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Video Transcript: Bedell Vineyards

Written By: ClassicWines.com Team on Thursday, March 20, 2008

Brian Freedman: Welcome to the Classic Wines Minute, brought to you by ClassicWines.com. I am Brian Freedman, and we're here with Louisa Hargrave. We are in the vineyard here at Bedell Cellars. John was just telling us that he is about ready to harvest his chardonnay grapes, and we’re standing here among the chardonnay grapes. I am hoping you can explain to us a little bit, and clarify what John was talking about in terms of what to look for with ripe berries, what differentiates a grape that's ripe from overripe. Take us through that a little bit.

Louisa Hargrave: Okay. The first thing he talked about was looking for a certain sugar content, because it's the sugar that will turn into alcohol, but in making premium wine, it goes way beyond looking for the alcohol. So, what I'd like to show you is the way the grapes actually look when they're at different stages of ripening.

This brownish berry has been on the sunnier side, on the West side, and so you see how it's colored up a lot more. This is from the inside of the canopy so this is less ripe, and of course the fruit is ready to be picked and it's going to be an average of these two.

You take the grape and you squeeze it and you see the juice run out. You see how clear and golden that is. Open it up, take a look at the seed, because this is one of the things he will have done to examine the seeds. Now, the seeds are dark, and that means that they're ready to pick.

These seeds, you can see, are little more green, the top is a little greener. This one is all brown. One of the things you're going to do is press it against your palate to see, is it soft and yielding, and how does it feel? Does it feel like this berry is ready to just give up its life to you, just to come forward with all this beautiful delicious fruit, or is it still kind of withholding something?

Brian Freedman: Another great thing about a region like Long Island, with what you're doing here, keeps everything fresh, and a lot more delicious than what's going on out there.

Well, for the Classic Wines Minutes, brought to you by ClassicWines.com, I am Brian Freedman. This is Louisa Hargrave. Thank you so much for joining us again.

Louisa Hargrave: My pleasure.

Brian Freedman: Till next time. Cheers.

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