Newsletter Articles
Last week, we organized help from throughout the Winery and bottled what may be a one-day record amount of Red, White, & Blue®. It was made possible by a team effort from everyone involved. We also used the large filter we borrowed and that made fast work of filtering. This week, we will filter Red, […]
Category : Action in the Cellar &Newsletter Articles
Our grapes like the warm weather (up to a point) and are back on schedule after a late start this year. They are almost done flowering and most varieties have set fruit. One variety that failed to set much fruit is St. Pepin from which we make Prelude. We’re not sure what happened but we […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
We planted a small number of Itasca and Verona vines last week. Both are new varieties with the Itasca being a white from the University of Minnesota and Verona being a red from Tom Plocher, a private hybridizer in Hugo, Minnesota. This week we are taking delivery of Crimson Pearl and Steuben. We expect to […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
The Cellar bottled Cranberry Wine last week and will try to bottle a double batch of Red, White, & Blue® next week. We normally keep our bottling runs to about 650 cases which takes about five hours. With two hours of cleaning before bottling and two hours after the bottling run, that is about the […]
Category : Action in the Cellar &Newsletter Articles
We are frequently asked how the vines like 95°F heat. Fortunately, on most hot days, the temperature starts out at about 75° and climbs to peak temperatures in the early afternoon. When the temperature surpasses about 85°F, photosynthesis stops until the temperature comes back down. So, the vines just take it easy when it is […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
We’ve borrowed a cross-flow filter that we will use until the replacement parts arrive for our own filter in early July. The borrowed filter is much bigger and faster than our own filter, so we having to make numerous adjustments in how we operate it. This week, we will filter Red, White, & Blue® on […]
Category : Action in the Cellar &Newsletter Articles
The vineyard staff has about 26,000 of 38,000 vines pruned. All pruning now is final pruning. The chances of a hard freeze yet this spring are dropping every day. Nonetheless, we are keeping our eyes open to the possibility of a freeze. We have vines at Newport Lane and Meadowcreek to prune. We will start […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
We will short prune vines at Meadowcreek and Newport Lane. Spraying lime-sulfur on our dormant vines is a stinky (rotten eggs) job that we do annually and are starting this week. And we will be mulching up the Tassel Ridge vineyard. We now have all 38,000 of our vines machine pruned and only short pruning […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
We’ve borrowed a cross flow filter that we hope to have operational within the next week or two. It is double the size of our filter, so we’re having to make some electrical changes to accommodate it. We have ordered a new pump for our own filter. However, we don’t have a definite delivery date […]
Category : Action in the Cellar &Newsletter Articles
The vineyard crew is making good progress cleaning out long canes and dead wood in the Edelweiss and Sabrevois at Tassel Ridge. They hope the weather will allow them to finish this week. They will mechanically prune the rest of the vineyards next. Most people I talk to are ready for warmer weather. But, it […]
Category : From Our Vineyard &Newsletter Articles
