From Our Vineyard

Vineyard posts break because they rot off right at the ground level. They are pressure treated and they usually last for at least ten years, but our vineyards are now mature (we started planting in 2002) and the posts still have a finite life. Then, if we

We finished harvest last week. It was the lightest harvest we have had for several years. One reason is that we left a lot of fruit hanging because we didn’t need it for our own production. We sold much of what we harvested. In addition, our vines

We harvested Petite Pearl on Monday. We still have Itasca, Verona, Foch, and Steuben to harvest and should have all except the Steuben harvested by the end of this week. Protecting our ripening grapes from hungry birds is a major challenge. We used to use propane cannons

We have already harvested LaCrosse, Brianna, Edelweiss, La Crescent, Marquette, and Frontenac. We were very disappointed with the quantity and quality of the LaCrosse so we decided to dump those grapes. The Brianna, Edelweiss, and La Crescent were outstanding and we sold what we harvested. The Marquette

We started our harvest last week by handpicking the LaCrosse at Maple Woods Vineyard. A lot of the vines are young but we were still disappointed with both the amount of fruit and the quality. The bees were attacking the fruit with a vengeance so we were

Relatively cool summer weather is causing the grapes to ripen very slowly this year. Brianna is usually our first grape to harvest and it is still very sour. We are thinking now that we may not start harvest until the last week of August at the earliest.

The vineyard crew are cleaning Macrobins into which we will harvest the grapes. They are also cleaning the harvester which has now been fixed and is otherwise ready for harvest. We are having the local Deere dealer work on the tractor that will haul the cart containing

We are regularly asked how our grapevines are dealing with the very hot weather we’ve had recently. The short answer is “quite well.” Actually, most plants will handle air temperatures up to about 95°F but above 95°F, they begin to shut down and stop photosynthesis. In some

The vineyard team will start making harvest estimates for 2024. Because Tassel Ridge won’t need as many grapes this year, we will be trying to sell them to other wineries. The harvest estimate is a lot of work because it involves counting grapes in a few sample

This week, the vineyard crew pruned all 61 rows of Steuben vines and then shifted to tucking the Marquette. All of these vines are at Meadowcreek Vineyard. So, what is tucking? Most of our Marquette is trellised on a Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) trellis. That means that