Fall in Michigan Wine Country

What are the grapes up to during Fall in Michigan Wine Country?

“Water separates the people of the world, wine unites them.” - Unknown

Fall is by far the most exciting time in wine country.  After a year of tending to the grape buds, growing the berries, watching the berries as they grow from little acid ball babies into juicy adults, it is time to take them off the vine and turn them into wine. 

While we talk about harvest as a season, harvest is really a mad dash to get all the grapes off the vine in a very short window of time in coordination with mother nature at the perfect moment when the sugar levels are just right; and then a further dash to crush and destem them before any natural fermentation begins so that you have the highest level of quality control in the process. 

It is one of the most hectic times of year for winemakers, the vineyard staff but it is quite possibly the most fun you will ever have.  Since at the Mahan Family Vineyard we only grow white varietals, we’ll stick with sharing what we know. 

First you harvest the grapes, then you crush & destem them. After which you press the grapes for juice which then immediately gets moved to your fermentation tank. Once fermentation has taken place, it’s time for the wine to mature - so you rack the wine for it to age. For white varietals aging is generally around 6 months before pulling it from the rack to finish the wine through fining, filtration and blending before calling it a day and bottling it up to be shared with your loved ones.   We’re going to break down each step of the process below.

Harvesting the Grapes

Harvest is an imperfect science. Vinemakers walk the vineyard rows and blocks daily checking on the berries and measuring their brix. Brix is a measurement of the sugar content of grapes, must and wine, indicating the degree of the grapes' ripeness (meaning sugar level) at harvest.

A series of warm days can speed up the harvest because warm weather speeds up the ripening of the grapes, whereas a series of cooler temperatures can slow down the harvest. 

Harvest season is kind of like the last few days of pregnancy for an expecting couple. “Any day now!” is the thing on the mind of the Vinemaker as they tend to the grapes during their final days on the vine. 

Sparkling wines are harvested first followed by white varietals, reds come after the whites with the fuller the body of the red, the longer the wait for harvest. Harvest season on the Mahan Family vineyard is generally September and October. We start with Chardonnay and work our way through our Sauvignon Blancs, Gruner Veltliners and Viogniers as they hit ideal sugar levels. 

Harvest day starts early. Like early, early. Oftentimes we’ll start work as early as 3AM or 4AM before the sunrise. We start early to take advantage of the coolness of the air. We don’t want the grapes to start fermenting before they reach the crush pad, and the heat of the day will absolutely start the fermentation process.

Crushing, Desteming & Pressing the grapes

As soon as the grapes are off the vine our goal is to extract the juice from the berry as quickly as possible to prepare the juice for fermentation without letting the process begin without our careful attention.

The goal of crushing and desteming is to extract the juice from the grapes while separating the juice from the stems which could bleed tannins into the juice affecting the flavor. 

Broadly speaking, white grapes are pressed quickly to ensure minimal contact between the juice and the skins, stems and seeds. That way the resulting wine won’t pick up any unwanted color or tannins. 

Fermentation

The fresh pressed juice is transferred to a tank for fermentation. This process generally takes about a month. During fermentation yeast (either naturally occurring or added) converts the sugars into alcohol.  

The fermentation your juice undergoes plays a big role in the development of the flavor of your wine. For example: 

Chardonnay requires malolactic fermentation to develop creamy, buttery flavors, so it will go into barrels for further fermentation. 

In Sauvignon Blanc, on the other hand, a certain crisp acidity is desirable, so winemakers will work to prevent malolactic fermentation in these grapes.

The winemaker keeps tabs on the different varietals as they ferment while preparing barrels, carboys, steel tanks or other vessels to receive the fermented juice for aging aka racking. 

While most associate certain vessels with certain varietals, example: Chardonnay in an oak barrel versus Sauvignon Blanc in a steel tank, there is actually no right or wrong vessel to age your wine in and ultimately it is the winemakers choice how they want to age the wine to achieve the flavor profile they are seeking. 

Racking and Bottling the grapes

One of the most beautiful things about winemaking is that while it is very much science, it is not an exact science: There’s no perfect recipe to create a bottle of wine that’s guaranteed to score well with the wine critics. 

This means that while the wine is aging, the winemaker is continually tasting and evaluating the wine, slowly feeling out the flavor profile and waiting for the ideal flavors to emerge before bottling. 

In general, our Sauvignon Blancs will age for four to six months, whereas our Chardonnays will age for 10 to 16 months.

In order to clarify, soften and otherwise optimize the flavor profile, the winemaker will move the wine from vessel to vessel each time allowing the wine to mature a bit more, soften a bit more and develop a bit more until the perfect flavor profile is achieved and the wine is ready to be bottled. 

For small batches of wine, bottling can be a day long process done by hand. This is how our Vinemakers got their start and something they still do to this day.

Once the Harvest is done and the wine has been racked, the Vinemakers prepare the vines for winter so they can all settle in for a long winter’s nap.

Harvest season and winemaking season are a very busy time for the Vinemaker and vineyard owner, but also one of the most rewarding. Nothing feels better than literally seeing the fruits of your labor juiced with love and then racked and tucked in for a long winters’ nap. 

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