Has anyone made wine with white grapes that are past their prime?

I have about 25 chardonnay vines that I let go to long before
harvesting. About a third are okay, brix 21, a third are underripe
because a heat wave caused the vines to drop leaves, and the final
third are dry on the vines - becoming raisins but not yet completely
dry.

Has anyone made wine with old but clean grapes like these? Should I
pick them off the stems and press them, or press them on their
stems?....... Or just give up and toss them in the compost?

You should be OK with over-ripe grapes. I'd skip the under-ripe
grapes, as they are likely to contribute "green" flavors that you
don't want. But the ripe grapes and the over-ripe should be OK. If a
lot of the grapes are pretty dry, you might want to add some water to
them (maybe soak them a bit before pressing?), and they might also
need a bit of acid. But the flavors shouldn't be a problem.

Doug

On Aug 22, 11:46 am, Doug > wrote:
If the grapes are raisins, they could contribute madierized aromas and
flavors to your wine. If possible, I would sort these out.

RD

Agreed with the previous responses - sort out any 'raisins' that are
truly dessicated, broken, or may have mildew. and sort out any green
berries.

I would add the advice that you then need to sample the juice of the
rest of the remainder for both acid and sugar. Meaning - 21 for one
part of the selection is not indicative of anything, you need to know
the numbers on a blended sample. The TA and pH readings will give you
guidance on what, if any, acid adjustments you need to make.

Another observation; it's unusual for only part of a vineyard to be
affected by a heat wave, and for the ripening to be so disparate. You
might want to monitor your fertilzing and vine health more closely
during the growing season. Sounds to me that have vines with differing
maturation characteristics due to inadequate / poor vigor. I saw that
phenomenon this year with some of my Marsanne - some undernoursihed
vines ripened too quickly, while a couple others never ripened fully.
But the healthy part of the vineyard all ripen close together.



In article
. com>sarahharpending@g
mail.com wrote:
> Has anyone made wine with white grapes that are past their prime?

> I have about 25 chardonnay vines that I let go to long before
> harvesting. About a third are okay, brix 21, a third are underripe
> because a heat wave caused the vines to drop leaves, and the
> finalthird are dry on the vines - becoming raisins but not yet
> completely
> dry.

> Has anyone made wine with old but clean grapes like these? Should I
> pick them off the stems and press them, or press them on
> theirstems?....... Or just give up and toss them in the compost?


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