This year's fruit is beautiful and tasty: fully-ripened, deep blue-black berries, without sun-burn or rot, with little to no shriveling, and with intense fruit flavors.
Although sugar levels rose high, fast, and early during this season's ripening period; they slowed down considerably a week or so before harvest, ending in the 24-25 degrees of Brix range. Acid levels seemed to drop slower than usual this year, ending at the same or lower levels than normal. A significant, and unusual variation this year is the extremely low level of malic acid.
Flavors, which normally come on late in the ripening process, did so as usual this year. And, at least in the case of early ripening vineyards like ours, the lack of rain and birds this year allowed for additional hang-time to take advantage of the unusually favorable conditions for flavor development.
