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The crop is picked, the grapes have been crushed, the juice is mostly done fermenting and wine makers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Because like anyone else involved in farming, you can’t relax until the crop is in the barn, or in this case, in the aging tank. But for most farmers, the only real difference in a given crop from year to year is in the yield – how many bushels each acre produced.
For wine grapes, yield does fluctuate, but there are other, even more important considerations, namely chemistry. A huge yield of grapes with poor chemistry makes a lot of poor wine. The acids, the pH and the sugars all make a huge difference in the wine, and all those things are dramatically affected by the weather.
So how was this year’s crop?
For all but the latest-ripening varieties, it should be pretty good, said Bruce Bordelon, a professor of horticulture at Purdue University who works with wineries across the state.
“We had a good season. Hopefully (the grapes are) all in the winery by now,” Bordelon said. “We were fortunate overall.”
The key words for this year were cool and dry.
“We had later-than-normal ripening, after a cool spring, a relatively cool summer and a relatively dry late summer and fall,” he said.
Dryness is critical approaching harvest, as rains can swell the grapes with water. That not only messes up the chemistry as everything is diluted, but if they swell too much, the skins can crack, inviting rot or disease.
“I think for August and September we had about .17 inches of rain around Lafayette,” Bordelon said. “If you were a vegetable grower, you’d be freaking out. But for grapes it was perfect.”
The temperatures in August and September were also exactly what grape growers want to see – highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s. The days were warm enough to help the ripening process while the nights were cool enough to help with the complexity.
Still the relatively cool temperatures all summer meant the grapes took longer than usual to get ripe, which for most vineyards shouldn’t have been a problem because Indiana tends to grow grapes that ripen early because we have shorter growing seasons. But for those who try to grow varieties like cabernet sauvignon, which ripen later – well, this would have been a very difficult year.
“Our very latest varieties in the Lafayette area never achieved the quality we’d like, but we’re pushing the envelope for those anyway and we know that,” Bordelon said. “They’re ripe, but they’re not at the quality we’d hope for.”
The silver lining may come with the varieties that did ripen properly, in that cool temperatures usually produce better acid levels, making the wines go better with food. And if Indiana struggled to ripen grapes this year, vineyards in Michigan and Wisconsin really had it rough.
“We’re way better off than our friends to the north,” Bordelon said. “The common term was, ‘I think I’ll make blush out of my reds this year.’ ”
Unlike the last several years, there were no major threats to Indiana’s crop. In previous harvest reports we’ve written about devastating late frosts, big heat waves and even a hurricane remnant. Not this year.
On the other hand, many feared the season might be over before it started – the incredibly cold temperatures in the winter months killed up to 90 percent of the buds on some varieties, Bordelon said. Fortunately, growers were able to compensate for that by simply adjusting their pruning, and for the most part crop size wasn’t affected.
Last week we told you about Satek Winery’s 101 Lakes Red being carried by Cap N’ Cork stores. Well, the list of places you can find Satek wines – and the list of wines available – has gotten longer.
Satek tells us Lucky’s Terrapin Grill on Dupont Road has both the 101 Lakes Red and the 101 Lakes White by the glass or bottle. Meanwhile, Wine Time at Jefferson Pointe carries the Kreibaum Bay Port and the Steuben Ice Wine.
If you’re a fan of Oliver Soft Red, you need to try the Satek 101 Lakes Red. Both are semisweet reds made from the Concord grape. The 101 Lakes White is also semisweet and features lots of fruit flavors, including hints of peach, apple and honeysuckle. Satek’s Kreibaum Bay Port is very different from most ports you’ll find but is one of our favorites. Dan had a chance to try Satek’s ice wine recently, and if you want to splurge on a nectar-like treat, this is definitely one to keep in mind.
Cheers!
