Herbie the Hawk became the newest member of our team last week. He and his brother float above the Maple Woods Vineyard and our hope is that they scare off little birds. Of course, they are just elegant kites that are tethered along the west edge of
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All of the grapes in our four vineyards are in veraison now. That means that they are changing color from a milky green to a translucent yellow-green or to purple. More important, the amount of malic acid in the grape is dropping and the sugar is increasing.
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Although the start of harvest is 2–4 weeks in the future, we are already thinking about steps we must take to be ready. We are doing preventative maintenance on machinery and equipment right now. We planted about 1,500 new vines this year and now is the time
Read more →So, what is veraison? Veraison is when grapes start to change color. Purple grapes change from a milky green to purple and green grapes change from a milky green to yellowing, almost translucent green. This is like the sprint to the finish line (harvest). Acid levels (especially
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This is the time of year that we engage in purely routine regular tasks like mowing, removing suckers, spraying fungicide, and tying vines to the trellis. When we tie new vines, we are also tying them to the pencil rod so their trunks grow straight up. This
Read more →Our vineyard team will be tying up new Brianna and St. Pepin vines at Maple Woods and the high wires at Newport Lane and Meadowcreek. They will be tying up several varieties at Tassel Ridge. Removal of suckers is essential to keep vines focused on producing grapes
Read more →We will be mowing and spraying as needed and we will install pencil rods and grow tubes on our new vines that are already planted as soon as the pencil rods arrive. We are getting our La Crescent blocks cleaned up. We had quite a bit of
Read more →Our vineyard team planted all of the new Verona and Itasca vines last week and we got most of our vineyards sprayed with fungicide. We’ll try to finish spraying fungicide this week if the weather cooperates. This week, we will plant about 1,000 Steuben vines which we
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Planting has begun at Tassel Ridge Winery! Watch the video here to see exactly how it is done! From drilling the holes to planting the vines…watch this short video to see how grape vines get their start.
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We got started planting about 850 new Verona and 850 new Itasca vines this week. Verona will make a red wine with very prominent raspberry notes. This new (to us) variety was developed by Tom Plocher in East-Central Minnesota. Itasca will produce a white wine which we
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