my Foch at the Indy International Wine Competition, one of the largest amateur competitions in the country.  Frankly the chemistry on my Foch sucked compared to what I got this year.  So I'm hoping to pull this out.

 

It's not that I don't care about wine.  It's that beer takes up all of my time.  I like hearing about your wine making escapades tho.

And I'm the inverse...several years of living vicariously through your beermaking before I have time to try.

Although I did learn that my neighbor who is still getting his vineyard up to speed has now begun to grow hops...and they made it through that brutal winter last year no problem...