Round One

The weekend was busy, although it wasn't 1700 pounds, only 1600 pounds....just 100 pounds of grenache.

The Riesling and syrah came through WWAWA, and was delivered to a church parking lot near Magnuson Park. WWAWA delivers in 500 pound bins, so there were two of the Riesling and one of the Syrah. The 100 pounds of Grenache came from California, through Lou Cella.

The measurements from the vineyard for the Syrah: Brix: 26.0, TA .59, pH 3.72
This compares with the Syrah from 2003 Brix: 23.4, TA .54, pH 3.45

Depending on the reference the optimum for reds would be a Brix around 22.5-24.5, TA .6-.8 and pH 3.3 - 3.5 (This is from a great manual that you can get at http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/content.php?category=Winemaking) , so a little high with the sugar. We can take a reading at the beginning of fermentation and see for ourselves.

For the Riesling the vineyard readings were Brix: 23.8, total acid .71, pH 3.26
this compares with the Riesling from 2001 Brix: 23.2 total acid .69, pH 3.30 (best year)
from 2004 Brix: 22.8 total acid .72, pH 3.27 (okay)
from 2000 Brix: 23.0 total acid .84, ph 3.09 (okay)

I would say this bodes well for the Riesling, it is quite similar to the 2001 readings. The optimum readings, from the same source above for whites: Brix 20.5- 22, TA .8-1.0. pH 3.2-3.4
The brix is higher, but the Steinberg yeast we are using should ferment fairly dry, which is what we want.