Wine 101 #2-Brix

I took grape samples today. The Copeland Vineyard Chardonnay and Syrah are 17.8 and 18.2 brix respectively. This means we are a still a few weeks away from harvesting as we like to see roughly 25 Brix (less for white wines) when we harvest (this is not a hard number as we also look at acid and flavors when determining harvest).

When taking brix readings in the winery we always get a lot of questions from guests about what exactly a brix is.

That said I thought this a good occassion to hold the second Wine 101 "class." Brix is a scale used to measure the percent of dissolved sugar in a solution at 20 degrees celcius. This scale was developed by Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix and is used primarily in winemaking and fruit juices (brewers use the Plato scale; why I have no idea). Simply, a brix is a way to quantify how sweet the grapes are.

While the juice is still juice (ie not fermenting) we use a refractometer to measure the brix. For pure simplicity and functionality's sake this is my favorite tool we use. Very simply the refractometer measures the sugar through the degree at which light going through the solution is bent. The more sugar a solution has the more the light will be bent. So simple. I love it.

This is a refractometer.



Although blurry this is what one sees when looking into the refractometer. There is a numbered scale in the middle and where the blue crosses is how many brix you have.

Absolutely nothing to do with wine

This video is in no way related to wine but I found it to be pretty cool. It did make me think that if sheep farmers (I guess that is what they are called) have this much time on their hands maybe herding animals is not that bad of a career choice.

Wine 101 #1-Veraison

As we get lots of questions about grape growing and winemaking we thought from time to time we would would do an eduactional posting centered around what is going on in the winery or vineyard.

That said here is Class #1 in your very own Wine 101 class. Veraison is the topic of the day. We are going through veraison as we speak. What is veraison you ask? Very simply this is when the grapes begin to change color. Veraison is a french word/term for "changing color."

During verasion the grapes stop cellular growth and start the process of ripening (which is good as otherwise would not taste very good). Sugars begin to accumulate in the berries as the flow of water into the berry begins to slow relative to the amount of sugar. The rate at which sugar accumulates is directly related to the amount of canopy the vines have as photosynthesis creates the sugar.

In addition to sugar accumlation the the acids in the berries begin to drop off. There are two main types of acids in grapes, Malic acid and Tartaric acid. The malic acid degredates much quicker at this point and leaves tartaric acid as the perdominate acid in the grapes.

The grapes physically change color through the formation of anthocyanins and xanthophylls. Methoxypyrazines, the herbal green flavor compound, also begin to breakdown as well during veraison.

It is also interesting to note that what exactly triggers veraison is unknown. It is widely thought this process is triggered through hormonal changes or signals the plants send out but the exact reasons are still a mystery.

This picture is of Merlot in veraison last year. I will post some pictures of this year's veraison on Facebook.

TMW Visits the South

I am in South Carolina tonight. I have come to the South to meet with our new distributor in South Carolina as well as visit Erin. My meeting is tomorrow, and it will be good to finalize launch dates and strategies.

It also been great to see Erin. She is helping immensly with 'market research' by showing me all of the popular watering holes and restaurants in Columbia. We had dinner last night at Motor Supply Company Bistro, http://www.motorsupplycobistro.com/. The pork porterhouse with duck sauasage cassoulet was fantastic.

After dinner we met several of Erin's friends to do some more 'market research.' I am having an enjoyable time 'learning' about the market and got some great insight from two of the locals:

I was informed that my attire did not quite fit in and that I was very clearly a Yankee. It was suggested that a Yankee could hide their geographical origins by wearing:

• Pastel (preferably pink) polo shirt with popped collar
• Shorts from Vineyard Vines (with the little whales or anchors or what-have-you embroidered on them)
• Croakies
• Visor
• Boat shoes
• And most importantly- a list of the people your father says he knows (the more important the people on this list are the better; ie judges, senators, etc)

Now that I have been informed of proper South Carolinian male attire I will be better prepared for my next visit. It has been a worthwhile trip, and we are excited about having wine here soon.

Although hot and humid, Columbia is an interesting city. Good restaurant scene, fun bars, very friendly people (so much so they were willing to tell me what to wear so I could fit it in more) and generally a good feel.