Update 1st April

All 3 wines racked on Monday 1st April after lunch.  White and Rose looking much clearer, Montepulciano very clear.  All wines showing good clean flavours.

Wine Update

Took a look at our 3 wines today, 30th March am.

Montepulciano Rose looking very clear, sparkling bright.  Good flavour, very dry, slightly acidic.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and then added 4 grams of Sugar per litre.

Sangiovese Rose, looking slightly hazy.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

Pecorino White, looking slightly hazy. We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

We also tasted and sampled the white Pecorino from 2011.  Really pleasant so bottled most of it into 2 Litre bottles for summer quaffing.

Pruning Spring 2013

Vines pruned again end of March.  Same as last year, so 4 buds on montepulciano, 6 buds on  Sangiovese, and 8-10 buds on the Pecorino.  Helped by Duncan, Judith and Robert, pruning took us about a day and a half.

Sulphiting

All wines sulphited at end of January at 1.5 grams per 20 Litres.

Racking

All wines racked at the end of October.

Grape Harvest September 2012

Here are the notes from this weeks grape harvest.  Just the three of us this year, me Graham and Mary.  Again we have been very lucky with the weather, up to mid 20's, peaking at around 28 degrees yesterday.  Dry and sunny.

The weather this summer has been very very dry and hot, and as a result the yield on all grapes was very low.

Pecorino

Picked Saturday 22nd September at 6pm.

A very mixed crop, with lots of fruit brown and overripe, some fruit still green.  I think there is just too many bunches, and next year we should try pruning to leave less fruiting shoots.  All the fruit was very small, bunches were small, and the picking took us a lot longer than previous years even though the yield was low.  Even as we left the worse looking bunches, we picked only 119 Kilos.  Crushed and sulphited at 2grams per 23 Kgs, 3 of us destemmed for 25 minutes then left on skins overnight.  Next day medium press at 9am to give approx. 60 litres of Juice.  3 sachets of Lalvin D47 added.  The juice was tested at 22 Brix, with hydrometer reading at 1.09, PH 3.2, TA at 6.0  We added 15 grams of mixed acid to try and raise the acid to 6.3, as a result of which PH dropped to 3.1.  Yeast nutrient added on Monday.

Sangiovese

Picked Sunday 23rd September at 4pm.

This fruit looked a lot healthier than the Pecorino, good ripe black fruit, although again the berries were very small.  Yield was low, we picked only 76 Kilos.  Crushed and sulphited at 2grams per 23 Kgs, 3 of us destemmed for 10 minutes then left on skins overnight.  Next day medium press at 9am to give approx. 30 litres of Juice.  1 sachet of Lalvin D47 added.  The juice was tested at 23 Brix, with hydrometer reading at 1.09, PH 3.3-3.4, TA at 4.4.  We were shocked at the TA level,. and tested again and again to check it.  I think maybe that the fruit ripening has somehow been impeded by the dry hot weather, whereas acid levels have dropped sharply.

We added 45 grams of Tartaric acid to try and raise the acid to 6.0, as a result of which PH dropped to 3.2.

Montepulciano

Again this fruit on the whole looked very healthy although again the berries were very small.  Yield was low, we picked only 106 Kilos.  Crushed and sulphited at 2grams per 23 Kgs, 3 of us destemmed for 20 minutes then left on skins overnight.  Next day medium press at 10am to give approx. 50 litres of Juice.  2 sachets of Lalvin D47 added.  The juice was tested at 19.5 Brix, with hydrometer reading at 1.082, PH 3.2-3.3, TA at 4.8.  Again we were shocked at the TA level,. and tested again and again to check it.

We added 56 grams of Tartaric acid to try and raise the acid to 6.0, as a result of which PH dropped to 3.1.

On a very positive note, we tasted last years red, the 100% Montepulciano, and were very happy with it.  Bottled 89 bottles.  Also tasted last years Pecorino and it tasted better than expected, this is quite drinkable.  More notes to follow.

Brix Readings

We have now introduced a more formalised measure of Brix readings, the idea being that this will help us track and monitor grape ripeness and help anticipate future year picking dates; The table below will be updated every 7 days;

                                8th   15th   22nd   29th    5th   12th   19th   26th
                                Aug  Aug    Aug    Aug    Sep   Sep   Sep   Sep
Montepulciano          12     12.5     16     17.5  17.5  20.0
Acid %                                                   10
Pecorino                    16     15       20     20.5  20.0  22.0
Acid %                                                     9.0    7.0    7.5
Sangiovese                14     15       18      21     19.5  21
Total Acid %                                            7.5    6.7    5.0
Temperature 'C          36     36       36      21      18   21.0


It is worth noting that the summer thus far in Italy has been very hot and dry, as a result the grapes look very dry, and fruit is still small. But the crop looks healthy and sizeable.

Note;  Brix readings have not been adjusted for Temperature.