The Blanc Dubois and the Lomanto are as close to ready as they are going to get. We’ve had a ton of rain over the last couple of weeks. It rains every other day and extended forecast shows two solid weeks of rain coming. Brix and ph isn’t where I hoped it would be. The rain is keeping the brix down and forcing the ph up. It’s not going to get any better soon.

My helpers did an awesome job today. Got 250lbs of Blanc Dubois. Not bad for young vines. Next year I should be able to get a much bigger harvest. Had to stop picking 3/4 of way through due to monsoon that dumped about 2” of rain in 30min on us. Sun came back out, and picked the rest after some time to dry out.

Blanc Dubois above is getting close to picking time.  Turning yellow and starting to taste sweet.
brix=16, ph=3.01.  I’m hoping brix gets to 21 and ph needs to get to 3.4

Lomanto above will be ready first most likely.  Ph is on the rise.
brix=15, ph=3.24.  Need the ph and brix to both rise.

Black Spanish above is still good ways off.  Some berries are still green and I think I over loaded the vines taking longer to ripen this year.
brix=13, ph=2.9.  Need to ph and brix to both rise a lot here.

Two formulas to help determine if the grapes are ready:
Brix x ph x ph = (220-260 is the idea range)
Brix/TA( in g/100mL) = 30 – 32

Taste is the real way.  As the ph raises, the Tartaric Acid drops and the grapes will taste sweeter.  Each week I taste lots of grapes learning when to know they are ready to pick.