OK, we're in double digits of the number of days where the high temperature is in Triple digits. Highest I've seen is 121. But at least the humidity is high-ish. (45% humidity with a high of 121 is...well...uncomfortable.) Unfortunately, the rain gods have not gotten around to lowering the humidity by raining some of that water vapor out of the air. Grass is pretty brown around here. Which raises the chance of a four letter F-word substantially.
No, Beans, get your mind out of the gutter! That particular F-word is "Fire".
There have been a few, but the Fire Departments in the area have managed to control them fairly quickly.
Lord, please let THAT trend continue!
One of the benefits of triple digits, is the grapes in the vineyards in the area are ripening fairly early this year. And because of the drought, the quality of the juice, I've been told, is very concentrated so, very good. So, my winemaker friends at Texas Hills Vineyard are a bit excited over that.
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But, our traveling buddies, who also happen to be those winemakers, have a harvest celebration day around this time every year. Typically it revolves around this theme.
OK, maybe not the wrestling part.
This is more like it.
My job (inside where it's Air Conditioned) was to cut the grapes from the shoots. That went pretty well and the buckets when full got dumped into the crusher. Once that was full, the juice and the crushed solids gets pumped into the vats, and the wine making process gets started.
It was a lot of physical work, but still interesting and kinda fun.
Finally, two things happened, one, the grapes that had been picked were now in the vat, beginning the process with the crushing of the grapes.
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And, two, we got to try some of last year's whites.
(Reds take a couple of years at least before they're ready to drink. Whites are generally ready the next season.)
So...we had that going for us.
But, this may be the last time for this. Our winemaker and wife are pushing 85 and 78 respectively. So the vineyard and winery are up for sale.
If any of you folks out there are interested...I'd be happy to introduce you.
How many wineries are there IN Texas, juvat? Well, according to this site there are 200+ currently, making Texas the fifth largest producer in the US.
Well...
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I'm in the middle of the cluster just north of San Antonio and west of Austin
Peace out y'all!
We are not ready to step our wine production up from the usual twelve gallons of red each year to an actual winery.
ReplyDeleteThe event looks to have been enjoyed by all!
I'm more likely to try the Lucy stunt of candy stuffing.
JiP,
DeleteWhat kind of red do you make? I tried that one time. Godawful was the only word that described it. I'll leave my winemaking to the professionals, with a little help from me. Better for both of us that way.
juvat
Sorry about the delay.
DeleteWe use California juice to make darker reds.
Petite Sirah, Cabernet, Malvasia Black, Alicante, Barolo, Valcalpio, San Giovese, Pinot Noir, Nebbiola, and Zinfandel.
We rack off of the plastic buckets to the new wine safe plastic carboys between a week and ten days after ferment has started and then we re-rack on a slippery schedule with a final time of chemicals and oak chips.
We quit using a one micron filter some years ago and now we just accept that a bit of sediment is OK.
The very rare, and absolutely awful batch gets thrown away, and the average is an adequate table red.
If you pass by Philly, we will open the wine bar for you and yours and the only cost is telling the truth about how we are doing.
The last vintage is in bottles, and in August we start anew.
JiP,
DeleteSounds intriguing, and retired means I need things to do. Might have to give it another try. Just out of curiosity how did you learn in the first place?
juvat
juvat. We had tried beer making using concentrated syrup, moved up to wine making with concentrated wine grape syrups, and then a friend told us we would get better results using fresh pressed juice and the friend suggested we try a place in Philly's food distribution area that sold juice from California, as well as grapes.
DeleteThe California suppliers press the grapes, adjust the sugar and acidity, then put the juice in 5.3 or 6.3 gallon buckets. The buckets are kept very cold and shipped east under refrigeration.
For the home winemaking, it means bringing your choice home, allowing the juice to warm up to where you can pitch the rehdrated yeast and then Mother Nature takes over.
If you do your job, keep things clean, and rack when you should, you get a decent table wine.
We tried some whites years and years ago, but we really don't drink much white wine, and now we make only reds.
I will gladly share the knowledge of our experiences as micro (maybe nano?) winemakers and answer any and all questions if you email me.
We bought a small grape press and a destemmer/crusher. So far next year is the year we are going to use real grapes, and again this year it looks like next year will be the year.
In actual fact, we should sell the press and destemmer/crusher.
At 121 the humidity should be in the negative numbers. You should need to blink at 120 bpm or faster to keep your eyeballs from drying out. At least that's what this California boy is used to. (ok, maybe only 0% humidity and 90 bpm to keep the eyes moist).
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your fire season. Ours isn't too bad yet. We shall see.
Joe,
DeleteYeah, it doesn't take much to really raise the temperature index at that Fahrenheit. And one would have thought with that much thermal lift and water vapor, those tall white/gray/black water filled things would come and bring relief. Not so much
juvat
Triple digit temps......nope......nope......nope. Here high nineties with dew points approaching seventy for the next three days, ah summertime! That's quite the cluster of wineries there juvat, never knew there were that many in your state.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteI'd probably have to wear a jacket if the temps got down into the nineties. Actually Texas was the first state to make commercial wines. Sacramental wines for the Hispanic/Catholic sect. I didn't know that until we started the research process in preparation for planting vines and making wine. Fortunately, I learned early that I don't have the temperament to be a farmer.
juvat
Looks like fun, Juvat. The Air conditioned task portion seems like the solid choice.
ReplyDeleteTHBB,
DeleteMy momma didn't raise no fools. Hot is only good when it's cold outside.
juvat
Hot. Summer so far here in Little Rhody has not been too bad. Outside.
ReplyDeleteStep into my computer lab at work and the temperature is a constant 84 degrees. AC broke down about three weeks ago, watching the "supply chain" "Six Sigma experts" trying to get it fixed is almost as entertaining as watching the old USSR collapse. Incompetence at its best, penny-wise, pound-foolish, I think it's our motto. If we actually replaced the system we wouldn't have to spend 10K a year fixing things.
I haven't melted yet, but damn, it's hot in here.
Sarge,
DeleteOOOFDA, Three weeks? No bueno. Probably not a lot of breeze in there either. My sympathies my friend!
juvat
We have a number of fans moving the hot air around. Helps dry the sweat ...
DeleteWell, at least you've got that going for you!
Deletejuvat
A fan works wonders. Evaporates the sweat to cool you. Besides, the sound and feel of moving air is refreshing.
DeleteDon,
DeleteYeah it is, but there are limits to a mere fan's effectiveness. We're fast approaching that point or have already past it. We'll see what this week brings.
juvat
I worked with the guy that started Llano Estacado Winery up in Lubbock. He was one of the Texas A&M experiment farm guys. I was just a snot nose gopher then. Wine production has really taken off since then...
ReplyDeleteI pronounced it LAN-o Ee-STACK-a-do.... instead of Yawn-o Esta-CA-tho... I thought it was funny.... Him, not so much...
STxAR,
DeleteWent to that winery quite a bit when I was at Tech. The age was 18, their wine was inexpensive. And, they hadn't mastered dry wines at the time. Everyone starts out sweet, very few end their.
Yeah, that pronunciation grated on me when we had the wine store. I wouldn't correct them, just pronounce it correctly when I went into my spiel about the wine and the company. Got a lot of "I didn't know that was how it was pronounced" comments which is always a good start to a sales conversation.
YMMV.
juvat
As a summer time shoeless kid, the environment I grew up in was akin to walking through enough mud and cow pies to make the world look level. Never thought much about it till Mom got hold of me trying to come in the house with dirty feet. Being a "mature type-age only", now the thought of "stuff" squishing up between my toes isn't very inviting. And then I suppose with grapes you have to deal with purple feet till the color wears off.
ReplyDeleteThose "stompers" are better people, than me.
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteWell, and fortunately, feet are not used in the actual crushing of the grapes destined to be wine now-a-days. I mean "Really? EWWWWW!" But it was fun watching the ladies stomping around in the barrel. Good for a laugh.
juvat
The vision of lovely ladies stomping wine is at least romantic. My Dad in WW2 Algeria noted that the production wine (sold to the Americans) was pressed out by a couple of oxen plodding round and round in a circular trough.
DeleteDon,
DeleteI think learning that little tidbit would turn me off wine forever. Just sayin'. Holy Cow! OK Oxen.
juvat
Good to see no crises this week, for a change. Hope the damaged digit is healing well.
ReplyDeleteJB
JB,
DeleteIt's getting there, another therapy session on Thursday. We'll see what the Wound Care Ladies have to say.
juvat
If you find a buyer for the old folks winery do you get a commission?
ReplyDeleteForgot the smiley face... :-)
DeleteRob,
DeleteThat would be nice, but no. Not a registered Real Estate agent. I might get a case or two of wine from the winemakers though. One can hope!
juvat
;-)
DeleteYou could ask about a finders fee, you have a wide audience here...
DeleteRob,
DeleteI'll think about that. Mostly I'd like our winemaker friends to get a fair price for the vineyard and winery they've had for 30 something years..
Thanks
juvat
Well, looks like all y'all in Texas might get some rain this week.
ReplyDeleteAs to wines, yeah, stuff squeezing up between the toes, nope. Blech. Now I will watch someone using an old-school grape press. From inside air conditioned splendor.
Beans,
DeleteRain would be nice. Nicer if it came down slow and steady for a day or so, not the 5" in 30 minutes we had last time. I know, I know.
Beggars can't be choosers.
Sister Creek Vineyards had one in their old winery. They didn't use it, but it was cool. The winery is a renovated cotton gin from the 1930's. Kinda cool all round. Wine is excellent also.
juvat
Ok, so I could drink wine made from foot stomping--alcohol level in wine would probably kill most germs--Ox poop--not so much!! I've shoveled lots of Ox poop, and have cleaned lots of feet...I'm picking foot wine!!
DeleteAnd definitely smart choice of jobs to be done. Although, with a bum thumb, bet that wasn't most comfortable...
Suz
Suz,
DeleteBig difference between "could" and "would". But you're absolutely right about ox poop. I like wine but you got to draw a line somewhere.
Thumb is approaching tolerable pain levels. Appt on Thursday, we'll see what they say.
juvat
Keep in mind that those making it had no intention of drinking it themselves (They had their own presses for personal and local consumption). And what the American GIs didn't know wouldn't affect the sales, as long as the wine had alcohol in it.
DeleteYep, rain would be nice... sigh... Highest I've seen up here is 115.
ReplyDeleteOld NFO,
Delete115 is still pretty uncomfortable, and rain wold be gratefully welcomed
juvat