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As this is being written, grapes in our vineyards have gone through the process of coloration, called veraison.
The vines are getting ready for the coming harvest season. Soon, the marble-hard green grapes are turning soft. Whites have taken on golden hues and reds have begun the journey to purple and deep burgundy.
This is the time to plan for a visit to experience, first-hand, all of the coming sights and smells. And while you are in wine country, be sure to top off your visit, relax on a patio and have a lovely tasting of some amazing local wines in hand.
Some sights:
As you pass by vineyards, you will see ripe bunches clustered at the lower two-thirds of the trellises. This configuration was created from early spring until now by the vineyard managers to expose the fruit to as much sunlight as possible while the shoots above drove the photosynthesis to ripen the grapes.
In some vineyards, you will see workers picking by hand and dropping clusters into bright yellow totes. At some wineries, you will see tall mechanic pickers, looking sort of like tractors on stilts, which are followed by gondolas that collect the mechanically picked bunches.
At the back of the winery buildings, there will be "crush pads" where the grapes are accepted and put the fruit through crushers and de-stemmers to extract the juice and feed it, by gravity or via pumps, into an awaiting wine press below.
You will see some large tanks where primary fermentation will occur (mostly for red wines) and some tall stainless steel tanks in the cellar waiting to be filled (mostly whites.)
Toward the end of the season, you will see leaves on the vines turning into fall colors.
Smells
Where our native Concords grow, you will smell the amazing perfume of ripening grapes. You will smell earthy aromas from the soils of the surrounding vineyards and a somewhat sharp aroma from the primary fermenting process going on in the cellars as the yeast turns the natural sugars into alcohol.
If you are in the cellars for any length of time, fermentation is taking place, you might even get a bit lightheaded as the carbon dioxide wafting from the fermentation locks fill closed spaces. (Hence the need for good cellar ventilation to protect the workers.)
Tastes
At some locations, where juice is sold to home winemakers, you may be able to sample some fresh-off-the- press juices. At others, sometimes winemakers offer samples of prior vintages to compare to the "becoming-wine" from the current harvest.
But at all wineries, there is the opportunity to relax and sit on the patio with a beautiful view shed and a glass of your favorite wine to enjoy some of Ohio's spectacular September and October afternoons.
For additional information, contact dwinchell@ohiowines.org