Join us each week for more “geeky stuff”. We grow 5 varieties of wine grapes! Tempranillo, Graciano, Garnacha Tinta and Alvariño are our main grape varieties, as well as a dozen Orange Muscat vines and four table grape vines along our driveway for shade (and raisins)! The varieties ripen at different rates and are generally […]
Did you know that there are many things that affect the way wine tastes? Of course, the variety and ripeness of the grapes, the location, soil, climate and style of grape growing, the way the wine was made, the age and storage (elevage) of the wine, the temperature of the wine, what you’re eating (or […]
Join us each week for some Geeky wine stuff! Did you know that (almost) all grape juice is clear, not colored? Yes! The color of wine generally comes from the skins as the pulp of most grapes, light grapes AND dark grapes is colorless. In order to extract the color and other goodies from the […]
Once again, it’s “Ask a Question Wednesday”! Join us each Wednesday as we share answers to our, “Ask a Winemaker Wednesday” here at Ruby Magdalena Vineyards. We had a great question asked about what we’re currently doing in the vineyard! “What is be-budding?” We are currently in de-budding mode. This means that we are removing all […]
In our vineyard, we have green in the alleys between the rows of grapes. There’s a reason for this, actually there are several reasons. The cover crop helps to regulate temperature. On hot, hot days the heat from the sun isn’t reflected back up to the plants, which helps the grape plants immensely. It also […]
We get this question quite a bit: We do not have either a wind machine or smudge pots…but our neighbors do! In the early spring while the blossoms on the neighboring orchards are so fragile, and when temps drop below 32°, the wind machines are used to circulate the air to keep the damaging cold […]
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Do you know why it’s important to have green in the vineyard? The leaves (canopy) of the grape vines produce carbohydrates (sugars) from sunlight, water and CO2 gas to grow plant tissue and ripen the grape clusters. The growing vine also provides nutrients for the microbes that live in the soil, […]
Soon the vines will start to wake up. They will begin to weep as the sap rises from the roots where it was stored over winter. This years buds will start to get fuzzy as they get ready to swell into larger buds and eventually break open and show off their bright green leaves!
…and heart, circulatory and lymphatic systems and evidently to my hands! We’ve been talking about phenols, and polyphenols. Let’s continue with another branch of the phenolic group: anthocyanins (and their sugarless counterparts the anthocyanidins). Anthocyanins are highly pigmented, water-soluble phenols. They contribute the red, purple and blue colors in fruits and vegetables. The colors that […]
We’re going to wrap up this month of barrel talk with a little bit about these compounds and what contributions a barrel can give to a red wine. . First of all…what is a phenolic compound? A phenolic compound by definition is an aromatic organic compound that has a phenol ring in its structure. There […]
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