When do wineries harvest grapes

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I Accept Show Purposes. It is a terrific dessert-style wine. In California, winemakers who are not making ice wine usually have programs in place to prevent grapes from freezing when frost is expected.

Congratulations on growing some grapes! What varietal are you growing? As a wine of the month club, we select wine from small family wineries to share with our members. We do not, ourselves, make wine. There are many resources online and in books that can answer your winemaking questions.

Best wishes for delicious wine! Cheers, Karen. I live in SoCal in Manhattan Beach, one mile inland. Best results so far are with Zinfandel but sugar content is low.

Have just added mature Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet vines and am hopeful for next year. How should the stems look as an indicator that the grapes are ripe?

Also, what is the minimal sugar content for wine? I have a refractometer to check. Thank you for reaching out! Your wine growing project sounds very interesting and fun. Unfortunately, we do not grow grapes nor make wine, and therefore do not have the technical expertise you are looking for.

The information we include in our blog posts about wine grape growing comes only from interviews that we do with artisan winemakers and grape growers. You may want to check out educational winemaking resources, such as those at U. Oh no! In some vineyards, they put netting over the vines to protect the grapes from birds. We hope you get some grapes! Cheers to you, Robert. If one side of the vineyard has grapes that are clearly ready, but the other side clearly not ready, is it advisable to store the ripe grapes while waiting for the others to ripen?

Hi Victor, We do not make wine ourselves, and so we are not the best source of information for winemaking. We are a wine of the month club with a focus on small, artisan wineries.

I hope you find the information you are looking for. Since different varieties of grapes have different natural flavors, tasting grapes is most effective if you know what the variety tastes like beforehand. Inspect the color of the grapes for a consistent hue. Ripe grapes will have a consistent color over their entire surface. Red varieties will have a deep purple color, and green grapes will look slightly yellow when ripe. Feel the grapes to evaluate their ripeness. Take a few grapes in your hand, and use your fingers and palm to lightly squeeze them.

Ripe grapes will feel plump and full of juice. On the other hand, immature grapes will feel hard and not have any give when you squeeze them with your fingers. Table or wine grapes that are left on the vine for too long will begin to shrivel and wrinkle, and have a dried-out texture.

Watch for birds on the grapevines. Birds will be able to tell as soon as the grapes have ripened, and will congregate on the vines in order to eat the grapes. If you see birds gathering around your grapes, you can be reasonably sure that the grapes are ripe. Taste a few to make sure. Once you notice birds gathering on your grape vines, plan to harvest in the next 2 or 3 days. Part 2. Pick wine grapes in the early fall. Wine grapes should be picked when ripe, but the grapes are usually ripe within a specific window of time.

In the northern hemisphere, harvest wine grapes in August, September, or October. In the southern hemisphere, harvest wine grapes in February, March, or April. Grapes for wine should have a higher sugar content than table grapes. To achieve this, wine grapes are often left on the vine for 2—3 months after table grapes are harvested. Since grapes that are used to produce jams or jellies are typically mixed with various other ingredients—including sugar—you can harvest them a little prematurely.

Harvest these grapes 3—4 days before you would harvest grapes that will be used for wine or eaten plain. If your grapes taste too sweet, you can reduce the sugar that you add to the jelly recipe. Leave grapes that will be used to make raisins on the vine for 3—4 extra days. This will increase the sugar content of the grapes, which in turn will yield a tastier, sweeter raisin. Part 3. Harvest the grapes on a warm, dry day.