Date: Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 8:51 AM
Subject: Cabin bicolor hybrids
BicoBuffs,
Back in the early summer I posted a couple of pics of green
berries on my newly fruiting Cabin bicolor hybrids with SV23-512 and
Veeblanc. There was some confusion that they were white, but I posted
a reply explaining that they were still hard and green. Attached are
pics of the "ripe" fruit. I put "ripe" in quotes because this first
fruit had a hard season with my getting overwhelmed by the heat,
humidity, and incredibly rank growth due to a very even 1" of rain a
week with the heat. These poor things were shaded on both sides with
thick growth from the top of the 6' VSP trellis that extended down to
the ground and beyond. The vines are STILL growing, and the 5.1"
(yes, 5.1") of rain we got last night out of the TS Lee remnant will
not help matters. The fruit on these vines suffered heavy casualties
from bunch stem necrosis, but I think the brown marmorated stink bugs
are to blame because they love the shady, secluded places and once
they poked a stem, fungus could take hold in the rachii fast in the
humid environment under there. So, the pics show what I got, still
very interesting. Chemistry to come. Note, I used the 08-33-10
pollen on quite a few back crosses to aestivalis and aesti-hybrids.
Should be very interesting seed out of those crosses. Both of these
are self-fertile.
Regards, Cliff
4 comments:
Cliff- it has been a long time since we talked. I had planted a small amount of buffalo in part because of you had liked it so much. I got my first crop this year and I have a friend that is making wine out of it. Can I ask about some processing recomendatons? Do you use a short 3-5 day skin contact or do you go a bit longer? I am assuming no malolactic. Do you use any oak?
Hi Roy,
Since Buffalo is a labruscat (labruscana based on muscats) it has very tannic skins and will give a root beer flavor on long maceration. 3-5 days on skins sounds fine. Malolactic probably isn't necessary and you'll likely have to add tartaric acid if you do it. It may cut the root beer flavor, though. I can't say oak or no oak. Do test batches. Since so few people have made wine from these grapes and wrote anything about it, it is largely unknown how to do it "best".
You could fine it heavily with gelatin after the yeast drop to remove excess tannin (do bench trials to find the correct amount to add) and finish the wine semi-dry to semi-sweet. This could work well.
Good luck! Cliff
Is that the regimen you have followed when you have made wine from it?
I have simply fermented it dry and added it to my rose' blend. With over 200 varieties to work with I don't focus too much on any single one to try to perfect a style for it. If anything, I've found just about any grape gives surprising and delicious results when treated in a manner you wouldn't think to. Like whites fermented dry on skins, ML on muscadines, oak in a semi-dry red, etc. This is an American tradition we're living here, not European!
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