We are cancelling the Pruning classes for Saturday Aapril 14 and Sunday April 15 The weather forecast appears to be unsafe for driving. We may reschedule the events or we may not. Spring moves on and we must con tinue our regular pruning.

 

We have rescheduled both these classes for Next Saturday, April 21, same time as previous Saturday 11:am - 12:30 am, at our vineyard. We hope to have better weather. It jwill be difficult to have worse. No Sunday class next week. 

 

 

 

PRUNING CLASSES 2018 

 

Learn how to prune your grapevines so they produce a good crop of ripe grapes, perfect for wine, eating, or juice.  Bring your questions so you can get answers to your most pressing problems.

 

Where:          Mitchell Vineyard                     When: Saturday April 14 2018

                      4252 Sunnyridge Rd 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM    Rain, sun or SNOW! 

                      Oregon, WI                                 Fee: $25      each individual 

 

                                                                                   

                                                     AND

 

Where:          Mitchell Vineyard                   When: Sunday, April 15 2018

                      4252 Sunnyridge Rd 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM    Rain, sun or SNOW!

                      Oregon, WI                               Fee: $25      each individual

 

                                                $40 for both classes

 
 
The class will focus on the pruning of vines, including new vines, 1, 2 year and older vines. We will discuss different pruning techniques emphasizing balanced pruning, trellis systems for different vines, and later season cultural practices.
 
Because of our early spring, again, it will be especially important to double-prune this season. This technique leaves extra buds on your vines in case a late spring frost decides to do some pruning itself. With some luck the weather will cool down to retard bud emergence.
 
Note - Our winter hasn't been too bad for grapevines. We haven't had extreme cold in southern Wisconsin and we didn't have extreme warmth in February this year. Still, as in any year,fruit growers in the Midwest are worried about frost on developing fruit buds.  It is possible to do several things about this. Double pruning may help. Also applying Amigo, a vegetable oil, as a 10% solution in  water may retard bud development in grapes a matter of days. It must be applied early in the year when the buds are still tight, and not swollen at all. There is info on the web about Amigo. Also, a few vines may be covered with plastic the night of the frost, as is commonly done with early planted tomato plants.  Good luck with your grapevines this season.
 
We will discuss when to prune, double pruning, determining the number of buds and canes to leave, what to look for and what to avoid, and the varieties you might want to plant.  We will also discuss basic problems you will encounter and what to do about them. 
 
We will look at Concord, Foch, Millot, LaCrescent, Marquette and Petite Pearl vines, as wella s any others you may want to see. 
 
To register for the class you can call Dave at 608-225-9210, or leave a message. The 2 classes can be quite different depending on the varieties we work with, and the course of the questions encountered. If undecided you can take the 1st class and decide then whether to take the second.
  
Attendees will do hands-on pruning, with a walk around the vineyard to see how different vines need different pruning techniques. Bring your own pruning shears if you have them.

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   Dave is going to get some of these great Foch to make

             

What's happening in the vineyard now - October 9 2017

 

We are now closed for the 2017 season. 

We would like to thank all of our customers for enjoying this somewhat difficult season with us. 

 

We wish we hhad a larger crop of grapes this season, but mother nature seemed to want it her way this year. 

Unfortunately we had hail damage in mid-June and some varieties were more damaged than others. The storm came from the west so one side of the vines was more damaged than another. Some varieties have recovered more than others. Also, birds have arrived and they are a bit more advanced than just curious. 

 

We welcome you to our vineyard in 2018 to enjoy the fruits and pleasures of the sun, summer, and the beautiful outdoors. As usual we will have a knowledgeable, friendly, experienced, and helpful staff. George, Terry, Marlin,Susana, Mary, and others wil be happy to assist you as you pick your grapes and make it all as easy as drinking a glass of wine.

Dave

 

Our 2018 Hours will be Tuesdays 1-5:30, Saturday 11-4, and Sunday 12-4. Please allow time for crushing and pressing your grapes. 

 

For more infornation about how to pick our grapes please visit the "Pick your Own Grapes info" sidebar

 

 

Grape Prices 2017   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variety

 

0-30 lb

31-100 lb

100+ lb

300+ lb

1000 lb
             

Concord

Purple, wine, eat

  1.50

 1.20

   1.15

   .90

  .85

Foch

Red, wine

    .99

   .97

   .95

   .90

  .85

Marquette

Red, wine

    1.00

   .97

   .95

   .90

  n/a

St Croix

Red, wine

    .98

   .95

   .93

   .90

  n/a

Frontenac

Red, wine

    .98

   .95

   .92

   .90

  n/a
Petite Pearl Red, wine   1.00    .95    n/a    n/a   n/a

Delaware

Pink, wine, eat

  1.40

  1.00

   .95

   .92

  .85

LaCrescent

White, wine

    .98

   .92

   .89

   .86

  n/a

Prairie Star

White, wine

  1.25

   .94

   .89

   n/a

  n/a

St Pepin

White, wine

  1.05

  1.00

   .95

   n/a

  n/a

Aromella

White, dessert

  1.30

 1.20

   n/a

   n/a

  n/a

Somerset

Red, seedless

  1.50

 1.25

   1.00

   .90

  n/a

                  

Grape Picking Schedule (dates can change as ripening proceeds)

Grape

Wine

Start Date   

Sugar/

Brix/Date 

 TA   

pH   Date

  Crop size

Concord 

Purple, eating,` juice, 

 

 

 

 

 

Foch

red wine

 

 

 

 

 

Frontenac

red wine, port

 

  

 

  

 

Marquette 

red wine

 

 

 

 

 

St Croix 

red wine

 

 

 

 

 

LaCrescent

white wine, aromatic

 

 

 

 

 

Prairie Star    

white wine, full-bodied 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

St Pepin

white wine 

 

 

 

 

 

Delaware (pink)

wine, champagne, eat

 

 

 

 

 

Muscat (aromela) 

white Muscat wine, floral

 

 

 

  

 

Somerset seedless

red and ripe, seedless

 

 

 

 

 

Petite Pearl

red and intense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017 GRAPE AND VINEYARD INFORMATION  

 

SEEDLESS GRAPES

SOMERSET  Delicious! Eat well! Eat again! This makes a delicious rose wine. We have begun eating this variety as we work in the vineyard. It is good even while still golden and as it turns pink it becomes hard to stay away from. It is very early ripening and will be ready to eat as early as mid-August. Somerset is sweet, low in acidity, and gorgeous. We may or may not retain this grape for 2018.  It would still be a good seedless grape for home grape lovers, but it ripens too early for our winemaking customers. We have a samll crop this year and may retain a small portion of our row next season. We have decided to plant it into Marquette, a popular and more timely grape for our winemaking customers

 

REDS

Frontenac  Exciting news! Leigh's Garden Winery in Escanaba, www.leighsgarden.com  Michigan won a Double Gold for his Frontenac wine made from our Frontenac grapes on August 18th last year, at the Cold Climate Wine Competition in Minneapolis. This grape is popular for making port wines and makes a good dry red wine if the higher acidity level is dealt before or during fermentation. We have winemaking directions at the vineyard. The crop looks nice this year and is a bit larger than the past two seasons. 

 

Foch  can be made into a variety of styles. Try it as a medium rose wine, chilled. Delicious! Make a light red wine, easy to quaff or ferment on the skins longer for more tannins and aging potential. Foch has cherry notes and is one of the most widely grown varieties in the midwest. We had a nice crop of Foch this season.

 

Marquette Just had a brix reading of 21 on 8/23/17. Can this be true?. We do another very soon. is one of our more popular red grapes. It has more tannins than other reds and has a high sugar and alcohol content.  However it bowed to hail and pollination this season. Our crop is small. 

 

St Croix Full crop and juicy, juicy, flavorful and soft. This makes a very soft, early maturing, easy to drink red wine with low acidity. A good blending grape.  If you prefer mellowness in your wine this is a good choice. It is ready to drink sooner than most other reds.  We have a very nice and large crop this year.  St Croix makes a medium to full-bodied, dry, deep red wine with soft tannins and good fruit aromas, along with currant and other dried fruit flavor qualities. It is often picked at 17 - 19- % sugar for best flavor. Don't wait too long to pick this variety. It will likely be gone after September 12. Alcohol is typically around 11%   

 

Petite Pearl is a new variety first planted in 2014.  We will have a small crop in 2017. Sorry beforehand. This will be sought after and most likely will be picked out almost immediately. Might be best for just getting a taste of it for the following year. It's a matter of grapevine development. In the 3rd year a vine may be allowed to have a small crop or just be allowed to grow for size and root development. Petite Pearl has also suffered from our mid-June hail storm. So the crop is not large.
 
WHITES
 Please remember that pressing white grapes can take a while. Please help us by having your whites ready for pressing at least 1.5 hours before closing time. Reds are usually fermented on skins before pressing. This makes a fuller bodied and flavored wine than just fermenting on the juice, as is done with white wine.

 

LaCrescent is becoming the most popular white wine in the upper Midwest. This grape provides honey, grapefruit, and tangerine aromas and flavors. One of Mary's favorites. Hit with hail in Mid-June this year, so the crop is much smaller than last year. Too bad, for us and our customers.   When you pick this grape make sure you pick the golden clusters, ideally on both sides. 

 

Prairie Star This grape is a very good eating grape besides making a fuller bodied white with very mild and sensuous notes. It brightens with subtle flowing flavors. Blends very well with LaCrescent. This variety performed true to character and did not pollinate well this spring. so the crop is very limited. If you want it you should get here early on the day we begin picking it. 2018 may be our last crop of this variety. It is a nice wine grape but it varies widely in pollination and may produce a small crop most any year. We are planting those rows to Istaca, a new white grape with a low acidity level. 

 

St Pepin  This makes either a dry wine (one of my favorites) or a slightly sweet wine. It is having a nice crop for this light bearing grape. Makes a very fruity white wine. The grape has low acidity and moderate sugar content. Because it is thick skinned it is popularly used to make an "ice" wine. The crop looks good, but we have just 1 row, and the demand was high this year.
 

AROMELLA  Wines produced from Arandell are described as densely colored, have light to moderate tannins and exhibit notes of dark berry fruit (blueberry, dark cherry), tobacco and hints of black pepper or cedar on the finish. We have a small crop this season. It ripens near end of September and is in high demand.

 

CONCORD  What can you say? Big, purple, bursting with flavor, good for eating, juice, and wine. We have an abundant crop with large clusters this year. Everyone who has tasted this grape when young knows it will always be around. It is the ultimate in a very flavorful, very fruity, great tasting grape, How can you resist it? It  is probably also the most widely tasted grape or juice in most of the US east of the Rockies. This could be a good year to get large amounts of this grape. 

Did I mention sweet wine or fresh juice - again the Concord rules.  We expect to harvest it mid September to late September.

 

DELAWARE  this is a pink, light red beauty, that is tasteee. Don't wait too long on it this year. This year we have a good crop. Among our fellow employees this probably takes top spot as favorite eating grape, seedless or wine variety. It is not well known outside the Eastern US, but once you taste it you won't forget it. It is popular as a pink and spicy, sparkling wine. The Delaware grape is also a table grape variety sold in supermarkets throughout Japan, where labrusca grape varieties are popular for their fragrance.  We had an abundant crop this year and it is turning red on schedule and is beautiful.  It has gone quickly.

 

 

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If you would like to sign up for our newsletter, please fill out the info below.  We do not give away any information from our newsletter.  We will have mailings about 4 or 5 times a year announcing pruning and winemaking classes and our upcoming harvest. We also occasionally have some good used winemaking equipment available.

Sep 2010 Mitchell Vineyard