AxisOfBeagles wrote:

I'm in Northern California - Sierra Foothills.

I agree about Cox' book - it is excellent, and I
also recommend it. I'm not trying to say it is
flawed - just that there are a lot of variables
that go into how much wine one can get from any
number of vines . Like I said, there is so much
variation depending on variety, spacing,
pruning, and location. In my vineyard, the
Cabernet are very small berries and relatively
small clusters. Maybe 7 pounds of fruit per
vine, and maybe 6.5 gallons of finished wine per
100 pounds of fruit. The Syrah on the other hand
are larger berries and more productive ... about
10 pounds per vine, and easily 7.5 gallons per
100 pounds of fruit.

And while I get less wine per pound in general
from white grapes, because of the difference in
efficiency of pressing fermented versus
non-fermented fruit, my Marsanne are the most
productive grapevines. Medium large berries, and
bloody huge, dense clusters. Some of the vines
are probably producing 12 to 15 pounds per vine.



On 2008-02-01 13:15:41 -0800, "Paul E. Lehmann"
said:


Axis, where do you live? The reason I ask is
because where I live (in the Northern Virginia
- Central Maryland area) I have always averaged
8 gallons of wine per 100 pounds of fruit and
this is from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and
Cabernet Franc (12.5 pounds to make a gallon of
wine). The Cabernet Sauvignon is just slightly
less than this but not much (because of smaller
berries and thicker skin).

I also worked at a commercial winery in
Northern Virginia for a couple years after I
retired and the ratio of 8 gallons per 100
pounds held true there also - of course we
dealt with tons of fruit but the ratio was
still the same.

If you are basing your numbers on a hotter
climate region, then I can understand your
results being lower because of less juice -
higher sugar ratios and perhaps slightly
raisoned fruit.

Even though Cox's book is not the "bible" on
viticulture or winemaking, it is a book I
highly recommend because it explains the basics
in terms all can understand and I have not
found any serious flaws.



I would gladly trade some of my yield for some of
your quality of fruit you grow out there