Journal | September 17, 2021
Riesling grapes
Picking Riesling Today
We can rarely schedule Hardscrabble’s Riesling picking date. Once the grapes enter the window of ripeness they become highly susceptible to rot. Rot is triggered by rain. It rained yesterday. We pick today.
The Riesling clusters are healthy and the grapes have some character. However the sugars are relatively low and the acid is high. This will dictate the wine style. The wine will have low alcohol (10 to 11%). The wine will also need to have some sweetness in order to balance the high acidity. We will achieve this by chilling the fermenting wine before the yeast can finish fermenting all the grape sugars. The decision as to when to do this is made by tasting the wine daily and catching it at the right moment.
In recent years we have been able to make a drier style of Riesling. Longer ripening periods allowed us to pick the grapes at a higher sugar (meaning more potential alcohol after fermentation) and a lower acidity. The wines have been a drier, Alsatian, mineral style. 2021 will be a Mosel style: light, with fruit driven freshness. This is a great example of how we respect and celebrate the vintage rather than manipulate in the cellar to achieve commercial consistency.
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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: September 17, 2021