2023 Chilean Winemaking Harvest Update
2023 Chilean Winemaking Harvest Update
{above photo from our trip to chile a few years ago}
Hello, Winemakers! It’s time to get ready and prepped for the Chilean grape and juice arrival. The Chilean Winemaking Season starts in early April and ends in May. Our growers have planned to start harvesting white wine grapes around March 15th and red grapes around March 23rd. Once on the boat, we will have a better update on delivery timing.
Musto’s 2023 Chilean Offerings:
Chile Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Malbec, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier
Chilean Juice: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Malbec, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Muscat.
Chilean Viticulture:
Chile is the same latitude as northern California! Chileans can grow many different types of grapes here, just like in California. The cooling influences they receive from the Pacific Ocean, the Andes Mountains, and the warm and plentiful sunshine attributes to their wine-growing success. Their warm Mediterranean climate helps the grapes to ripen. The Humboldt current, flows up from Antarctica, along the Chilean coast, pushing the cool air inland by the wind patterns. This cooling effect helps cool off the grapes while they mature. Colchagua and Curico Valley both benefit from this ocean influence, which allows these regions to produce grapes from fertile soil for wines that are gaining premium reputations.
The Curico and Colchagua Valleys have some of the best soils in Chile, composed of mostly sand, clay, decomposed granite, and volcanic-alluvial. These regions only receive around 23.3 inches of rainfall per year and little to no rainfall during their summer months. The grapes are safe as harvest approaches, and the weather ensures that the grapes are fighting for water and creating a more intense fruit.
What are Brix?
The harvest is based on sugar levels in the grapes. This information comes from a simple measurement called degrees brix (also known as specific gravity). It’s important because it tells us how much water is present in our must (the mixture of crushed grapes and yeast starter). The lower this number is, the more concentrated or “dry” your wine will be when finished fermenting. The ideal Brix levels for red wines is 23-25 Brix, and for white wines 21-24 Brix.
How are the grapes harvested?
The grapes are handpicked. The pickers walk through rows of vines looking for clusters of ripe fruit to cut off with long-handled knives called “cortadores.” They then gently place these into plastic tubs where they’re carried back to trailers parked nearby–a process that takes place over several days (usually during the morning). Once all of this has been completed successfully, we begin our shipping process!
How do you know when to harvest the grapes?
The wine grape harvest is based on sugar levels in the grapes: if they’re too low you can’t make good wine; too high and it will taste too sweet and you’ll most likely have a stuck fermentation. Each month/week/and as harvest nears, day – the grapes are sampled in the field to see if they have reached their optimum levels yet.
Shipping from Chile to MWG…
Once the grapes arrive at port they are sent to Musto Wine Grape Co. and we unload them into our coolers. Everything is shipped in a refrigerated container and never breaks the cold chain. This ensures that the high quality of the fresh Chilean products are intact. After they arrive it is time for you to pick up your grapes and/or juices and get winemaking!
2023 Chilean Harvest Update:
The Chilean crop looks excellent this season. We are hoping to see the Chilean grapes and juices arrive at around 23-25 Brix, very sweet and juicy. Arrival dates look to be somewhere at the end of April / early May depending on the type of winemaking grape/juice. Give us a call (877-812-1137) or email us at sales@juicegrape.com with any arrival questions.
Fun Fact About Chile: Chile produces more than 1 million tons of grapes every year!
Chilean wine making is a time-honored tradition, and the results are worth it! This will be 18+ years of Musto Wine Grape working with our Chilean vineyards and every year the wines created get better and better. We hope you enjoyed learning about the Chilean wine-making season. It’s an interesting process that requires a lot of work, but in the end, it pays off with delicious wines!
For more information on making wine from Chile check out these blogs posts:
- 7 Tips for How to Prep for the Chilean Wine Harvest
- Bud Break in Chile
- How to Make Chilean Cabernet
- Crushing Chilean Malbec Grapes
- Making Chilean Carmenere
- Wine Spotlight: Chilean Carmenere
- How to Make Wine from Chilean Juice
- How Much Wine Will A Case of Grapes from Chile or South Africa Make?
- Details from Our Trip to Chile
- Notes on Making Sauvignon Blanc from Chile
- Video About Curico Valley
- Winemaker Interview with Manuela Astaburuaga from Our Chilean Vineyards
- Our Wine Grapes of Chile Video
Can I make my own? Musto Wine Grape Company is here to help you make the wine of your dreams! The Spring South African & Chilean winemaking season starts soon! Secure your winemaking grapes or juices and give us a call at (877) 812-1137 to speak with one of our Musto Crush Crew members. We can get you set up with everything you need and provide customer support along the way to ensure your success!
2019 Wine Grape & Juice Harvest Report
Harvest should begin in Central Valley around August 28th with grapes and juices arriving after Labor Day. This year’s crop has had moderate temperatures all summer and our grapes look fantastic. The crop is looking to be of normal size with normal ripening and tentative harvest dates.
2019 Wine Grape Update:
Suisun Valley: The Lanza-Musto Vineyards Petite Sirah is thriving! Developing into a colossal, intense grape, our Petite Sirah is looking to be one of the top grapes of 2019. The Suisun Valley grapes should start harvesting around the 3rd week in September. Did you know that Lanza-Musto Vineyards has been certified by the California Sustainable Wine Growing for our vineyard practices? This is a certification that happens every year where we must uphold the standards of sustainable wine grape growing.
Lodi: We have a new Ranch coming on board with us this year from The Mettler Family. Mettler Family wines is home to brother and sister – Adam Mettler and Kelly Costamagna. Adam was recently named winemaker of the year and Kelly runs the wine distribution end of the business. Some of you might have met Kelly at our Winemaker Dinner last winter. We will have a lot of interesting wine grape varieties coming out of the Mettler vineyards such as Viognier and Pinotage. We will also have some wonderful Old Vine Zinfandel from Zinderella, see the vineyard by clicking HERE and other high quality grapes from the Costamagna Vineyards. The Mettler Family, Zinderella, and Costamagna Vineyards have all been certified by the LODI RULES Sustainability program! You’ll be able to tell by the special seal on the label. We have put together a blog post that explains how the LODI RULES Sustainability certification works. Click HERE for more information.
Central Valley: These will be some of the first grapes on the dock! The Central Valley grapes are hitting 19 and 20 Brix! It will only be a matter of time before they arrive. One of our Ancient Vine grape growers walks us through the vineyard during verasion. Click HERE to see how the wine grapes are developing. We will have Ancient Vine Alicante, Carigane, Grenache, Barbera, and Muscat available this fall. Also, Frank Musto’s Black Muscat will be rolling this season. Ask Christina about how to make Black Muscat wine, she made a batch this past fall! Also, the King’s River, Tempranillo is looking delicious. We had a lot of great feedback on this variety. If you’re looking for something new to try, check it out.
Washington State: We will have three vineyards providing fruit for us from Washington State this year! Our Rattlesnake Hills Vineyard, and our newest Wahluke Slope and Red Mountain Vineyards. We are very excited to bring these new vineyards to you. Check out our Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon and see what these new vineyards have to offer!
New offerings for 2019: Russian River Pinot Noir (will probably be the only season we will be able to receive this awesome fruit!), Sonoma Attwood Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Contra Costa Italian grape varieties, Paso Robles grapes, and additional Ancient Vine offerings.
Give us a call or shoot us an email to discuss your 2019 wine! 877-812-1137 – sales@juicegrape.com
2019 Wine Juice Offerings:
California: We have many labels of high quality juices coming in from California this fall. Cry Baby, Bella California, Lodi Gold, California Select, and Colina del Sol, just to name a few. The fresh juices are stored at 35 degrees and arrive as if the juice just came out of your wine press. You can either hit the juice with SO2 and inoculate with your chosen yeast, or you can let the juice warm up and ferment using the native yeast found in the skin of the crushed/pressed grape.
Fresco Juices: Mosti Mondiale Fresco is proud to be the only product to offer home winemakers their own vineyard in one unique package. Each pail is carefully pre-balanced, inoculated with the perfect yeast, and infused with liquid enzymes to help create a delicious and palate pleasing wine. The Fresco juices come from California, Austrailia, and Italy.
Italian Juices: Our Italian juices will arrive in late October. The Italian juices are always full of flavor and provide palate pleasing, age worthy wines.
Give us a call or shoot us an email to discuss your 2019 wine! 877-812-1137 – sales@juicegrape.com
We know that was A LOT of information. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your potential order, please do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to helping you with this year’s vintage!
Sincerely,
The Musto Crush Crew
877-812-1137 – sales@juicegrape.com
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