I picked up my Malbec grapes today from mdcrush in
Mt. Airy Maryland - about 30 miles from where I
live. They were in a refrigerated cooler he had
on location.
I bought 5 lugs at 22 pounds (10 Kilos each) each
for a total of 110 pounds or 50 kilos.
The price was $142.50
The grapes were of good quality and no mold or
rot.
The price is a little high - but local growers are
charging almost the same thing here in Central
Maryland and Northern Virginia - and you don't
get a reusable lug.
The lugs are plastic and are reusable and
stackable. I am going to use them when I harvest
from my backyard vineyard this fall.
They had a stemmer crusher on location for use for
free but I have one at home so I brought them
home.
Here are the chemistries that I measured at home
after crush.
Brix 23.0
pH 3.5
TA 0.063
I think this will make an excellent wine.
The distributor may have made a mistake but I
thought I heard him say the brix was 26. I like
23 a LOT better than 26 Brix. If I wanted 26 or
higher, I could get Central Valley California
grapes and for less money.
I have found that some growers and distributors
error on the high side when it comes to talking
about the amount of *** they get and the Brix of
their grapes :)
There are other locations located around the US
that sell South American grapes. There was a
list in I believe it was last month's "Wine
Maker" Magazine - it may have been two issues
ago.
