To make high quality wine, the grapes must be picked at the optimum time. However, determining when to pick the grapes is not always an easy task. Common indicators of ripeness are the grapes’ sugar levels (measured in Brix) and acid levels (measured in pH and TA). Other vineyard indicators are flavor development, color, soft berries, brown seeds, and a clean pedicel.
The following video clip shows Airfield Estates winemaker, Marcus Miller, testing for sugar and acid levels:
Based on the results of these tests in conjuction with his anaylsis in the vineyard, Marcus plans to harvest Chardonnay, Dolcetto, and Semillon this week.
We harvested the Tempranillo grapes on Friday, September 26th. A vineyard crew of approximately thirty people handpicked them in the early hours of the morning.
The grapes were then transported to the winery and loaded onto a sorting table to remove leaves and any unripe bunches. Then the grapes were de-stemmed and placed into small stainless-steel open fermenters.
Primary fermentation was initiated the following day when the grape must was innoculated with a select strain of yeast (BM45). Fermentation will occur over the next 8 to 10 days. During this time, punch-downs will be performed at least 3 times a day. This process helps enrich the color, flavor, and astringency of the wine.
Tempranillo is a wine grape that we have only been growing for a few years, but we believe that it has a lot of potential in the Yakima Valley. Tempranillo grapes tend to do well in a high desert environment where grapes experience warm days and cool nights and receive little precipitation. It makes a rather full-bodied red, high in tannins with fruit-forward flavors of plum and cherry mixed with earthy undertones.
The Tempranillo grape variety originated in Spain, and to this day it is one of Spain’s most popular red varieties. The word Tempranillo stems from the Spanish word temprano, which means early. Tempranillo is an early ripening grape. It is always one of the first grapes we harvest.
Because Tempranillo ripens early and is full of flavor, it is also one of the birds’ favorite varieties to peck. To prevent bird damage, we keep our entire Tempranillo vineyard under netting.
Today marks the start of Airfield’s 2008 grape harvest! Harvest is a little late this year due to our long winter and cool spring. As long as we don’t encounter damaging frosts over the next two months, we are confident that this will be a excellent vintage. We are tasting wonderful fruit flavors in the vineyards.
The first grapes off the vine this year were our Gewurztraminer. We have been growing this variety for about 25 years, but always selling the grapes to other wineries. The 2008 vintage will be the first Gewurztraminer wine that we produce at Airfield Estates.
