September=Harvest at Ohio Vineyards

You've just uncorked a bottle of your favorite wine from an Ohio Winery & Vineyard and poured a glass. As you swirl the glass to check the legs, take a sniff to catch the nose, and then take that first sip, think about this - where did all of this awesomeness come from?

For many bottles, it began when acreage was purchased and the first vines planted. Four years later, hopefully, those first vines are now producing grapes and, come late August or September, are ready for harvest. But, are they really ready? Rainfall and weather play a role but, to determine that, the vineyard manager will check the brix, or sweetness level, of their grape varieties. Once the optimal level, and that is different for each variety, is reached, for a small vineyard, it's time to call in the troops!

Volunteers, loyal customers, winery staff and anyone who can wield pruners may be pressed into service at harvest time! Most harvest one, maybe 2, varieties at a time. Depending on how many rows are planted in that variety, the length of the row, and the yield in any given year, harvest can take anywhere from 3 hours to more than a day.

To ready the rows for the harvest, first protective netting is removed and then lugs (large bins) are set out down the row. As the grape bunches are clipped they're dropped into the lugs. Once a row is fully harvested, the lugs are gathered and taken up to the crush pad.

The full lugs are weighed so an accurate record of that year's harvest can be kept for each variety. Then the grapes are emptied into the crusher/destemmer, which removes the stems and pumps the skins and juice into the press. Once the press is full, it is started up to remove the skins and push the juice into a vat.

For red wines, the destemmed grapes are pumped into a vat to "sit on the skins" in order to develop the deep color associated with red wines. Then, the vat is emptied into the press to have the skins removed and the juice pumped into a new vat.

For both white and red, the juice is then watched over by the vintner or winemaker. Yeast may be added for fermentation and other additives for preservation. After anywhere from a few months to several years, the wine is ready for bottling, corking, labeling and then the shelf, where you can buy it.

#ohiowineambassador #ohiowines #ohiogrown #drinklocal #ohiograpes