Why Wine is Expensive

It’s been the most eventful week ever in the young life of my modest home winery and vineyard.  Several things happened which would normally justify their own post and reflection, but as the items kept piling up, I’m forced instead to summarize them as follows:

1)      Is my 2010 Malbec a lost cause?  It’s starting to feel that way.  Already handicapped by an off-putting finish, I discovered this weekend that my ½ gallon carboy had some unwelcome microorganisms growing on its surface.  I’m pretty sure this was a result of failing to top of the carboy with greater diligence after each tasting.  Too much oxygen was allowed to collect at the top, and finally some squatters moved in.  Drew described the resulting smell as “paint thinner,” and the taste was a fair reflection of that, so I dumped the entire carboy down the drain.  I’m still hoping for a miracle cure for the remaining 6 gallons, which might include the perfect blending, but it’s also possible that the balance of the wine could be finding its way down the drain as well.  Given that this was the first wine I made from grapes completely by myself, the outcome isn’t entirely surprising.

2)      Did I just kill my grapevine?  I sprayed the vine in my yard with a pesticide/fungicide according to the recommended schedule, and a couple hours later many of the leaves starting to shrivel and turn brown.  After much research, I’ve concluded that the spray applicator I was using was off in its calibration, in essence drowning the leaves in poison at many times the recommended dosage.  The fix here is to buy a new, more expensive spray applicator and mix the fungicide concentrate myself, so I’m hopeful the damage will be limited to this one vine.  I guess I’ll find out when I spray the rest of my vines tomorrow using the new equipment.  As for the infected vine, it’s possible that the damage will be limited to those few leaves, but it’s also possible that I’ve killed the entire vine, or at least ruined it for the growing season.  The answer will probably be obvious within a few days, because in normal circumstances these things grow like weeds.

 

3)      Is it Fall in Chile already?  Apparently so, because my 144 pounds of Chardonnay grapes arrived this weekend.  After crushing and pressing, I discovered that the juice had a high sugar and low acidity level, the result, presumably, of growing overripe after an indeterminate number of days in transit from South America.  Per the normal protocol, I added acidity, loaded the juice up with protective sulfites and inoculated it with yeast to begin the fermentation.  Everything by the book.  Of course, this was the same book I followed for the lost Malbec, so let’s hope, this time, for better results.