Harvest is everything right now. The week began with the Marquette harvest. This is a nine acre vineyard block so we allowed most of two days. The good news is that it only took one long day. The bad news is that because of the very dry
Read more →Everything is ready! The machines are all clean and lubricated. The crush pad is clean and ready for action. We are just waiting for the grapes to get fully ripe. Actually, last week we did harvest about 700 pounds of Itasca, a white grape that was developed
Read more →Itasca led the harvest schedule this year. In fact, this is our first harvest of Itasca which is growing in our Tassel Ridge Vineyard. We got a small batch totaling about 730 pounds or 0.365 tons. We will make about 50 gallons of wine that we will
Read more →Each year, we bring our scale out and get it ready for weighing-in grapes. First, it has to be calibrated and certified by the State of Iowa and that happened on Wednesday. We also brought our hopper-elevator out from the warehouse and got it set up. We
Read more →We are getting bird kites and streamers installed in the Itasca grape blocks at Tassel in order to scare away the birds because the grapes are starting to get sweet. We removed grow tubes from the newly planted Clarion grapes and sprayed fungicide at Tassel Ridge. We
Read more →This week, we will finish tying up the Petite Pearl at Tassel Ridge and the St. Pepin at Maple Woods Vineyards. We will be checking trellis wires for loose staples and rod clips and we will finish mowing. We expect to sell several tons of grapes to
Read more →We spotted the first purple grapes in our Marquette vineyard. They start out a milky green and then start turning purple as the ripening process shifts from growing the size of the individual grape to reducing the acidity, increasing the sugar level, and developing the flavor in
Read more →When the winds permit, we are getting both fungicide and herbicide sprayed; we are fertilizing the second-year LaCrosse at Maple Woods; we are mowing; and we are finishing the tying of the Foch. We are also working on our 2023 harvest estimate so that we will know
Read more →We are getting our harvester all cleaned up and ready for the Leighton Fireworks on Friday, June 30. It is always a fun time to be able to greet our neighbors at their annual event. We continue tying up our new Itasca and Verona vines. They have
Read more →Young vines all need attention at this time of year. Second year vines should have cordons growing in both directions from the trunk and they need to be tied to the top wire. This is done with a biodegradable jute twine which is excellent from an environmental
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