The Grapes have been maturing in the Bernhardt vineyards and are ready for harvest. Jerry Bernhardt has been tending his grape vineyards from last February when the vineyards were pruned. The vines budded out early this year due to a mild winter and have evolved in textbook manner. Due to the proximity to the Gulf Coast with its high humidity, warm nights, and the prevalence of Pierce’s Disease, Jerry planted his vineyards using Blanc du Bois grapes. This hybrid grape varietal tolerates the high humidity and warm night temperatures. Furthermore, it seems to be resistant to Pierce’s Disease, which is equivalent to a bug-transmitted disease which injects a bacterium while it taps into the xylem (aka grape vine blood vessel)) for the sweet sap of the vine. The classic grape vines do not resist this build-up of bacterium which will clog their xylem and hence kill the vines. Those classic grape vines (vitis vinifera) thrive in climates with cool nights and hot days. Our area has the hot days but our nights are much warmer than the 55-62 degree nights those classic grapes thrive in. Jerry Bernhardt made the right decision back in 2003 when he and his wife planted those grape vines. Since our weather is so humid, molds and fungal diseases abound in our area. Jerry or one of his workers dons gear looking like a spacesuit to pro-actively treat those molds and fungus with organic Sulphur compounds every two weeks or so during the growing season.
The time has come to harvest those luscious Blanc du Bois grapes. Jerry Bernhardt invites you to come to his vineyards on Saturday, July 11th to pick grapes starting at 7:30 on Saturday morn. The weather should be perfect on Saturday in the morning. Please come in your sneakers (sandals are forbidden) along with appropriate clothing, bug spray, and insect spray along with a set of pruning shears to harvest the grapes. Masks should also be worn. However, when in the vineyards, mask can be removed since the spacing is more than six feet. Jerry anticipates completing the grape harvest by noon.
Jerry’s grapes and grapes from a vineyard near Anderson will be de-stemmed and crushed in a mechanical machine with the liquid mass of juice, pulp, skins, and seeds routed via a pipe into a grape press. The free-flow juice and the juice resulting from the pulp and skins being pressed will be pumped into tanks with Jerry’s grapes going to one tank and the Anderson Vineyards grape juice going into another tank. The public is invited to watch with social distancing this grape CRUSH with masks donned and other safety measures in place to ensure a healthy viewing. The resulting grape juice is a light brown juice with about 20+% sugars. That is twice the natural sugar than the store-bought Thompson Seedless Grapes. This light brown color is due to the solids in the juice. If the juice were not pressed from the skins, the skins would add a darker color from natural chemicals in the skins leaching into the juice. The grape juice with be stabilized with Potassium Meta-bi-sulfites to kill rogue yeasts and bacteria. This low dosage will vaporize off leaving the juice available for inoculation with a special yeast that Jerry Bernhardt will use to inoculate his “wine-to-be.” This inoculation will take place on Sunday morning. His special yeast enhances the wonderful flavors in the natural grape juice to produce his award-winning Blanc du Bois. No flavorings are ever added in his winemaking processes. What you taste in his wines is what the grapes provided. That is why Jerry always starts with outstanding grapes for his wines.
Come enjoy the fun this Saturday with social distancing and proper safety.