It is the middle of summer and many wineries are busy bottling their wines and gearing up for this fall's harvest.  At Cascadia, we are fermenting a batch of our apple wine to be bottled in August.  In this way, we will have our tanks available for grapes.  

I will be busy in September and October analyzing grapes for other wineries and vineyards. Usually, I test for brix (% sugar), total acidity, and pH.  Invariably, I provide test results to them the day I receive the grapes.  It was a cool spring which may result in some under-ripe grapes for those who typically harvest in mid-October.  It depends on how the canopy is managed including controlling vine growth, removing lateral (unfruitful) shoots, and maintaining an appropriate cluster/vine ratio.

This harvest we will be producing Roussanne wine.  We had depleted our inventory of this wine in June, 2010.  The grapes will be harvested from the same vineyard and I will create the wine in the same style.   A.Y.