Mireya Turner

Ambient Temp: 56°. Must Temp: 76°. Heavy fruit and ferment scents. I detect an underlying sulfur smell, so will punch down frequently today to maximize aeration. I opened my bedroom door this morning and was hit by the fermenting grape smell. Walking across the living room made me lightheaded. Clearly, this cute little pet of a project has grown larger than expected. Time to find it a new home. We will move it back to the wine cellar outside, where it can emit carbon dioxide to its hearts’ content. My family was very nice about the 56° room this morning, after I had opened all the windows and started the fan; but I do not expect such tolerance as the days continue to cool!

Evening: Ambient Temp: 72°, Must: 87°. Did four punchdowns today. The 1/3 full can inadvertently received double the amount of Go-Ferm that the others did, and I noticed the sulfur smell coming from that one. I will continue to aerate, hope I won’t lose it. They are a beautiful, rich purple now. Just lovely.

Ambient temperature: 60°. Must temperature: 58°. Must still looks watery, easy to mix around, smells lightly of yeast. Did three punch downs today, slight foaming noted, rich purple coloring.

The vineyard belongs to my father-in-law, Miles Turner. He has given me 1/2 ton this year to play with. Thanks Miles! Our summer has been a cool one, with bursts of the normal 100+° heat heat, so harvest is a bit later than I remember. But today the brix are at 26°, so it is time to keep my three kids out of school for a day’s worth of farm labor! Yippee!!! My husband, Willy, our three kids, my father-in-law, and our friend, Jim Moser, have come out in the wee hours of the morning, with a bin lent to us by Steele Wines, clippers, grape cutting knives (they look like mini-scythes and are super sharp!) buckets, and a very large coffeecake. (I strongly believe in rewarding the help.)

It took us three hours, a new record for us, though about 2 hours longer than it would take professional grape harvesters to get the same 1/2 ton. And we only had three cut fingers, five grape fights and three screams from close encounters with ants and earwigs. It was a great morning. Now it is on to Steele Wines, an award winning winery nearby, to borrow their crusher/destemmer.

The must (it actually looks like watery grape pulp, with lots of whole berries) is safely stashed in “Primary Fermentation” canisters. I have three of food-grade polyethylene plastic and two trash cans I bought in a pinch. The must is sulfited to ward of any unintentional fermentation due to natural yeasts in the vineyard. I will leave it alone for two days, to pull juice from the grapes.