From Our Vineyard

We harvested Frontenac today and now only have Steuben to harvest. The Steuben isn’t ready yet and we just have to wait for sugar and acid levels to reach our targets. In the meantime, we will start some post-harvest maintenance tasks like cleaning up the vineyard sheds,

We are totally engaged in harvesting grapes. The Brianna was ready first, followed by Edelweiss, and then St. Pepin. These were all grapes for making white wines. Last week, we harvested our first red grape of the season, Sabrevois. This was followed by LaCrosse, another white, and

The vineyard crew collected grape samples and then tested the juice in the lab for titratable acidity, pH (strength of acid), and sugar. Generally, acids drop and sugar increases as we approach the time to harvest. We’d like to see acid below 10 grams per liter and

Last week, we harvested Brianna from Newport Lane and Tassel Ridge. The hot weather helped to bring sugar up and acids down. Most important, the flavors were outstanding. The grapes from Newport Lane were hand harvested and those from Tassel Ridge were machine harvested. Lower temperatures (relatively

Harvest began on Tuesday, August 4 with about one ton of Brianna being picked by hand from Newport Lane Vineyard. The hot weather drove sugars up dramatically in the grapes in that one vineyard. Sugar in the other vineyards where Brianna is planted remained below our target

The vineyard staff has been watching the well-established vines to make sure they are getting enough moisture. For the most part, they have well-established root systems so that irrigation is not necessary immediately. Younger vines that are 3–5 years old may not yet have fully established root

Veraison is that much-anticipated event each year when the red grapes start to change from milky green to red/purple and the white grapes change from a milky green to a translucent amber. All grapes become softer to the touch. The acid in the grapes starts to decline

Our new leaf thinner handles both sides of a 500 foot row in about 3 minutes. The theory (which is as yet unproven) is that sunlight on the grapes will reduce the acid, develop the phenolics, and improve the flavor of the juice.

This is the time of the season that we produce our first harvest estimates. We need these estimates to plan “crush” and to make sure we have enough tank space, enough of the right types of yeast, etc. This is a multi-step process, but the following provides

Flowering on the vines is about done and now on some varieties, we have actual grapes that are getting bigger by the day. So far, while we haven’t received much rain, we’ve also dodged the bullet with damaging hail. It is looking to be a good season.