If you are growing your own grapes you might be thinking when is the best time to pick your grapes to turn into wine.
A lot of people when growing grapes in their back garden pick them way too early. This results in a very acidic wine that is not easy to drink.
But you have tasted a few grapes and they were really sweet. I’m sure they were, but be honest and did you just pick and taste the grapes that looked the ripest and ready to eat? I bet you did!
So, how do you know if your grapes are ready to pick to make into wine? It looks like lots of lovely delicious grapes on your vine are ripe, therefore they must all be ready to pick, right?
Wrong, that’s not how it works. The way to tell if your grapes are ready for picking is by using the random picking and then test method.
Let me explain the random picking method. This works if you have just 1 vine or a vineyard. First lets tell you how to do the random test method if you have multiple vines and then we'll tell you how to do just 1 vine.
How to test multiple vines - Kneel in front of your first vine. Close your eyes and feel for a bunch of grapes. Pick 3 grapes still with your eyes closed.
Move on 5 vines, Close your eyes and feel for a bunch of grapes. Pick 3 grapes still with your eyes closed.
Do this for 5 vines across your whole vineyard.
How to test a single or couple of vines - Now, if you don’t have a vineyard, but have a very large grapevine, then randomly pick a grape from 5 random bunches all with your eyes closed and then sample it as a below.
Take the grapes back to the kitchen and pop all the grapes in a bowl. Get out a potato masher and mash the grapes up.
If you have a refractometer, then you would put a drip of the juice into the refractometer and check the sugar levels.
However, if you do not have a refractometer, then squeeze out as much juice as possible from your handful of grapes and pour the juice into a small glass. Smell it, does it smell ripe? Take a sip of the grape juice, if you screw your face up, it isn't time to pick them. However, if the grape juice is really really sweet, sweeter than normal grapes you buy from the supermarket, then it's time to harvest your grapes.
You could always pick a few more grapes, squish them and collect the juice and put it in a trial jar and test it with a hydrometer, but you will need a lot more random grapes.
If you notice some bunches are really sweet and ready for picking, then pick them and put them in the freezer and wait till you have all your bunches ripe. This also helps extract more juice from the grapes.
Another sign your grapes are ripe and ready to pick at are wasps. Wasps love ripe grapes and if they are eating your grapes, it's usually time to test to see if they are ripe.
Spraying the vines with sulphur and copper sulphate (sometimes mixed with lime and called Bordeaux Mixture) is a must to help prevent infection by mould and bacteria. Here in the UK, it’s normally too humid and the grapes may start to rot on the vine before they are fully ripe. This is why sometimes you see residue on the grapes.
If you have sprayed your vines, leave it 2 weeks before tasting and harvesting, so planning your harvest in line with your spraying is crucial.
You can also help the grapes to ripen faster by removing any leaves that are blocking the sunlight to the grapes. This also helps the airflow over the grapes and helps prevent them going off before they are ready to pick.
Picking grapes when they are ripe will mean you get the best wine possible, so if you have made wine previously and think that it was a little sharp and there is room for improvement, then it could be that you picked your grapes too early and the random testing method will help you get it right.
As always, if you need help with any of your wine making, then get in touch