Deciding when to pick your grapes is a balancing game.
What really happens as grapes ripen?
- Sugar accumulates – helps us get the right amount of alcohol in a wine.
- Flavours & Aromas accumulate – make the wine smell and taste good.
- Tannins ripen – we need ripe tannins so the texture of the wine is good.
- Acid reduces – we need acid to help preserve the wine, and, give it balance.
The challenge is that all 4 things can happen at different rates and be perfect at different times. In the great years they all align perfectly and we can pick the grapes at exactly the right time.
In a hot early ripening year the sugars will often accumulate faster than the flavours & aromas and be ready before the grapes are flavour ripe, the tannins will probably be green too.
If the vines get too stressed and loose their leaves physiological ripening will grind to a halt, acid may still be metabolised and reduce, the concentration of sugar will increase, but, more due to dehydration, like sultana production, rather than sugar being produced by the vine.
In these instances we can end up with jammy cooked fruit.
The good news for this year, warm, not hot days with cool night have seen ideal ripening conditions. Sugars and flavours are accumulating together and tannins are nearly ripe, while acid has been retained at good levels. At this early stage, before picking, it’s looking like we are going to have fresh vibrant wines, loaded with flavour!
Fingers crossed for the last couple of weeks on the vine!
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