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Veraison to HarVestStatewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #9

October 24, 2014Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling

next week. Brix levels seem to be running fairly close to last year’s averages, with some varieties just above and others below, while acidity continues to run a bit higher than this time last year just about across the board.Crop estimation is always a challenge, but the varying lev-els of winter injury made that task even more difficult this year. As harvest has been progressing, a number of grow-ers are finding that some varieties are yielding better than anticipated. This looks to be especially true with Riesling this year, based on the listings posted on the NY Grape & Wine Classifieds. In addition to having higher yields than anticipated, this may also be due in part to some buyers cut-ting back on their purchases this year either because they planned on less fruit being available or they still have wine juice from last year’s large crop in the cellar or warehouse.While it hasn’t quite felt the same as September, the month of October has been relatively dry, which has continued to help keep late season disease development in check. The weather station at Geneva has recorded only 1.1” of rain in the month so far, with almost all of that falling over the past 7-10 days. New botrytis and sour rot infections are not very common at this point, and several wineries have said they are doing a lot less sorting of poor quality fruit this year.This year has shown us once again that the story of any particular growing season in the Finger Lakes can’t be writ-ten until the harvest is done. After a winter that had many growers thinking there would be a very small crop (and there has been for some), and a wet and cool spring and summer that had many worried about a less-than-stellar

October 24. Cabernet Franc on Smart Dyson training system is still hanging in this East Seneca Lake vineyard.

photo by Hans Walter-Peterson

Around New York...Statewide (Tim Martinson)In our final week of sampling, only 12 unharvested blocks (Cabernet franc, Catawba, Concord, Riesling, and Vidal blanc) are left. Brix, TA, pH and YAN haven’t changed much. Notably, however, the average berry weight for most is running 0.2 grams per berry higher than last year’s berry weight. For Catawba (+0.5g) and the Concord blocks (+0.8 g/berry more), the difference is greater. And it adds up. On vines with 50 clusters and 50 berries per cluster, 0.2 g/berry more adds up to 1.1 lb per vine, or about 888 lb /acre (0.45 T/acre) higher yield.

This is our second-to-last issue of Veraison to Harvest. The final issue will feature a seasonal summary of the vintage, Juice grape crop, and how the trends in ripening compare to the past five years. Look for it in the next 10 days to 2 weeks.

Finger Lakes (Hans Walter-Peterson).Even though this is the final week of sampling for Veraison to Harvest, you couldn’t really say that we’re near the end of harvest quite yet, but it isn’t too far away either. Leaf func-tion in most blocks is pretty much done at this point as chlo-rophyll is breaking down and leaves are senescing. At this point, most of the changes in fruit chemistry are likely due to dehydration rather than photosynthetic capacity.The Concord season for Constellation Brands wrapped up this week with another larger than normal crop. Despite the large crop, levels of sugar, acidity and color were all very good this year. Canes appear to be hardening off well in blocks that we have looked at lately, although some vines that ran into more severe water stress in our dry September have some shoots that did not develop as much periderm as non-stressed vines.Most other wineries in the Finger Lakes are still plugging along with harvest, although a few will probably be finish-ing this week. Riesling continues to be the primary vinifera variety making its way to crush pads right now, although lots of others have been coming off the vines as well, includ-ing Cabernet Franc, Lemberger and Syrah. I expect that we will see the emphasis move to late-season reds like Caber-net Franc and Merlot over the next week or so. The Cab-ernet Franc at the Teaching Vineyard will be picked within the next couple of days, leaving only our Vidal blanc as the last variety yet to be picked, which will happen sometime

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growing season, September and October has changed a lot of people’s perspectives about the year. While the end of a season is always a relief, the end of the 2014 season will probably feel more like a success and less like a survival mission that we made it through.

Lake Erie (Luke Haggerty)The 2014 season is nearing its end with a favorable forecast for picking the remaining grapes. This past week the region received rain six out of seven days and accumulated 1 – 2 inches of rain. Even with the wet conditions we are seeing reports of higher than expected sugar levels and a heavy crop load. The leaves continue to yellow and in some blocks have begun to drop. In terms of heat accumulation, the region was slightly above average thanks to the warm stretch during the last two weeks of September. Early crop estimations predicted that the Concord harvest was going to be around average. However, with berry size 15% to 20% larger than average most growers under estimated their crop size and are harvesting another large crop.Due to winter injury, this was a poor year for vinifera and a few hybrids. With extensive trunk damage and Crown gall infections many growers saved suckers to renew damaged vines. Here at CLEREL we saw many of our Pinot gris, Cabernet Franc, and Riesling vines collapse throughout the year and are planning to replant ~80% of our vinifera blocks next spring.As a whole disease pressure was low this year. We are seeing increasing amounts of ‘grape root worm’ springing up across the region. This season Tim Weigle conducted an insecticide trial on ‘grape root worm’ in an effort to get this pest on more labels. Grape berry moth (GBM) continued to be a problem

this year especially in vineyards next to wooded areas.

Hudson Valley (Jim O’Connell))Although the 2014 grape growing season started off a bit rocky, has ended on a more positive note. The low temperatures from this past winter caused a lot of inju-ry across the state. Growers saw 50% primary bud kill in many of their varieties, and some had injury severe enough where the vines died back to the soil line. The spring season started with plenty of rain and con-tinued through the early part of the summer. At the Highland Lab, almost 12” of rain was recorded be-tween March and July. Disease pressure was heavy. Fortunately, as veraison approached the weather im-proved and so did the outlook for the harvest season. The harvest is nearly finished and here at the Hudson Valley Lab we have only two or three varieties still hanging. Those will come down with the better weath-er next week.Overall, for those growers who had a crop (i.e. their vines survived the winter), the harvest was average. The exception would be heavy producing cultivars, such as Seyval blanc. Growers reported having a sur-plus of this grape, with many looking to sell the extra, as they had no room for it.

Long Island (Alice Wise and Libby Tarleton)Many growers spent the early part of the week harvest-ing Merlot and Cabernet Franc. There are still blocks of each hanging. Cabernet Sauvignon is still out. At the Cornell research vineyard, we harvested most of our reds and our final white, Petit Manseng. Results (be-low) are from 100-berry samples. Fruit quality overall has been excellent, most growers are really pleased with this year’s crop.

Cultivar/Clone Brix TA g/l pH CommentsMerlot 1 22.4 5.9 3.45

Merlot clusters were larger than average, some clones had large berries as well. Fruit was very ripe, berries were soft, easily

detached, seeds brown. A bit of Botrytis, most related to yellow jacket damage. Biggest clusters – M.181. Highest yield – M.6.

Tastiest fruit – M.3 & M.181.

Merlot 3 23.1 5.4 3.48Merlot 6 22.0 5.7 3.41Merlot 8 23.2 5.1 3.45

Merlot 181 22.8 5.6 3.41Merlot 314 23.3 5.3 3.37Malbec 4 23.4 6.6 3.29 Yield can vary year to year but good numbers this year.

Sangiovese 2 22.7 7.7 3.06 Large clusters.Syrah 1 21.0 6.2 3.25 Long clusters.Barbera 24.9 8.9 3.20 Big berries this year on one clone and not the other.

Lemberger 22.8 7.4 3.11 Located on the north end of the vineyard, yellow jackets reduced yield. A perennial problem for these vines.

Cabernet Franc 1 23.2 6.0 3.31 Smaller berries/clusters vs. Merlot.Petit Verdot 2 25.2 10.4 3.06 Tiny berries.

Petit Manseng 26.6 11.6 2.99 Small berries, very loose clusters, likely due to LR virus infection (verified).

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Towards Green WinesChris Gerling

I should probably clarify right off the bat: we’re talk-ing about sustainability as opposed to strategies for in-creasing vegetative character. Those who are seriously interested in the latter topic should select just about any article the extension enology lab has written in the last 20 years and then do the opposite of whatever it says. Sustainable practices for wineries. No, today I’m talking about a project we’ve initiated to help wineries become more sustainable and profitable. Building off of the VineBalance program, we hope to create a work-book that will give small eastern wineries strategies to help make their existing buildings and practices more efficient and environmentally friendly.Why us, and why now? While there are a number of programs designed to assist with vineyard practices, there are far fewer in place for wineries, and the pro-grams that do exist tend to focus primarily on larger western wineries and/ or new construction. My favorite story along these lines came from a grad-uate of our lab who is now employed by one of the really big operations in California. He told me they had recently cut water use by something like 60% at one facility. Astounded, I asked for the technique so I could spread the word. The secret? Less landscaping irrigation. While it was certainly a meaningful change, I didn’t think it would transfer all that effectively to most small wineries in the east. The plan. Our plan is to attempt to manage water, en-ergy and detergent/ sanitizer use through the lens of small wineries that have already been built. The first and foremost problem is data. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure” goes the saying, and we lack a lot of basic information about “typical” winery behavior. We need to get some baseline data in order to be able to study the impact of changes. Comparing to average usage data will also be a key first step for wineries us-ing the workbook. Finally, our climate provides some different challenges and opportunities when it comes to cooling needs and water availability, and we hope to be able to quantify those differences.Team effort. This project is going to be a team effort, and we already have some key partners, including the Pollution Prevention Institute (P2I) at RIT and the FLCC Viticulture and Wine Technology program. RIT 2PI is consulting with wineries across the state, and the best solutions they find will be included in the book.

Water use at five wineries. Our first collaborative proj-ect is to track water use at five Finger Lakes wineries this harvest season. RIT has given some technical rec-ommendations and an FLCC student is coordinating our data collection effort. We also are fortunate to have Peter FitzRandolph of Finger Lakes Sustainable Strategies on board to help shape the workbook. Peter has already interviewed several winery owners and winemakers to get their impressions of sustainable concepts.We are off and running, but we are still in the early stages. If you are interested in participating, there will be many opportunities and you can choose from more than one. If you already have the ability to track the water use of your winery production facility and are willing to share that information, it will make our data set that much more robust. If you have ideas for promising techniques we can evaluate or would like to volunteer to be a pilot for some of the practices we’re trying to implement, we would love to hear from you. While each situation is unique, we are much more alike than different, and wineries of all sizes around the world are mostly wrestling with the same issues. Here’s to greener wine for everyone—at least in terms of money and sustainability.

Water meters have been installed at five wineries to track water use.

Photo by Tim Martinson

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Fruit Maturation report - 10/21/2014Our final samples were collected on Tuesday, October 21. Where appropriate, sample data from 2013, averaged over all sites is included. Tables from 2013 are archived at http://grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/newsletters/veraison-harvest

We are again reporting berry weight, brix, titratable acidity and pH, and yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN). Graduate students Alex Frederickson and Camila Martin Tahim and Ben Gavitt are running the fruit composition and YAN assays.

Cabernet FrancRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 E. Seneca 1.62 23.1 3.33 5.7 108Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 W. Seneca 1.65 21.1 3.18 7.9 40Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 Cayuga 1.83 21.9 3.44 6.2 71Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 Teaching Vyd 1.59 21.7 3.47 5.3 91

Hudson Valley 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDLong Island 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDLong Island 10/21/2014 LI-07 1.54 20.3 3.37 6.2 47

Average 10/21/2014 1.65 21.6 3.36 6.3 71Prev. Sample 10/14/2014 1.67 21.6 3.28 7.0 51‘13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 1.76 22.2 3.33 6.5 78

CatawbaRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 Keuka 2.90 18.5 2.95 15.4 132Prev Sample 10/14/2014 Keuka 2.95 17.6 2.83 16.8 116’13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 Keuka 2.36 18.1 3.03 9.7 135

Cayuga WhiteRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 9/30/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 9/30/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 9/30/2014 HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/30/2014 2.86 18.7 3.03 10.2 143’13 at Harvest 9/16/2013 2.82 18.5 3.05 9.0 170

ChardonnayRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/14/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDLong Island 10/14/2014 HARVESTED

Final Sample 10/7/2014 1.86 20.3 3.20 8.4 87’13 at Harvest 9/30/2013 1.61 20.4 3.35 7.4 135

ConcordRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 W. Canandaigua 3.68 18.0 3.40 6.6 139

Lake Erie 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDAverage 10/21/2014 3.68 18.0 3.40 6.6 139

Prev Sample 10/14/2014 3.61 16.4 3.20 9.2 203‘13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 Keuka 2.89 16.9 3.30 7.4 213

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Corot NoirRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/30/2014 Teaching Vyd 2.34 18.2 3.22 7.9 73

Gruner Veltliner

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd 1.63 18.0 3.20 6.8 139

LembergerRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/212014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/14/2014 HARVESTED Final Sample 10/14/2014 2.00 23.0 3.18 7.0 45Prev. Average 10/7/2014 1.92 22.5 3.11 7.8 26’13 at Harvest 10/14/2013 Keuka 1.84 23.3 3.21 5.8 93

MalbecRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Long IslandPrev Sample 10/14/2014 LI-06 2.77 22.0 3.49 5.4 52‘13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 LI-06 1.95 22.6 3.82 6.7 168

MarquetteRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Final Sample 9/2/2014 Teaching Vyd 1.09 22.7 2.98 12.9

MerlotRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Hudson Valley 10/14/2014 HARVESTEDLong Island 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDLong Island 10/21/2014 HARVESTED

Final Sample 10/14/2014 2.00 21.5 3.44 5.0 46‘13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 LI-04 1.85 23.1 3.85 4.8 102

NiagaraRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Lake Erie 9/30/2014 HARVESTED

Final Sample 9/23/2014 Portland 4.40 15.1 3.21 6.6 172‘13 at Harvest 9/23/2013 Portland 4.01 14.8 3.28 6.8 335

NoiretRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Hudson Valley 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDLake Erie 10/21/2014 HARVESTED

Final Sample 10/14/2014 1.96 18.2 3.31 8.0 188‘13 at Harvest 10/14/2013 1.56 18.2 3.51 7.0 271

Pinot NoirRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 9/30/2014 HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/23/2014 E. Seneca 1.39 20.5 3.12 8.9 88’13 at Harvest 9/23/2013 E. Seneca 1.58 20.6 3.13 8.0 94

Riesling

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Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 E. Seneca 1.69 20.4 3.03 9.2 70Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 E. Seneca 1.76 20.1 3.15 8.3 81Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/21/2014 W. Canandaigua 1.83 18.3 3.12 10.0 132Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTED

Hudson Valley 10/21/2014 HV Lab 1.87 18.9 3.45 5.8 119Lake Erie 10/21/2014 HARVESTED

Long Island 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDAverage 10/21/2014 1.82 19.1 3.24 8.1 111

Prev Sample 10/14/2014 1.64 19.3 3.10 9.3 93‘13 FinalSample 10/21/2013 1.67 17.3 3.15 9.3 167

Sauvignon BlancRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Long Island HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/16/2014 LI-02 1.44 19.5 3.16 7.5 63’13 at Harvest 9/9/2013 LI-02 1.23 22.1 3.23 8.1 141

Seyval BlancRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Final Sample 9/9/2014 HARVESTED 1.82 18.2 3.04 9.0 148’13 at Harvest 9/9/2013 Cayuga 1.77 19.9 3.22 6.4 126

TraminetteRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDHudson Valley 10/21/2014 HARVESTED

Lake Erie 10/21/2014 HARVESTEDFinal Sample 10/14/2014 1.97 21.8 3.07 9.8 186‘13 at Harvest 10/21/2013 Keuka 1.81 23.5 3.23 3.9 148

Vidal BlancRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/21/2014 Teaching Vyd 2.05 23.7 3.31 8.3 111Prev Sample 10/14/2014 Teaching Vyd 2.05 24.1 3.28 8.7 94

VignolesRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Finger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDFinger Lakes 10/7/2014 HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/30/2014 1.88 22.6 2.97 16.1 207‘13 at Harvest 9/30/2013 W. Seneca 1.67 23.9 3.16 12.9 179

ZweigeltRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)

Final Sample 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd 1.82 17.0 3.17 7.3 149

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This newsletter was made possible with support from the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station Director’s Endowment.

Veraison to Harvest is a joint publication of:

Cornell Enology Extension Program

Statewide Viticulture Extension Program

Long Island Grape Program

Finger Lakes Grape Program

Lake Erie Regional Grape Program

Eastern New York Regional Horticulture Program

Copyright 2014 © Cornell University

The information, including any advice or recommendations, con-tained herein is based upon the research and experience of Cornell Cooperative Extension personnel. While this information constitutes the best judgement/opinion of such personnel at the time issued, neither Cornell Cooperative Extension nor any representative thereof makes any representation or warrantee, express or implied, of any particular result or application of such information, or re-garding any product. Users of any product are encouraged to read and follow product-labeling instructions and check with the manu-facturer or supplier for updated information. Nothing contained in this information should be interpreted as an endorsement expressed or implied of any particular product.

More on Marquette: Shaded versus Exposed Clusters on the Same VinesTim Martinson and Chrislyn Particka

Brief note on impact of shading on fruit composition: Following harvest at our Clayton training trials, I harvested 5 shaded and 5 sunlight-exposed clusters from each of six vines, and analysed each cluster separately. Soluble solids were about 2 °Brix higher and titratable acidity about 2 g/liter lower on exposed clusters. Juice pH was about the same. Graphs below show range of values for 30 clusters each.

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28

Brix

E S

Shaded vs Exposed6

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TA

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Shaded vs Exposed

BrixExposed Shaded

Titratable AcidityExposed Shaded