Veraison to Harvest. Around New York... Statewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #2 September 11, 2015 Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling

Transcription

1 Veraison to Harvest Statewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #2 September 11, 2015 Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling Around New York... Statewide (Tim Martinson) Hot, sunny weather drove a blistering pace of ripening this week, and harvest is kicking into high gear with some blocks (Seyval blanc, Gruner Veltliner, Sauvignon blanc) on their final sample or already dropping off our fruit composition table due to harvest (see Fruit Composition Table p. 6-9). Vinifera cultivars gained Brix, and titratable acidity dropped 1.6 to 5.1 (Riesling) g/liter from last week s samples. Notably, Cabernet franc and Chardonnay dropped 4 g/l of acids last week, dropping to TAs of 8-9 g/l. Hybrids posted similar gains, ranging from 1.9 (Corot noir) to 3.7 Brix (Traminette), and acids dropped 1 g/l (Marquette) to 6.4 g/l (Traminette!). Among the natives, Catawba showed greatest gains in soluble solids at +3.9 Brix, Concord with 2.2 Brix, and Niagara (nearing harvest at 13.7 Brix) gaining 1.4 Brix. Overall, soluble solids are running 2-3 Brix ahead of last year, and acids are running 1-3 g/l lower than last year at this time. Overall, it looks like grapes are a week to 10d ahead of last year. Early to midseason cultivars Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc, Niagara, Marquette, are at or near normal harvest parameters. Rainfall and cooler temperatures forecast for the coming week should moderate the pace next week. Meanwhile, some portions of vineyards in the Finger Lakes are showing early senescence of leaves presumably associated with droughty, coarse-textured or shallow soils. Lake Erie (Luke Haggerty) Showers passed through the Lake Erie region this week bringing a sigh of relief to many growers. The much needed rain should help keep the ripening process on track. As expected, there was a big jump in sugar in almost all grape cultivars. However, with the hard winter and wet summer we are seeing a theme of ripening variation. In many of the Concord blocks I ve been in this past week it was common to see scattered vines lagging behind. Many clusters on these vines are Scott Ebert measures soil compaction in a Concord vineyard with a cover crop planted in the row center. The cover crop mix consists of buckwheat, tillable radish, triticale, and crimson clover. Photos by Luke Haggerty still red and have not transitioned to the dark purple we like to see. Here at CLEREL we kicked harvest season off by picking Seyval blanc (9/3) followed by Delaware (9/10). Area growers have finished picking some of the early varieties (Edelweiss) and have started on Aurore, Elvira, and Marquette this week. The bulk juice harvest is closing in, National Grape Cooperative is scheduled to start receiving Niagara on 9/17 at the North East plant and the Westfield plant will start Concords on 9/20. Page 1

2 The lab crew is busy this week preparing harvest equipment, picking hops, and collecting data for various projects. Earlier this year the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program (LERGP) applied for, and was awarded, a grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute to study the effect of cover crops in Concord vineyards. The project will measure how different cover crop mixes affect soil health and vineyard productivity over the next two years. To do this we are teaming up with area growers currently using cover crops to measure the possible benefits. The focus is to collect physical, chemical, and biological data that assesses soil compaction, vine size, and noxious weed suppression. The objective of this research is to identify cover crop mixes that offer economically and environmentally sustainable solutions to allow growers to improve soil health. Long Island (Alice Wise) Harvest continued this past week on Long Island with blocks of Chardonnay, Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc arriving at the crush pad. It has been amazing to see rich, ripe fruit on September 10, as much as two weeks ahead of the long term average harvest date. Sugars are high, acids are moderate, trends that are typical for a warm season. Picking will continue next week as blocks of these whites as well as Pinot Noir will undoubtedly be ready. Rainfall has been well below average this season in July (1 ) and August (1.7 ). The first 9 days of September were dry. Much needed rain is falling as of this writing on September 10. This will perk up vines on drier sites as they ve looked a bit thirsty lately. In the research vineyard, harvest began with earlier ripening whites Albariño, Auxerrois, Verdejo and Sauvignon Blanc. Lightly cropped three year old vines of Arneis, Moscato Giallo and Vermentino were also picked. Arneis hails from the Piedmont area, M.Giallo is associated with Northern Italy and Vermentino is grown in southern France, Corsica and Sardinia. The acids dropped out of Arneis, rendering it fairly neutral tasting. M.Giallo had beautiful, floral muscat flavors and aromas. Vermentino berries were huge and juicy with full flavors and a nice, citrusy acidity. The clusters were big and will likely be bigger on full sized vines. These varieties hold promise for those interested in expanding their selection of varieties Finger Lakes (Hans Walter-Peterson) In the span of one short week, the amount of Gruner Veltliner was harvested this week at the Teaching and Demonstration vineyard in Dresden, NY Photo by Hans Walter-Peterson harvest-related activity in Finger Lakes vineyards has ramped up dramatically. High temperatures were reaching the upper 80s to mid 90s over the past week. Growers have been bringing in a wide range of varieties, from Elvira for Constellation Brands to Chardonnay and Pinot noir for sparkling production. Hybrids like Leon Millot, Seyval blanc, and Geneva Red have been coming in over the past week as well. At our Teaching Vineyard, we picked our two seedless table grapes Jupiter and Marquis - this week, along with our Grüner Veltliner, which had acidity levels significantly lower than they were just last week. Word is that some early Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot noir (for still wine production) has also been picked this week. We had our first rain in the Finger Lakes in three weeks arrive on Wednesday afternoon, and while it was welcome and brought some more comfortable temperatures and humidity levels, the amount of rain was probably not enough to have a major impact on alleviating drought stress symptoms in some vineyard blocks with shallow or coarse-textured soils. I don t usually hope for rain during September, but we could actually use some. On the plus side, however, the dry conditions have kept fruit rots at bay. Hudson and Champlain Valleys (Jim O Connell and Anna Wallis) Page 2

3 Hudson Valley. A brief shower overnight Wednesday into Thursday brought some much needed relief to the Hudson Valley in terms of heat and humidity. More rain is predicted for later in the day Thursday, hopefully bringing some relief to drought stressed vines. Downy mildew is still around and causing leaf drop in vineyards where management has fallen behind. Powdery mildew has resurfaced in some areas, but is not nearly as prevalent as downy Lake Erie Concord Update: Terry Bates September 9, Warm and sunny weather conditions and continued good vine water status led to an above average increase in both fresh berry weight and Concord juice soluble solids. Harvest continues around the area, with many growers trying to finish picking ready varieties before the rain. Seyval was the harvest choice for many this week. Marquette has reached high brix levels this past week, but acidity levels have growers waiting until at least next week to harvest this grape. DeChaunac is also nearing targeted brix, with growers anticipating harvest within the next couple of weeks. Champlain Valley. Weather has continued to be unseasonably hot in northeastern NY. Highs were in the 80 s, reaching 90 mid-week; lows have been in the mid to upper 60 s. Luckily, the cold front that came through cooled things off and provided some much needed moisture (~0.5 to 0.9 recorded). More rain is forecasted for the weekend and cooler temperatures. Lows are expected to be in the mid-50 s and highs around 70 for the next few days. Weather has had obvious implications for fruit maturity. Color is considerably advanced, sugars will be higher and TA lower than this time last year. Only the earliest varieties are beginning to be harvested. Edelweiss is ready in most places this week, Concord is not far behind. Vineyard pests have still been minimal. Downy and powdery mildew have been the biggest disease culprits. Birds and raccoons have also been causing damage to fruit. Netting and fencing are the most effective way to protect fruit until harvest. Page 3

4 Project Update... Changing Air and Spray Volume in Real- Time: Estimating Density in Vine Canopies Andrew Landers & Tomàs Pallejà Cabré Traditionally, many growers use the same volume of air and spray, irrespective of changes in canopy density. They may change application rate from early season to full canopy but rarely make alterations within the individual block or rows. In 2014, Tomás Palleja and Andrew Landers developed a low cost canopy sensing system using 4 ultrasonic sensors and a microcontroller board to estimate the canopy density as a function of the ultrasonic echoes. An important goal for canopy spraying systems is real-time adjustment of the operating parameters (air flow, pressure, active nozzles, etc.) according to the target density, with the aim of keeping the droplets in the canopy, thus improving deposition and reducing drift. The system was tested as the growing season progressed and the data obtained was highly correlated with the season but it was not compared to real canopy density. The main objective of this work in 2015 growing season is to compare the ultrasonic data with a scientifically accepted method to estimate canopy density, check if the data is correlated, and validate the ultrasonic system. Point Quadrat Analysis (PQA) was selected as an acceptable yet simple field method to measure key parameters of the canopy characteristics. In Density Point Quadrat Analysis (DPQA), a probe is passed through the canopy and any contact with biomass such as leaves or fruit are identified and recorded. A frame is used as a reference system to allow a number of replications to be made along the vine row. The canopy sprayer used in this work is a Berthoud S600 axial fan sprayer. It incorporates a set of 4 ultrasonic sensors mounted on a 3 m long mast. The sensors are distributed along the mast according to canopy height. Two plastic frames were built to perform DPQA in the two vineyards (0.5x2 m) as well as in an apple orchard (0.5x2.9 m). The frames have 4 horizontal bars, matching the ultrasonic sensors height. Each horizontal bar has 6 marks spaced 10 cm apart, indicating the position where the operator introduces the probe Figure 1. Sprayer with ultrasonic sensors mounted at four levels. Inset: closeup of sensor. Photo by Andrew Landers Figure 2: Tomàs Pallejà using a dowel and special jig to perform Density Point Quadrat Analysis (DPQA). DPQA is a method for quantifying leaf layers and canopy density. Tomas will correlate these manual measurements with data from the sensors. Photo by Tim Martinson to count the number of leaf layers. The experiment was carried at New York State Agricultural Experiment Station s fields, starting on May 14th 2015 and will finish when the plants lose most of their leaves. It consists of using the ultrasonic system to scan both sides of a row at 4.6 km/h as well as perform DPQA. The DPQA frame has 24 different positions and it is moved along the row at 4 random locations, making a total 96 samples per row per week. The average 96 DPQA samples are compared with the average of the 4 sensors signal along row. Preliminary results show good correlation (0.96, 0.96 in vineyards and 0.92 in orchards). The information received from the sensors is then used to adjust air volume by using an adjustable Cornell Louvre or changing fan speed with a hydraulically driven fan. The liquid application rate can be adjusted by using electrically or pneu- Page 4

5 matically-operated groups of Lechler Vario-select or Wilger nozzles. This project is funded by New York Apple Research and Development Program (NY ARDP) (fruit tree trials) and the Lacroute, Kaplan and Saltonstall Endowments for grapevine trials. Andrew Landers is program leader and Tomàs Pallejà Cabré is research associate in Cornell s Pesticide Application Technology program, departments of entomology and biological and environmental engineering, based at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. News from the Wine Analytical Lab Chris Gerling Veraison to Harvest 2015 is upon us, and there are a number of changes at the Geneva lab this year. The biggest change is that our friend and colleague Ben Gavitt, who has been the head grape squeezer and sample processor since the beginning of V to H, is sitting this harvest out as he battles cancer. By our calculations, 2015 is the first winemaking season since 1979 that he has missed. Our best wishes go out to Ben and his family. Pam Raes has moved upstairs from the Vinification & Brewing Lab to oversee the wine lab in Ben s absence. Pam was actually a lab manager before she joined our group, and she is doing a great job. It will be some time before she is able to make the kinds of jokes that earned Ben such notoriety among the graduate students, however. Miss you, man. On a more technical note, we also have a couple of new pieces of equipment in the lab this year. Our ChemWell analyzer has moved to Ithaca, and in its place now sits a Randox Monaco. These instruments are relatively similar in that they both are basically automated spectrophotometers. The Monaco s primary job during Veraison to Harvest will be yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) measurements, but it can also analyze acids, sugars, and more. It was just being installed at the end of last week, and we are still working on making sure everything is operational and accurate. Now you know what happened to the YANs in week 1. As I type, we (read: other people) are warming it up and preparing for today s samples, but I really can t say for sure if we will have numbers we believe in week 2. Fingers crossed. New analytical equipment in the Wine Analytical Laboratory: The Randox Monaco (left) will measure YAN; The OenoFoss (right) can measure brix, ph, TA, tartaric acid, malic acid and YAN with 4-7 drops of juice or wine. Photos by Chris Gerling We have also replaced the long-serving Foss WineScan with an OenoFoss. They both use Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to analyze samples, but the OenoFoss does it in a much smaller package. The OenoFoss uses no reagents and has no moving parts. It looks like a desktop computer crossed with a refractometer, and requires only 5-7 drops of juice or wine. After two minutes, it will report brix, ph, TA, tartaric acid, malic acid, ammonia, primary amino nitrogen and YAN. For this harvest, we are using the OenoFoss in parallel with our usual methods to evaluate the accuracy and also serve as a double check. So far we are quite happy with everything except the YAN components, but we don t yet have solid YAN data with which to compare, either. So that s a round-up of what s new in the wine lab for Veraison to Harvest. Come to think of it, the numbers also look different from last year at this time, but I m thinking that has more to do with July and August than our analytical methods. Grapes are being crushed in the V&B today, and more are coming soon. September 2015 looks like it will be much busier than September 2014, which is not a bad thing. Last-second season rescues make for good stories, but we could live without the accompanying stress. Wishing everyone a safe and productive harvest. See you on the other side. Page 5

6 Fruit Composition Report - 9/11/2015 Samples reported here were collected on Tuesday, September 8.Where appropriate, sample data from 2014, averaged over all sites is included. Tables from 2014 are archived at We are again reporting berry weight, brix, titratable acidity and ph, and yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN). This week, we will not be reporting YAN, as the wine analytical lab calibrates new equpment. YAN sampling will resume next week. - TEM Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Wayne County Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Geneva Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Hudson Valley 9/8/2015 HVRL Highland Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Average 9/8/ Prev. Sample 8/31/ Average 9/9/ Catawba Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Keuka Too high 14 Sample 9/9/2014 Keuka * 124 Cayuga White Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Average 9/9/ Chardonnay Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden/ Cl Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Average 9/8/ Prev. Sample 8/31/ Average 9/9/ Concord Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Finger Lakes Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Canandaigua Finger Lakes Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Portland Lake Erie Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Fredonia Lake Erie Average 9/8/ Average Prev Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Page 6

7 Corot Noir Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Finger Lakes Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Dresden-Teaching Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Frontenac Champlain Valley 9/8/2015 Willsboro Thousand Islands 9/8/2015 Clayton/1St crop Thousand Islands* 9/8/2015 Clayton/2nd crop 1.32* 16.9* 2.85* 27.4* Thousand Islands 9/8/2015 Clayton Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ * 2 nd crop sample not included in average, late due to spring frost Frontenac Gris Champlain Valley 9/8/2015 Willsboro Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Trumansburg Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Willsboro Gruner Veltliner Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Dresden-Teaching Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd La Crescent Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Geneva Thousand Islands 9/8/2015 Clayton Champlain Valley 9/8/2015 Willsboro Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Trumansburg Average 9/8/ Prev. Average 8/31/ Lemberger Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Average 9/8/ Prev. Average 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Malbec Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Prev Sample 8/31/2015 LI Sample 9/9/2014 LI Merlot Hudson Valley 9/8/2015 HVRL Highland Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Average 9/9/ Page 7

8 Marquette Champlain Valley 9/8/2015 Willsboro Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Trumansburg Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden/ Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Lake Erie Thousand Islands 9/8/2015 Clayton - 1st Crop Thousand Islands* 9/8/2015 Clayton- 2nd Crop 1.35* 19.9* 2.86* 22.5* Thousand Islands 9/8/2015 Clayton Average 9/8/ Prev. Average 8/31/ Final 14 Sample 9/2/2014 Harvest * 2 nd crop sample not included in average, late due to spring frost Niagara Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Portland Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Fredonia Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/2/2014 Portland Noiret Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Wayne County Hudson Valley 9/8/2015 HVRL Highland Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Pinot Noir Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca Prev Sample 8/31/2015 E. Seneca Sample 9/9/2014 E. Seneca Sauvignon Blanc Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Prev Sample 8/31/2015 LI Sample 9/9/2014 LI Seyval Blanc Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Cayuga HARVEST Lake Erie 9/8/2015 Fredonia HARVEST Final Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ St Croix Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Geneva Prev. Sample 8/31/2015 Geneva Page 8

9 Riesling Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 CL 90 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Canandaigua Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Wayne County Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Geneva Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca/Cl Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca/Cl Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 E. Seneca/Cl Hudson Valley 9/8/ Long Island 9/8/2015 LI Average 9/8/ Prev. Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Traminette Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Keuka Hudson Valley 9/8/2015 HVRL Highland Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Vidal Blanc Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Dresden-Teaching Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Vignoles Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 VSP Keuka Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 W. Seneca Average 9/8/ Prev Sample 8/31/ Sample 9/9/ Zweigelt Finger Lakes 9/8/2015 Dresden Prev Sample 8/31/2015 Dresden-Teaching Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Page 9

10 Table Grapes Table grape varieties Marquis (a Cornell release) and Jupiter (University of Arkansas release) were harvested at the Teaching and Demonstration Vineyard in Dresden, NY this week by the Finger Lakes Grape Program. Photo by Hans Walter-Peterson Photo by Hans Walter-Peterson This newsletter was made possible with support from the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program, Inc. and the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Cornell University.. 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 Eastern New York Regional Horticulture Program Copyright 2015 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 regarding 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. Page 10