Seufert Winery

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Grape Berry Development

Jordan Koutroumanidis of Wintitles managed to portray the entire lifecycle of a grape berry in one chart. It conveys a wealth of information, but will take a couple of minutes to fully comprehend. It is an illustration accompanying an article titled: “Understanding Grape Berry Development” by James Kennedy, Department of Food Science & Technology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. It was published in Practical Winery in 2002.

The full article can be found here.

Here is my synopsis and legend for the chart:
  • The vertical axis shows the increase in grape berry size.
  • The horizontal axis shows the number of elapsed days starting with grape flowering.
  • The small green circles, changing to medium green circles and then larger purple circles portray relative berry size and color development.
  • The blue band labeled Xylem shows the primary growth mechanism during the first period of growth – where water and nutrients are transported into the berry from the root system.
  • The salmon colored band labeled Phloem regulates growth and maturity once the xylem phase is reduced. After veraison, the plant shifts from transporting root system nutrients into the berries (Xylem), to transporting sucrose from the canopy into the berries (Phloem).
  • The green text bubbles indicate major developmental events, like engustment.
  • The grey bar with black text lists periods when compounds accumulate that influence wine quality (tartrate, malic acid, anthocyanins, etc.).
  • Lastly, a second horizontal scale shows approximate sugar content as measured by degrees Brix.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What a difference 3 months makes…

A layer of snow covered Oregon vineyards in mid March. Now, a little over 3 months later, the weather has soared to over 100 degrees. Monday broke all time record high temperatures for the entire month of June.

This is relatively “safe” weather during the critical flowering stage that the vines are going through at the moment. In fact, the heat will help them speed through flower more quickly than they would in cooler weather. This is good news for fruit set and therefore harvest yields this fall.

The picture below is a close up of a Pinot noir fruit cluster during flower stage. This was taken on Monday, June 26, late in the afternoon (at temps above 100 degrees), at the Oak Springs Vineyard.

Oregon Pinot noir cluster during flower stage


Friday, June 02, 2006


2006 Barrel Decisions

I’m finalizing my barrel strategy for this year. My 2005 wine is in a variety of barrels from Francois Frere, Rousseau, and Remond.

At my recent open house, the majority of people preferred the Rousseau. This particular barrel is from the Chatillon forest, and is a “heavy toast, toasted head” style. The toast level refers to how much the barrel insides are heated during manufacturing. Heavier toasting imparts more flavors on the wine, and is suitable for bigger wines.

The Coleman Vineyard fruit produces a big, bold Pinot that matches well with this barrel. In fact, more than one person said that they would like to buy a case of wine from just that one barrel. Instead, the wine in this barrel will be blended with the other barrels, contributing to a well-rounded finished wine.

The wine in this barrel is delicious, and consumers love it. It’s a wine that the reviewers will probably like as well. But, it’s not a purists Pinot.

Here’s my dilemma: do I create a more traditional Burgundian style Pinot, or do I respond to the marketplace and produce a big, bold, new-world style Pinot?

Please share your thoughts.


 
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