Heat accumulation is up overall this year, and we are about ten days ahead of ‘normal’ in South Burlington. As harvest approaches, it’s important to keep and eye on three important parameters of juice chemistry: soluble solids (sugar), pH, and titratable acidity. These values should be checked at least weekly against your target levels for the wine style you are aiming for. Last year, we published a fact sheet the details the methods for completing these tests: http://www.uvm.edu/~fruit/pubs/UVMFRT006_PreharvestGrapeTesting.pdf
Good luck with the harvest.
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