Nothin' Much Happenin'

So it's been a while since my last post. That's because, mainly, there hasn't been much new news for the winemaking. The blackberry wines are still in secondary, the Carm/Cab and Strawberry wines are still in aging.

I've got a pH Meter and a Refractometer on they way to me, and I need to order a fermenter, some BM45 Yeast, some MLF, and some Stavin Oak Cubes for the Cab Franc grapes.

Speaking of those, this weekend, I will be up at my parents in Kernersville, and I plan to stop by Medley Meadows Vineyard in King, where I've sourced my grapes from. Randy Fulk, the owner, will be there to show me around the vineyard, and we'll probably talk grapes and wines for a while.

I can't wait to meet my little berries! I'll check on them and see how far along they are in Veraison, and see what Randy approximates as harvest time. There's a cold front moving through the area today and tomorrow, and it's carrying some rain with it, so that could push back harvest a few days, as rainfall will almost immediately affect the Brix and acid levels in grapes.

Personally, I'm sick and tired of this hot weather, but evidently, the grapes generally like it. They ripen better and get sweeter in the dry, hot weather. It might actually have been a little bit too hot as one winegrower recently told me. He said hot days and cool nights are best, but it hasn't even been anywhere close to cool around here lately!

So, we'll see. I'll report back on the condition of the grapes once I've met them!