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Veraison to HarVestStatewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #5

September 28, 2012Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling

Disease pressure remains fairly low overall, but a few vine-yards are starting to develop bunch rot infections thanks to the rains that we have had over the past week or two (we have had almost 2” fall at our teaching vineyard over the past 10 days). Still, fruit quality remains high in the vast ma-jority of cases, as does the optimism for this year’s harvest.

Constellation brought in their final loads of Concord on Wednesday, wrapping up a harvest season that was both short on yields and on acidity, but not sugar. It appears that Concord yields in the Finger Lakes were impacted by this spring’s frost to a greater extent than we thought earlier this year. Acidity levels in this year’s crop were almost half of what they were last year at similar °Brix. With Concord har-vest wrapping up, growers have started to pick Catawbas this week as well, which is not following the same pattern as Concord with regard to the amount of acidity relative to sugar content (i.e., acidity is still hanging in there despite our sample being over 18° Brix). Catawba vines did not emerge from dormancy as early as Concord and Niagara did this spring, and therefore did not appear to suffer as much from frost injury. It will be interesting to see how Ca-tawba yields come out compared to these earlier varieties that were impacted by the frosts.

Botrytis caught in the act of spreading on Tuesday, Sept 25. With much of the Riesling harvested this week and (mostly) dry weather, most blocks have a very low incidence of bunch rot this year.

Photo by Tim Martinson

Around New York...Statewide (Tim Martinson). Cooler weather interspersed with rainfall slowed the pace of ripening this week. While brix continued to climb by 0.5-1.0° Brix, acids stayed mostly the same – and very similar to where they were at in 2011. In contrast, brix are rang-ing 2-4°higher than last year A little less than half (21 of 51 blocks) we sample (see Fruit Maturation Report p 5-7) have been harvested – including three of our 10 Riesling blocks. By next week, I expect most of the Riesling and other whites will be harvested, and harvest will move on to late-season reds. Concord harvest is almost done, with major proces-sors expected to close soon. I spent the early part of the week rating botrytis (as impacted by foliar N applications), and – while the severity is well below what we saw last year, botrytis levels have definitely increased over the past week. This week we report on yield and associated yield compo-nents in training trials conducted on ‘Minnesota’ cold-hardy varieties Frontenac and Marquette (p3-4) – spring frost im-pacted those varieties to a greater (Marquette and La Cres-cent) or lesser (Frontenac) degree.

Finger Lakes (Hans Walter-Peterson)

The word from the officials about harvest in the Finger Lakes this year is “high quantity, low quality.” No wait – that came from the replacement officials for this year’s harvest. After further review, that call is being reversed and we’re actually looking at a vintage with excellent quality but low quantity.

Riesling continues to be primary focus of harvest in many vineyards around the Finger Lakes this week. Yields are av-erage to a below average in many cases, unfortunately, but there is still general agreement that quality is excellent. Our sample results for the Veraison to Harvest project last week resembled what wineries were seeing, with most locations still sitting just on the south side of 20° Brix, while maintain-ing decent acidity (7.5-9.5 g/L) and pH (around 3.0). We have also seen Gewürztraminer, Vidal, “late harvest” Vignoles, and some Lemberger start to come to crush pads as well this week. It sounds like we will also have Merlot starting to come to some wineries pretty soon as well. According to a few winemakers and growers that I spoke with, there may be a point where harvest will “pause” for a little while between the varieties that are being picked over this week and next, and the later season reds like Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Long Island (Alice Wise and Libby Tarleton). Rain in early September started up some sour rot, particularly in more susceptible varieties such as Pi-not Noir and Pinot Gris. Interestingly, in the research vineyard Sauvignon Blanc in one area had significant sour rot while SB elsewhere in the vineyard had very low levels. Chardonnay developed some sour rot but infections were spotty and thus relatively minor. Sub-sequent dry weather has dried up these infections nicely. Similarly, fruit flies and bees/wasps were prob-lematic earlier in the month, undoubtedly attracted to damaged berries, but these have subsided a bit as well.

Chardonnay fruit has developed that golden hue that signifies that harvest is near. Chardonnay harvest actually started this past week and will continue through next few weeks. Blocks with lower crops are coming off first, while the larger clustered clones with naturally higher acidity will hang for a while. Red varieties destined for rose wine continue to be picked. While it is always dangerous to predict ultimate wine quality, growers and winemakers are very happy with what they are tasting in the vineyard. Several businesses have stated that both aromas and flavors of early reds and whites are very good and bode well for the rest of the winemaking process.

Hudson Valley (Steve Hoying)Harvest continues smoothly here in the Hudson Valley with a wide range of grape varieties being harvested depending on the winemakers’ needs. Long days in the winery are common since so many varieties are ready. In fact, some winemakers report they are backed up at the fermenter! Seyval is now finally finished after a marathon pick with outstanding yields and excellent quality. Gamay noir, Traminette, Noiret, Riesling, some Chardonnay, Chambourcin, and Lemberger are all being harvested at local vineyards. It is readily ap-parent that brix are much higher than last year and that grapes have great color with more depth this year.

Here at the Hudson Valley lab we completed harvest of Sauvignon blanc, Diamond, Chelois, Landot Noir, Lemberger, and Noiret. All varieties were relatively clean except for some persistent sour rot in the Sauvi-gnon blanc and Diamond which were easily cleaned. We are now looking closely at Vidal and Traminette with Merlot and perhaps Dornfelder after that. Only Cabernet sauvignon, Riesling, Corot noir, Valvin Mus-cat, and Syrah are still under 20.

We did have a good weather week with essentially only September 22 too wet to pick. However, the forecast is about to change with cooler wetter weather predicted for the weekend. The feel of autumn is definitely in the

air. According to the forecast, next week looks to be an outstanding one with sunshine and temperatures back in the low 70s!

Lake Erie (Jodi Creasap Gee).The Concord harvest at CLEREL is complete, save for a couple of rows, while the crew will be picked the larger-than-estimated crop in Fredonia at the end of this week. Many of the processors are starting to think about winding down operations, although there have been many reports of larger-than-anticipated crops in vineyards closer to the escarpment in Chautauqua County. Like the Finger Lakes, a few of the Lake Erie Region processors are bringing in Catawba and should be finishing up with soon.

Niagara County is finished with the Concord harvest, which turned out to be worse than everyone thought, especially with the added concern of drought-stressed vines and whether they will survive the winter. So now only wine grapes remain to be picked in the Lake Erie and Niagara County areas. Growers and pro-cessors, however, are trying to get fruit in as quickly as possible as the berries are starting to break down from Botrytis and other rots, thanks to the recent rains across the region.

Overall, we are about a month ahead of schedule, which, provided the weather cooperates, should pro-vide enough time for vines to recover from harvest and bulk up on carbohydrates prior to the dormant winter season.

Lake Erie Concord Berry Curve (Jodi Creasap Gee).

Concord berry curve from 2010-2012. The 2010 and 2012 growing seasons were clearly ahead of average, but berry size was definitely quite large in 2012, possibly due to the lighter crop (fewer berries/cluster).

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Harvest Data from tHe NortH CouNtry. Part I: traININg trIals

Tim Martinson and Chrislyn Particka

This year the Northern Grapes Project established training system and crop load trials at Coyote Moon vineyards in Clayton. We harvested these plots over the last three weeks, and results reflect differing amounts of spring bud injury on Marquette and La Crescent (a lot) versus Frontenac (less). Here is a brief summary of results: This week we’ll concentrate on the training trials.

Training trials on Marquette and Frontenac. We set up trials on these two varieties to test performance of two spur-pruned training systems – Top Wire Cordon (TWC) and Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP), and one cane-pruned system – Umbrella Kniffen (Umbrella). Many growers of these new varieties use either high cordon (TWC) training, which puts the renewal area high or spur-pruned VSP – which of course involves shoot positioning and other canopy management prac-tices. Not many have tried cane-pruned systems, of which UK may be the simplest to put into practice. Our goal is to look at yield and fruit quality attributes –with these high acid varieties we were particularly in-terested in whether or not training systems will be of assistance in lowering acids

1. Yield. Marquette yields ranged from 3.3 to 5.1 pounds per vine, which translates into 1.3 – 2.1 tons per acre. Significant primary bud injury undoubtedly lowered yields, as more clusters probably came from secondary buds. Frontenac yields were higher at 6-10 lb/vine, or 2.4 to 4.0 tons/acre (still lower than if there had been no bud injury). In Marquette, Umbrella yielded more than VSP or TWC, but keep in mind that this is a transition year, so this doesn’t mean that this will necessarily continue. In Frontenac, both TWC and Umbrella yielded more than the VSP.

Marquette

Frontenac

Harvesting Marquette at Coyote Moon Vineyard for North-ern Grapes Project training trial on Sept 14. Bottom right: Sue Gwise of CCE Jefferson harvests Frontenac Sept. 21.

Photo by Tim Martinson

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2. Cluster number. Yield is based on the number of clusters per vine and average cluster weight. In the Marquette, clus-ters per vine ranged from 23 (TWC) to 35 (Umbrella), with VSP in between at 27. Again, we strived to retain similar numbers of buds per vine (around 40), but results reflect the transition we made in establishing the training system and primary bud injury. Frontenac had a range of 38 (VSP) to 51 (TWC) clusters per vine, with umbrella in the middle at 45. Higher numbers in Frontenac reflected a lower impact of spring bud injury than in Marquette.

Marquette

Frontenac

3. Cluster weight. This may be the most interesting result. In both the Marquette and Frontenac, cluster weights on the VSP ran lower than Umbrella or TWC. In Marquette, weights were 10 grams (16%) lower than on the Umbrella or TWC, and on Frontenac, weights were 14 grams (16%) (VSP) and 7 grams (8%) lower (Umbrella) than on the TWC. So clusters were small-er on low-wire (VSP) than on high wire (Umbrella or TWC) systems in both cultivars. (Note that with Fron-enac, variability was such that the apparent differences in cluster weight were not statistically significant) We wouldn’t normally expect this to be the case, but may-be this reflected higher bud injury in wood that was three feet closer to the ground on the VSP system.

Marquette

Frontenac

Fruit composition analysis (brix, pH, acidity, and Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen) results are still pending. The warm growing season and early harvest provided ideal ripening conditions this year, so we may expect that ‘everything will be ripe’ – but fruit position (high or low, exposed or not) may affect the grape maturity indices that we use – and training system could influ-ence how fast acidity drops (and sugar accumulates) as the fruit ripens. If so, the effects could be magnified in cooler years (remember 2009?). Stay tuned.

Acknowledgements. We’d like to thank Phil and Mary Randazzo and the crew at Coyote Moon Vine-yards for their assistance in cooperating with this trial. The Northern Grapes Project is funded by the USDA’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative Program of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Project #2011-51181-30850

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fruIt maturatIoN rePort - 9/272012Samples reported here were collected on Monday, September 24. Where appropriate, sample data from 2011, averaged over all sites is included. Tables from 2011 are archived at http://grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/cals/grapesandwine/veraison-to-harvest/2011.cfm

We are again reporting berry weight, brix, titratable acidity and pH, and yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN), as part of a joint project with Anna Katharine Mansfield and Lailiang Cheng. Graduate student Mark Nisbit is running the YAN assays as part of his Ph D project, and other students from the Enology lab are running samples (details in later issue) . - TEM

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 E. Seneca 1.64 23.2 3.29 5.6 43Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 W. Seneca 1.32 22.6 3.15 6.9 12Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Cayuga 1.57 21.6 3.18 6.2 53

Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 1.73 21.4 3.53 5.2 58Lake Erie 9/25/2012 Portland 1.67 20.5 3.38 7.9 140

Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork 2.09 19.7 3.41 6.5 119Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork 1.66 19.4 3.28 6.7 55

Average 9/24/2012 1.67 21.2 3.32 6.4 69Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.47 20.3 3.29 6.6 70‘11 Average 9/27/2011 1.59 18.8 3.29 7.5 100

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Keuka 2.52 18.8 2.94 8.9 70Prev Sample 9/17/12 Keuka 2.07 18.0 2.92 10.2 0‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 2.45 17.8 2.89 11.3 54

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

Finger Lakes HARVESTEDFinger Lakes HARVESTEDFinal Sample 9/5/2012 2.52 18.8 3.18 8.7 284’11 Average 9/20/2011 2.55 16.5 3.12 8.3 168

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

Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED

Hudson Valley 9/17/12 HARVESTEDHudson Valley 9/17/12 HARVESTED

Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork S 1.66 20.1 3.49 7.7 Final Sample 9/17/12 1.48 20.7 3.60 6.1 245’11 Average 9/27/2011 1.64 19.0 3.45 7.3 236

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Keuka 3.20 17.0 3.37 6.4 220Lake Erie 9/25/2012 HARVESTED Average 9/24/2012 3.20 17.0 3.37 6.4 220

Prev Sample 9/17/12 3.36 17.4 3.43 7.0 240‘11 Sample 9/27/20111 3.13 17.0 3.30 9.0 222

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Keuka 1.79 23.6 3.20 7.2 40Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.75 23.5 3.17 5.9 46‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.52 21.1 3.21 6.3 71

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

Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork S 2.40 19.6 3.54 9.0 234Prev Sample 9/17/12 North Fork S 2.49 18.4 3.46 8.8 242‘11 Sample 9/20/2011 FINAL SAMPLE- 2.18 17.9 3.50 9.3 282

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

Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 1.70 21.1 3.70 4.5 117Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork (4) 2.10 19.1 3.62 5.8 Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork (8) 2.11 19.7 3.48 5.1 88

Average 9/24/2012 1.97 20.0 3.60 5.1 102Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.89 19.7 3.58 4.9 120‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.81 17.0 3.66 7.1 187

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

Final Sample 9/5/2012 Portland 3.84 16.6 3.26 7.2 205‘11 Sample 9/20/2011 4.40 16.0 3.21 7.9 172

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

Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 1.77 19.5 3.47 6.3 181Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 W HV 1.69 18.6 3.23 7.6 126

Lake Erie 9/25/2012 Ripley 1.75 19.6 3.42 8.5 134Average 9/24/2012 1.74 19.2 3.37 7.5 147

Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.59 18.7 3.39 7.2 294‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.69 17.9 3.27 8.3 201

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

Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 1.59 23.7 3.69 5.6 179Hudson Valley 9/17/12 HARVESTED

Final Sample 9/10/2012 1.46 20.9 3.52 6.4 222‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.72 18.7 3.68 7.6 311

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 W. Seneca 1.52 20.3 2.96 8.0 25Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 E. Seneca 1.58 19.1 3.01 8.4 79Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Keuka 1.57 19.6 3.02 7.7 63Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 W Seneca HARVESTED

Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 1.82 18.7 3.33 6.0 119Lake Erie 9/25/2012 Fredonia 1.76 19.9 3.24 7.0 133

Long Island 9/24/2012 North Fork HARVESTED Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 E. Seneca HARVESTED Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 E. Seneca 1.66 19.4 2.96 7.1 31Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Cayuga 1.75 19.7 3.00 8.4 83

Average 9/24/2012 1.66 19.5 3.07 7.5 76Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.49 19.0 3.07 7.9 84‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.55 17.8 3.19 8.9 132

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

Long Island 9/17/12 HARVESTED Final Sample 9/10/2012 1.70 20.2 3.40 7.5 141’11 Sample 9/20/2011 - 1.64 18.7 3.44 7.1 170

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

Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Hudson Valley 9/17/12 HARVESTEDHudson Valley 9/17/12 HARVESTED Final Sample 9/10/2012 1.71 19.4 3.39 6.3 194‘11 Sample 9/20/2011 1.76 18.4 3.29 7.2 136

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

Finger Lakes 9/24/2012 Keuka 1.81 21.8 2.99 8.3 101Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 HVL 2.00 21.4 3.27 6.5 116Hudson Valley 9/24/2012 W HV HARVESTED

Lake Erie 9/25/2012 Fredonia 1.81 22.0 3.15 6.5 58Average 9/24/2012 1.91 21.7 3.14 7.1 91

Prev Sample 9/17/12 1.76 20.6 3.13 7.3 102‘11 Sample 9/27/2011 1.77 20.0 3.09 8.1 90

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

Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Finger Lakes 9/17/12 HARVESTED Final Sample 9/10/2012 1.32 24.5 3.27 8.8 163‘11 Sample 9/20/2011 1.42 22.4 3.09 11.7 149

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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 USDA Federal Formula funding through the Cornell and New York State Agricultural Experiment Stations.

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

Hudson Valley Regional Fruit Program

Copyright 2012 © 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.

Harvest 2012

Gewurztraminer on East Seneca Lake Photo by Hans Walter-Peterson

Exposed Riesling fruitng Zone on West Seneca Lake Photo by Tim Martinson

Grad student Diane Schmitt harvests Gewurztraminer Photo by Diane Schmitt

Marquette harvested last Friday at Clayton, NY Photo by Tim Martinson