Veraison to Harvest. Around New York... Statewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #4 September 19, 2014 Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling

Transcription

1 Veraison to Harvest Statewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #4 September 19, 2014 Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling Around New York... Statewide (Tim Martinson) This morning I woke up to 35 degrees, and received a report of temperatures dipping to 30 in Northern NY. In spite of the cool weather, ripening seemed to move along at a similar pace to last year s during the same week (also cool) (see Fruit Maturation table, p. 5-8). Among the vinifera, brix gained by 0.8 (Malbec and Lemberger) to 2.3 Brix (Gruner Veltliner), with average gains of about 1.3 Brix. Most cultivars were within 0.5 Brix of last year s numbers. Titratable acidity dropped by 0.2 to 1.8 g/l, but still run 1 to 2 g/l higher than last year. Hybrids gained 1.0 (Corot noir) to 3.3 Brix (Traminette (!)), again with average of 1.3 Brix, but as a group the hybrids are running 2-3 Brix behind last year. Natives (Concord, Catawba, and Niagara) in our small sample gained 1.8 to 3.8 Brix, and are within 0.2 to 0.5 Brix of last year s numbers. TA s among natives ranged from a drop of 0.2 g/l (Niagara) to 2.3 (3 concord blocks), again with TA 2 to 5 g/l higher than last year at this time. Last year at this time, Niagara, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Seyval blanc, and Cayuga white were being harvested. I guess we are not as far behind as I had thought. This week s article features graduate student Diane Schmitt and Anna Katharine Mansfield s Introduction to Winery Safety, first in a series Diane is writing. Finger Lakes (Hans Walter-Peterson). The Finger Lakes has undergone a pretty significant cool down over the past week. The average high temperature for the period of September 3-9 was 79ºF, while the average high from September was only about 67ºF. As a result, it seems fair to presume that brix accumulation and acid degradation have slowed down somewhat compared to previous weeks, and therefore harvest may slow down a bit while winemakers and growers wait for the fruit to ripen a bit more. As the temperatures have transitioned to more of a fall-like feel, harvest has continued to pick up around the region. We have been seeing some early loads of Concord picked, but it sounds like the bulk of the harvest for that variety will still hold off for another week or so. Earlier Niagara and Elvira loads are still being picked this week as well. We picked our Grüner Veltliner at the Teaching Vineyard yesterday. We probably could have let it hang a little bit longer, but the birds decided that it was the next best option to Loose-clustered Vignoles selections: The USDA Agricultural Research Service s Grape Genetice Research Unit (GGRU) has generated several selections of Vignoles with loose clusters, that should be less prone to botrytis and other fruit rots.. Top: One loose-clustered selection (l) compared to standard vignoles (r). Bottom: Several selections were planted this year at Geneva. Gan-Yuan Zhong is project leader with the ARS. Photos by Andy Humiston (top) and Tim Martinson (bottom) eat once we had netted all of the red-fruited varieties around it, and we were starting to lose a fairly significant amount of fruit. Some more Pinot noir and Chardonnay have been harvested for sparkling wine recently, and at least one winery has brought in their first load of Pinot gris. We have had relatively dry conditions during harvest so far with regard to rain (0.88 at Geneva since September 1), but the cooler temperatures recently have caused heavy dews Page 1

2 to form on canopies each morning. Downy mildew and cluster rots still seem to be keeping in check so far, however. Long Island (Alice Wise and Libby Tarleton) The 2013 harvest on Long Island was almost too good to be true. Conditions were ideal - sunny, dry weather and just enough rain to keep vines happy but not induce cluster rot. And importantly, there were no tropical systems. Now in 2014, we appear to be lucky enough to have another fall with sunny, dry weather, albeit a bit cooler than last season. Growing degree days on Sept. 16 were 2759 for Riverhead compared to 2857 on that date in Some of the differences in growing degree day accumulations can be attributed to the cooler nights that we have enjoyed throughout the summer and fall (nighttime temperatures factor into growing degree day accumulations). Daytime temperatures this past week have been in the low 70 s, enjoyable but slightly cooler than average. The region received a few much needed showers, a total of about 0.5, on Sept 13 and 16. Harvest continues with Pinot Noir and whites such as Sauvignon Blanc and Albariño. Where crops are moderate, flavors are intense and acids have dropped enough to precipitate harvest as winemakers try to preserve a variety s natural acidity. The first Chardonnay blocks will go in the not too distant future. Blocks with heavier crops and/or big clustered clones will need a bit more time. In the Cornell research vineyard in Riverhead (Figure 1), we harvested a few selections this week. Fruit was clean, free from any cluster rot. Clusters were larger than average, especially in Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Figure 1. Brix, TA, and ph of selections at the Cornell Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center in Riverhead. Flavors have been excellent, nicely balanced with acidity. The two hybrids were harvested slightly early to give the two year old vines a rest. The Aromella row does not have irrigation so vines struggled a bit this summer. Lake Erie (Luke Haggerty) Weather this past week has been a mix of cool and wet with a few days of sunshine. The forecast is calling for similar conditions next week. Regardless of the cool temperatures we are still seeing sugar accumulation. Sampling data for the 9-site study collected by Kelly Link and our CLEREL staff shows another increase in brix for Concord this past week. The averaged brix from the regions 80 sample sites shows an increase from 12.4 to 13.8 obrix (1.4obrix). Harvested this week were Vignoles, Delaware, and a few other hybrids. The harvest focus has turned to the anticipated bulk juice grapes. The Niagara harvest has started for two bulk juice processors with a third starting Monday (September 22). The regions roadways are busy with boxes, trailers, and harvesters. The Concord harvest is expected to start some time later next week and boxes are expected to fill fast due to the above average crop for most growers. Saturated soils from the wet year are a concern as low spots have been soft all year and the fear of getting the harvester stuck may leave some areas unharvested. Hudson Valley (Jim O Connell)) Weather. The cool weather has continued this week and short range forecasts predict a cool and dry week heading into and through the weekend. According to Accuweather, The chance of rain early next week may depend on the track and speed of moisture from Odile in the eastern Pacific. We are still behind on growing degree days and temperatures are forecasted to be 5 to 8 degrees cooler than normal. Alice Wise Disease. Disease pressure from downy mildew does not appear to have changed much since last week. It s still present in vineyards in the Hudson Valley, but still at no more than background noise levels. Botrytis at the Hudson Valley Lab (HVL) has been minimal. However, reports of heavy botrytis in Riesling and some spotty botrytis in the northern hybrids have come from growers in different parts of the region. Birds. In the vineyard at the HVL, the birds have moved into the later Page 2

3 maturing varieties and are continuing to be a nuisance. A grower contacted me recently to inquire about managing turkeys. They fed heavily on early maturing varieties, and for now have moved off site. Time will tell if they will return or if they are satisfied for the season. Insects. Drosophila is still around, and not surprisingly, becoming more of a nuisance. So far though, growers continue to harvest grapes as ready and not apply an insecticide Lake Erie Concord Update: Terry Bates September 17, As we predicted in last week s Veraison to Harvest update, the cool and wet weather impacted Concord fruit by increasing berry weight and slowing juice soluble solids accumulation to a more normal rate for this time of the season. Two weeks ago, there was a big jump in berry weight but JSS accumulation was able to keep up with the increase in berry volume. As we get later into the ripening season and the rate of JSS accumulation naturally slows down, the additional effect of increasing berry fresh weight can be seen in decreasing the JSS curve. Overall, Concord fresh berry weight at CLEREL is between grams depending on the block and JSS around 14.8 Brix both still slightly ahead of the long-term mean. Introduction to Winery Safety Diane M. Schmitt and Anna Katharine Mansfield Dept. of Food Science, Cornell University, NY State Agric. Expt. Sta., Geneva All individuals who work for a winery or are visiting a winery production area are responsible for ensuring a safe work environment. (No exceptions!) No, really- this means you! Establishing and maintaining a safe work environment is everyone s responsibility, though specific expectations will vary from person to person. From the top: High-level employees, like managers and winery owners, are responsible for developing health and safety plans, implementing them, and fully training other workers. They are also responsible for overall facility safety, ensuring that equipment safety guards are in place, that job tasks that may result in injury are either eliminated or the risk of injury reduced, and that proactive plans are developed for anything Page 3

4 that may go wrong in the winery. Much like CEOs in other fields, ranking employees are ultimately responsible for all events occurring in the winery, even if they are not overseeing them directly. As onerous as strict training and enforcement of safety procedures may seem, the alternative is accepting the inevitability of serious accident, with all the financial and reputation consequences that entails. The cost of not having and following safety procedures far outweighs the cost of implementation and enforcement. These include elevated insurance costs to cover medical costs and leave and funds earmarked for regulatory ag agency fines and possible lawsuits. Safety from the ground up: While managers and owners start by making the winery as safe as possible, all employees, from harvest interns to winemakers, are responsible for following protocols and reporting all problems. From a health and safety point of view, wineries are food processing facilities, and are subject to the same OSHA rules. This means that workers should not wear high heels, flats, sneakers, or any other shoes lacking a steel toe and wet area approval on the processing floor. Jewelry, except a solid wedding band, is also prohibited in food processing facilities for the safety of the worker- this includes gauges and piercings. As improbable as it seems, even belly button piercings have made their way into finished food products - and pocket change is a common hazard. Luckily most of these items will be settled or filtered out during winemaking, so contamination risks are reduced, but it s best to secure small personal items outside of the processing area. Worse, jewelry can also get caught in equipment, causing minor to fatal accidents. For the same reason, hair should be tied back and inappropriately baggy work clothes avoided. Beware of complacency and overconfidence: Workplace accidents can happen to anyone, but research suggests that employees are likely to have more preventable accidents in the first and last ten years that they work than during the rest of their ca- reer. New employees who are still developing their skills can be careless or ignorant of risks, and highly experienced employees may become overconfident or lose focus and become careless. This latter group is also most likely to ignore procedures or equipment safety components that get in the way or because this is how it s always been done. Equipment guards are sometimes inconvenient, but less inconvenient than losing fingers or other body parts. Employees at all experience levels can benefit from refresher safety training sessions, to remind them of the importance of safety and procedures currently in place. Don t trap your tourists: Visitors to a winery processing area are not immune to health and safety protocols, no matter how short their stay. Ideally, all visitors should be given a brief safety overview and escorted through the facility, since winery management is technically responsible for their safety on winery premises. Visitors should encouraged wear appropriate clothing and personal protection equipment as needed. For example, business visitors have been observed walking through production areas wearing formal attire and stiletto heels; while closed-toed stilettos technically met stated safety rules, the risk of injury was significantly higher than for someone wearing approved footwear. The bottom line Workplace safety should always be more important than efficiency, cost, and (especially) ego. When safety rules are understood and followed by everyone, a culture of safety is easier to maintain, and it is easier to evaluate any new hazards that arise. Accidents can and do happen, but if everyone is striving to maintain a safe work environment, the frequency and severity of these events will be greatly reduced. Additional Resources OSHA PowerPoint: Elements of an Effective Safety and Health Program dte/library/safety_health_program/index.html Page 4

5 Fruit Maturation Report - 9/16/2014 Samples reported here were collected on Tuesday, September 16. Where appropriate, sample data from 2013, averaged over all sites is included. Tables from 2013 are archived at We are again reporting berry weight, brix, titratable acidity and ph, and yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN). Graduate students Alex Frederickson and Camila Martin Tahim and Ben Gavitt are running the fruit composition and YAN assays. Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Hudson Valley 9/16/2014 HV Lab Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Average 9/16/ Prev. Sample 9/9/ Average 9/16/ Catawba Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Keuka * Sample 9/16/2013 Keuka Cayuga White Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Average 9/16/ Chardonnay Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Average 9/16/ Prev. Sample 9/9/ Average 9/16/ Concord Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Canandaigua Lake Erie 9/16/2014 Portland Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Sample 9/16/ Page 5

6 Corot Noir Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Gruner Veltliner Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Lemberger Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Average 9/16/ Prev. Average 9/9/ Sample 9/16/2013 Keuka Malbec Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Prev Sample 9/9/2014 LI Sample 9/16/2013 LI Marquette Final Sample 9/2/2014 Teaching Vyd Merlot Hudson Valley 9/16/2014 HV Lab Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Average 9/16/ Prev. Average 9/9/ Average 9/16/ Niagara Lake Erie 9/16/2014 Portland Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Portland Sample 9/16/2013 Portland Noiret Hudson Valley 9/16/2014 HV Lab Lake Erie 9/16/2014 Fredonia Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Sample 9/16/ Pinot Noir Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 E. Seneca Prev Sample 9/9/2014 E. Seneca Sample 9/16/2013 E. Seneca Page 6

7 Riesling Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 E. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 CL 90 Cayuga Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Canandaigua Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Hudson Valley 9/16/2014 HV Lab Lake Erie 9/16/2014 Portland Long Island 9/16/2014 LI Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Sample 9/16/ Sauvignon Blanc Long Island 9/9/2014 LI Prev Sample 9/2/2014 LI Sample 9/9/2013 LI Seyval Blanc Finger Lakes 9/9/2014 HARVESTED Lake Erie 9/9/2014 HARVESTED Final Sample 9/9/ at Harvest 9/9/2013 Cayuga Traminette Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Keuka Hudson Valley 9/16/2014 HV Lab Lake Erie 9/16/2014 Portland Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Sample 9/16/ Vidal Blanc Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Vignoles Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 High Wire Keuka Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 W. Seneca Average 9/16/ Prev Sample 9/9/ Sample 9/16/ Page 7

8 Zweigelt Finger Lakes 9/16/2014 Teaching Vyd Prev Sample 9/9/2014 Teaching Vyd Marquette and Frontenac Fruit Composition at Clayton Crislyn Particka and Tim Martinson September 17. As part of the USDA-Specialty Crops Research Initiative Northern Grapes Project, we have training trials (Top Wire Cordon, Vertical Shoot Positioning, and Umbrella Kniffin) in Marquette and Frontenac located at Coyote Moon Vineyards in Clayton, NY. Changes in fruit chemistry are slowing down with the cooler weather; TA has dropped roughly 3 g/l in Frontenac and just 1 g/l in Marquette. Brix has gained not quite 2o in Frontenac and has essentially remained unchanged in Marquette. Variety Training system Date Berry wt. (g) ph obrix TA (g/l) Frontenac TWC 9/17/ UK 9/17/ VSP 9/17/ Average 9/17/ Prev Sample 9/8/ Marquette TWC 9/17/ UK 9/17/ VSP 9/17/ Average 9/17/ Prev Sample 9/8/ This newsletter was made possible with support from the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station Director s Endowment. 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 2014 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 8