Page 1

Veraison to HarVestStatewide Vineyard Crop Development Update #5

September 30, 2016Edited by Tim Martinson and Chris Gerling

average just over 3.5” of rain in September, and as has been the case in every other month this season, we will end up well short of that number again. But at this point in the year, that is mostly a good thing. The lack of rain has helped to keep bunch rots at bay for the most part, minimizing the need for sorting. And despite the dry weather, sugar con-tent (as seen in this week’s sample results) has continued to climb in most cases. To this point in the season, everyone has been very happy with the quality of the fruit that has been coming to the crushpads.

A number of different varieties have been harvested over the past week, including Pinot noir, Lemberger, Gewürztra-miner, Vignoles, and Pinot gris. Concord harvest has also ramped up for Constellation Brands. Later season reds like Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah will probably be left to hang on the vines for at least another week or two, as long as the fruit remains clean and continues to progress in ripen-ing. It’s always a good thing here when fruit is picked when we want to pick it, rather than when we have to pick be-cause of Mother Nature’s fickleness. So far this year (knock on wood), we’ve been fortunate that it’s been the former.

Riesling harvest is also getting underway this week. A few blocks had been harvested earlier, mostly for sparkling pro-duction, but a number of growers and wineries are ready to start bringing in the region’s ‘signature variety’ over the next couple of weeks. Most of the sample results from this

Around New York...Statewide (Tim Martinson)Last Thursday, I was writing about unseasonably warm temperatures. Then the fall solistice (Sept 22) hit – and it was like a switch being flipped. The region reverted to cool-er fall temperatures more typical of a “normal” harvest sea-son. And the rains are coming. As of Thursday, we’re look-ing at 3 or 4 days of showers, overcast weather, and cooler temperatures.

The number of samples in our Fruit Composition Report (pp. 6-10) is rapidly shrinking as blocks are harvested. From our initial 86, we’re down to 48 this week. Virtually all the ‘Min-nesota’ varieties, and all but three of the regular hybrids (Corot Noir, Traminette, and Vidal blanc) dropped out this week. Among the vinifera, we’re down to Lemberger, Caber-net Franc, Merlot, and Riesling. I’ll note here that the rainfall will induce harvest soon for Botrytis and sour rot susceptible varieties.

Juice soluble solids in the vinifera rose by 1.0 -1.4 °Brix, with TAs declining by 0.6 g/l (Cab Franc) to 1.0 g/l (Merlot). Sol-uble solids are similar to 2015s levels, but TAs are 0.5 to 0.8 g/l lower this year. Our four Concord samples are averag-ing 17.0 °Brix, and TAs as low as 3.5 g/l – about 1.0 g/l lower than 2015. Terry Bates’ berry curve (p3) shows brix and ber-ry weight (still 20% below average) leveling off. Vidal blanc showed the largest gain in soluble solids (+2.2 °Brix), and TAs of hybrids declined by a modest 0.1 g/l (Vidal) to 0.4 g/l (Traminette).

In short: Grapes are ripe, and we’re reaching the height of harvest for Concords (processors barely past the first week of being open) and will be shifting into high gear in the late-ripening Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Riesling blocks. Expect our number of samples to shrink dramatically next week.

On a personal note, we wrapped up five years of field trials at Clayton, NY this week (see article p. 4-5), finishing a five-year collaboration with the Randazzo family (Phil, Mary, Tony, and Kristina) at Coyote Moon vineyards as part of the Northern Grapes Project.

Finger Lakes (Hans Walter-Peterson)The warm and dry pattern that has dominated the Finger Lakes this year has continued in September. We normally

Riesling harvest has started in the Finger Lakes.Photo by Hans Walter-Peterson

Page 2

week are in the 19-21° Brix range, with acidity ranging from 7 – 10 g/L. These are usually pretty close to tar-get numbers for a lot of wineries, so expect to see lots of Riesling coming to crush pads. Rain is predicted on and off for the next several days, so picking schedules may get accelerated a bit depending on the develop-ment of bunch rots in the following days. Hopefully the fact that most fruit is very clean right now will help to keep things that way even with the added moisture.

Lake Erie (Luke Haggerty)The weather in the Lake Erie region shifted from a very long stretch of warm sunny days to cool wet con-ditions. The change in weather has not slowed sugar accumulation as we have seen another relatively large jump this week. Finding Concords that meet the mini-mum 15 °brix standard has been easy for most grow-ers.

Going into the second week of Concord harvest, we are seeing sugar levels normally found at the end of the season. The ‘berry curve’ submitted by Terry Bates (see p.3) show this week’s samples were at 18 °brix and are expected to plateau next week. Here at CLEREL the Concord harvest is underway as we are picking our first load of the year.

Sampling data for the cover crop trial was collected this week and results showed a large range of brix and berry size between the 27 Concord plots. The lowest brix sample was 15.3 and the highest 18.8. Regardless of the variation, over all the Concord brix averages are looking high. Area processors are reporting averages in the mid to upper 15 °brix to low 16 °brix range.

Long Island (Alice Wise)After a summer of severe drought, starting in late Au-gust, a series of rain events tested even the most expe-rienced vineyard managers. Rainfall was spotty, much heavier in some areas. There apparently was enough correctly-timed rainfall to bump up berry weights this season. In combination with good set, clusters on many varieties are compact and larger than average this year. Growers have had to cluster thin a bit more than usual or embrace above average yields.

Harvest this week included many different white vari-eties. Flavors are rich and nuanced, very satisfying giv-en the challenging season. The forecast of 3-4 consecu-tive days of intermittent rain also precipitated harvest decisions. Yields are variable but generally average to above average, brix are moderate, acids moderate to low.

The periodic rainfall has made downy mildew a chal-lenge. This frustrates vineyard managers, even where it is limited to the upper reaches of the VSP canopy.

This is a consequence only for fruit that will hang substantially longer. The uncooperative weather has rekindled Botrytis and sour rot infections, though the incidence and severity varies widely from vineyard to vineyard and variety to variety. In the research vine-yard, the poster child for sour rot is the lesser known Burgundian variety Aligoté. A few fruit flies accompa-nied the sour rot but were not nearly as bad as origi-nally feared.

Chardonnay harvested in the research vineyard this week was mostly clean with a little Botrytis where air drainage was compromised such as clumps of clusters. It appears that most of these infections were initiated by berry moth infestations.

In the industry, fruit ranges from clean to slightly com-promised. Those vineyards with cluster rot are field cleaning and sorting fruit to ensure quality. This is a season that emphasizes the utility of well-executed bloom-time leaf removal. This practice has far reach-ing benefits, from preventing early powdery mildew outbreaks to tempering late season cluster rot.

Hudson Valley and Champlain (Jim O’Connell and Anna Wallis)Champlain. Dramatically cooler weather arrived in the Champlain Valley this week. Overnight lows have been in the mid-40s, and highs in the mid-70s. The first frost came to many places on Monday. It’s never too early to say ‘winter is coming’ in the North Country! The cool conditions have been pleasant to work in and many vineyards have taken the opportunity to bring in a significant part of their harvest. Despite the cool-down, grape maturity continues to progress steadily. Sugars have increased by another degree (or more) Brix this week and TA has come down quite a bit. The more acidic cold hardy varieties should remain on the vine as long as possible to reduce the acids. Many are being harvested now. Rain on Friday 9/23 brought much needed moisture to vineyards, between 0.5-0.7” across the region. It also presented an excellent opportunity to stay inside and get some work done in the office and winery! The rain does not seem to have affected berry size or chemistry very much. Berry weight actually decreased or remained un-changed in our sampling locations, but this is most likely the result of sampling error (100 berries is not very many relative to the total number of berries in the vineyard). However, berries are starting to show some signs of shriveling in some places, which is probably related to physiology of the fruit. Most likely due to dehydration in places that have received little rain and sunburn where fruit is more exposed to the sun.

Page 3

2016 Lake Erie Concord Update: Terry Bates

September 28, 2016. Concord harvest is well underway in the Lake Erie region. Fresh berry weight is starting to plateau as normal and continues to be about 10% below the 16-year mean. The low berry weight and benign weather conditions have also led to high juice soluble solids. Our phenology plot was 18 oBrix and a load from CLEREL this week went in at 17 oBrix. We are receiving reports of portions of vineyards strug-gling with juice soluble solids and they tend to be areas of very high crop level or areas that had more severe water stress earlier in the season.

Top: Concord Berry Curve, with 2016 (green) 2015 (red) and 16-year average fresh berry weight.

Bottom: Juice Soluble Solids (Brix) accumulation curve.

Regarding the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) dam-age reported last week: there have been no new reports of SWD. But we are still interested to know if other growers in the Champlain Valley are having similar problems with SWD. Please reply to Anna Wallis at aew232@cornell.edu so we can better understand the extent of this problem in our region.Hudson Valley. This week in the Hudson Valley grow-ers harvested Noiret, Vignoles, Chardonnay, and Chardonel. Quality and quantity were good for the white grapes. Comments from growers and pickers on Noiret indicate they were less satisfied with that crop. While the fruit produced was good quality, overall production was less, with many smaller fruit clusters. Rain is expected for the remainder of the week, which depending on severity, may delay picking. Sour rot is becoming more of a problem, and with the impending rain, growers are concerned about their crops. If fact, one Hudson Valley grower already harvested Riesling. Though a little early for Riesling, sour rot was already spreading fast and with the predicted rain, the grower was concerned about crop loss. The weather for next week, looks drier, and growers will resume picking. Brix levels of samples from the vineyard at the Hudson Valley Research Lab in High-land, are steadily increasing. The forecasted rain may slow things down a bit, which for the HVRL is fine. However, for growers, who are looking to fill orders, the slowdown may be a little frustrating.

Page 4

At the start of the project, most new growers of these Northern Grape cultivars were using mid-wire cordons with vertical shoot positioning (VSP) as their training system. We chose to com-pare VSP with High Cordon (HC) (spur pruned) and the old NY standby, cane-pruned Umbrella Kniffen (UK). In addition to training them differ-ently, we did different levels of followup canopy management. For VSP, we did summer hedging and cluster-zone leaf removal to provide light exposure. For the High Cordon, we used only downward shoot combing to influence light ex-posure to fruiting zone. For Umbrella Kniffen, we did no additional canopy management after dormant pruning.

2016 Data. Results have varied, but this year, the Umbrella Kniffen yielded the most grapes, fol-lowed by High Cordon. The range of yield per vine was 9 to 15 lb/vine (roughly equivalent to 3 to 4.7 T/acre).

Since 2012, we’ve been working with Coyote Moon Vineyards, in Clayton NY to evaluate three training systems for Frontenac and Marquette grapes. On Sep-tember 21, we finished our final harvest – and a very productive collaboration with owners Phil, Mary, Tony, and Kristina Randazzo.

Project Focus: Final Frontenac Harvest at ClaytonTim Martinson

Frontenac at harvest, 2016 in Clayton, NY. This year’s harvest completes 5 years of data collection as part of the Northern Grapes Project.

Photo by Tim Martinson

Relative amount of Frontenac harvested from single vines trained to High Cordon (TWC, left), Umbrella Kniffin (UK, center) and VSP (right) training and canopy management systems.

Photo by Tim Martinson

Frontenac training trial. Preliminary summary of yield in High Cordon, Umbrella kniffin, and Vertical Shoot Positioning (mid-wire cordon) in 2016.

Figure by Tim Martinson

Page 5

Fruit composition (Table 1) didn’t vary signifi-cantly this year among the treatments. High Cor-don berries were slightly larger, and Juice soluble solids were higher that those of VSP, despite the higher yield.

Cumulative Yield 2012-2016. If we add up all the yield over the 5 years of the project, we find that the cumulative yield was highest in the High Cordon (28 lb/vine), Intermediate in the Umbrella Kniffin (25 lb/vine), and lowest in the VSP (22 lb/vine). If these numbers seem low to you, keep in mind that the five years of the study included one year (2014) with NO YIELD, and another year (2015) in which a late frost (May 25) froze the 4-6 inch shoots.

Evaluating growing, vinification, and marketing of wines made from newly-released cold-hardy grapes was the focus of the recently concluded Northern Grapes Project. This and other stud-ies in the Midwest have shown that growers can produce more grapes with less labor by switching from midwire cordons with vertical shoot posi-tioning to high cordons.

Acknowledgement. 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

Harvest crew. From left: Alex Koeberle, Bill Wilsey, Gillian Trimber, Steve Lerch, Tim Martinson, and Jay Freer

Photo by Tim Martinson

Thanks to the Randazzos. My thanks go out to the Randazzo family (Phil, Mary, Tony, and Kristina) at Coyote Moon Vine-yards (Phil Randazzo shown in photo) for their close collaboration and assistance with these field studies that took place in their vineyard near Clayton, NY. They truly went above and beyond in helping us carry out this study, serving on the Northern Grapes Project Advisory Council, and hosting numerous outreach events over the course of the project.

Photo by Tim Martinson

Frontenac training trial. Preliminary summary of cumulative 5-year yield in High Cordon, Umbrella kniffin, and Vertical Shoot Positioning (mid-wire cordon) in 2016.

Figure by Tim Martinson

Page 6

Fruit Composition report - 9/26/2016Samples reported here were collected on Monday, September 26. Where appropriate, sample data from 2015, averaged over all sites is included. Tables from 2014 are archived at http://grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/newsletters/veraison-harvest. Next samples will be collected on Monday, October 3.

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Lansing 1.21 22.3 3.48 5.3 64Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca 1.26 23.3 3.29 6.4 30Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Cayuga 1.27 21.9 3.38 5.4 68Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Wayne County 1.28 20.7 3.28 7.3 141Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 1.29 21.9 3.38 5.0 72Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Geneva 1.36 21.9 3.45 5.9 55Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Seneca 1.37 22.1 3.28 6.4 34

Hudson Valley 9/26/2016 HVRL Highland 1.49 21.0 3.60 6.2 157Long Island 9/26/2016 LI-09 1.92 18.3 3.65 5.7 227Long Island 9/26/2016 LI-05 1.96 19.9 3.60 5.4 118

Average 9/26/16 1.44 21.3 3.44 5.9 97Prev. Sample 9/19/2016 1.51 19.9 3.34 6.7‘15 Average 9/28/2015 1.55 21.0 3.35 6.7 70

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka 2.26 17.8 3.01 7.3 30Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 HARVEST

Average 9/26/16 2.26 17.8 3.01 7.3 30Prev Sample 9/19/2016 2.13 16.2 2.92 9.2‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 Keuka 2.87 17.7 2.96 10.2 92

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 2.06 18.3 3.35 5.3 176Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Cayuga HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Ithaca HARVEST

Average 9/26/2016 Not averaged Prev Sample 9/19/2016 2.50 16.9 3.12 6.7

‘15 Final Sample 9/21/2015 2.96 19.3 3.32 7.4 237Chardonnay

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Seneca 1.28 23.6 3.16 5.4 63Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Cayuga HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Lansing HARVEST Long Island 9/26/2016 1.93 20.5 3.50 6.4 141

Average 9/26/16 1.60 22.1 3.33 5.9 102Prev. Sample 9/28/2015 1.72 22.4 3.45 6.1 94‘15 Average 9/21/2015 1.66 21.1 3.32 7.0 94

Page 7

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka 2.47 15.9 3.16 3.5 60Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Canandaigua 2.86 17.2 3.43 4.5 117

Lake Erie 9/26/2016 Fredonia 2.76 16.9 3.25 7.9 103Lake Erie 9/26/2016 Portland 3.17 18.1 3.34 8.4 142Average 9/26/16 2.81 17.0 3.30 6.1 106

Prev Sample 9/19/2016 2.69 15.9 3.29 5.7 ‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 3.67 16.5 3.29 7.1 154

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 1.78 18.0 3.52 4.7 86Prev Sample 9/19/2016 Dresden 1.74 16.8 3.48 5.1 ‘15 Sample 9/21/2015 Dresden 2.51 18.0 3.32 6.7 99

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

Champlain Valley 9/26/2016 Willsboro 1.21 23.6 3.01 15.5 257Champlain Valley 9/26/2016 Morrisonville 1.45 24.1 3.05 15.5 176Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton-Rake/LR HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton-No Can Mgt HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton-VSP HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton-UMB HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton-TWC HARVEST

Average 9/26/16 1.33 23.9 3.03 15.5 217Prev Sample 9/19/2016 1.30 22.0 3.13 15.5 ’15 Average 9/28/2015 1.11 23.9 3.20 17.4 711

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

Champlain Valley 9/26/2016 Willsboro 1.20 24.9 3.01 13.7 284Prev Sample 9/19/2016 Willsboro 1.48 21.2 2.92 15.9

’15 Final Sample 9/21/2015 1.26 24.6 3.01 13.5 281Gruner Veltliner

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes HARVESTFinal Sample 9/6/2016 Dresden 1.37 19.6 3.23 6.0

‘15 Final Sample 9/8/2015 Dresden 1.76 19.2 3.23 5.7La Crescent

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Champlain Valley 9/19/2016 Morrisonville HARVEST

Finger Lakes 9/19/2016 Geneva HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/19/2016 HARVEST Champlain Valley 9/19/2016 Willsboro HARVEST

Finger Lakes 9/19/2016 Trumansburg HARVEST ’16 Final Average 9/12/2016 1.26 22.5 3.07 13.0 136

’15 Average 9/21/2015 1.52 21.5 3.00 17.8 149

Page 8

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka 1.50 23.3 3.08 8.3 40Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden HARVEST

Average 9/26/16 1.50 23.3 3.08 8.3 40Prev. Average 9/19/2016 1.82 21.9 3.17 7.6

‘15 Final Sample 9/21/2015 1.72 22.1 3.20 7.8 88

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

Champlain Valley HARVEST’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 Morrisonville 1.45 16.8 3.16 9.6 110

Malbec

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Long Island 9/26/2016 2.34 20.0 3.70 6.1 196Prev Sample 9/19/2016 2.44 18.9 3.52 7.4 ‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 2.76 22.1 3.60 6.6 109

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

Champlain Valley 9/26/2016 Willsboro HARVEST Champlain Valley 9/26/2016 Morrisonville HARVEST

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Trumansburg HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Ithaca HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 3309 HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden Own HARVEST

Lake Erie 9/26/2016 HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton HARVEST Thousand Islands 9/26/2016 Clayton HARVEST ’16 Final Average 9/19/2016 1.20 24.5 3.12 11.8 ‘15 Final Sample 9/28/2015 1.21 25.1 3.18 15.0 432

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

Hudson Valley 9/26/2016 HVRL Highland 1.62 22.3 3.66 5.0 101

Long Island 9/26/2016 LI-10 1.76 20.4 3.75 4.8 232

Long Island 9/26/2016 LI-04 2.23 19.4 3.66 5.4 129

Average 9/26/16 1.87 20.7 3.69 5.1 154Prev Sample 9/19/2016 1.77 19.6 3.59 6.1

‘15 Average 9/28/2015 1.80 20.9 3.64 5.4 93

NiagaraRegion Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Lake Erie 9/19/2016 Portland HARVEST Lake Erie 9/19/2016 Portland HARVEST

’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 Portland 3.38 16.3 3.18 5.2 77‘15 Final Sample 9/21/2015 3.53 16.0 3.29 7.7 110

Page 9

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

Finger Lakes 9/19/2016 Wayne County HARVESTHudson Valley 9/19/2016 HVRL Highland HARVEST

’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 1.74 18.4 3.29 9.1 251‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 1.75 18.9 3.31 9.1 232

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca 1.26 21.4 3.34 6.1 57Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Cayuga HARVEST

’16 Final Sample 9/26/16 Not Averaged 1.26 21.4 3.34 6.1 57Prev Sample 9/19/2016 1.25 20.2 3.35 5.8

‘15 Final Sample 9/21/2015 E. Seneca 1.28 21.9 3.29 7.3 93Riesling

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka 1.09 19.9 3.06 9.1 74Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Seneca 1.11 19.9 3.03 9.2 208Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Seneca 1.13 20.0 3.01 9.2 25Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca cl198 1.16 21.2 3.12 7.2 20Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca cl239 1.17 21.7 3.14 7.1 34Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 1.18 19.4 3.10 7.4 125Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 CL 90 Cayuga 1.23 20.4 3.02 8.6 44Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca cl90 1.27 19.7 3.16 7.0 31Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E Seneca 1.38 20.3 3.03 8.2 30Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Canandaigua 1.43 20.1 3.00 10.3 82Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Lansing 1.49 20.0 3.20 7.9 88Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Wayne County 1.52 19.9 3.16 9.4 184Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 E. Seneca 1.52 19.1 3.16 9.2 227Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Geneva 1.63 18.6 3.23 7.5 88

Hudson Valley 9/26/2016 HVRL Highland 1.35 18.5 3.49 7.6 244Lake Erie 9/26/2016 Portland 1.70 18.9 3.22 6.2 132

Long Island 9/26/2016 LI-01 1.71 18.0 3.31 7.1 80Average 9/26/16 1.36 19.7 3.14 8.1 101

Prev Sample 9/19/2016 1.40 18.7 3.07 8.9 ‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 1.55 19.1 3.05 8.6 64

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

Long Island HARVEST’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 LI-02 1.35 19.8 3.44 9.0 244‘15 Final Sample 9/14/2015 LI-02 1.43 20.0 3.29 6.7 65

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

Finger Lakes 9/6/2016 W. Cayuga HARVESTLake Erie 9/12/2016 Portland HARVESTAverage

’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 1.69 18.8 3.14 8.6 157

’15 Final Sample 8/31/2015 1.63 14.9 2.98 12.1

Page 10

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

Finger Lakes HARVEST

’16 Final Sample 9/12/2016 Geneva 1.56 19.4 3.50 5.2 188

’15 Final Sample 9/8/2015 Geneva 2.03 18.9 3.23 9.3Traminette

Region Harvest Date Description Ber. Wt. g. % Brix pH TA g/L YAN (ppm)Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Keuka 1.68 21.2 3.03 9.4 140

Hudson Valley 9/26/2016 HVRL Highland 1.76 20.7 3.46 8.2 201Average 9/26/16 1.72 21.0 3.25 8.8 170

Prev Sample 9/19/2016 1.73 20.2 3.18 9.1

‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 Keuka 2.09 19.8 2.97 10.6 267

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 Dresden 1.64 19.0 3.26 7.1 107Prev Sample 9/19/2016 Dresden 1.54 16.9 3.18 7.2 ‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 Dresden 2.07 21.7 3.20 8.4 73

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

Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 VSP Keuka HARVEST Finger Lakes 9/26/2016 W. Seneca HARVEST

’16 Final Sample 9/19/2016 1.29 23.6 3.07 12.9 ‘15 Sample 9/28/2015 W. Seneca 1.58 23.5 3.10 15.2 196

Page 11

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 ProgramStatewide Viticulture Extension Program

Long Island Grape ProgramFinger Lakes Grape Program

Lake Erie Regional Grape ProgramEastern New York Regional Horticulture Program

Copyright 2016 © 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.

“Christmas Clusters" on Cayuga WhiteTim Martinson

“Christmas” clusters. Cayuga White is a variety that often produces extra clusters, sometimes extending to the shoot tip. This shoot (top) has 7 clusters - an ad-ditional 4 beyond the ‘normal’ 2-3 clusters formed in dormant buds. Fruit samples taken at harvest at Cor-nell Orchards in the ‘normal’ clusters were at 15.5 °Brix; pH of 3.13, and 9.3 g/L TA. In a separate sample of just “Christmas clusters”, soluble solids were 12.9 °Brix; pH =2,84; and TA = 13.5. In other words, you would have to wait until Christmas for these grapes to be ripe and ready to harvest.

Cayuga White at the Cornell Orchards on September 19.

Photos by Tim Martinson