Above - photos from 2018 harvest and some from previous years. 

Welcome to  Spring 2019.    May 8, 2019

Here are some of the things you should be doing now, espcecially if you are in the upper Midwest, where we've had a difficult, very cold winter.

Because of our extreme past temperatures you may have to leave more buds on your vines this spring in order to have the yield you want. Even concord vines were damaged, especially the primary buds, which are the ones that yield your main crop. And if you leave more growing but fruitless canes this year you will have more canopy to deal with also.

Also depending on the amount of damage, you may have shoots nearly a foot long and they may collapse. This happens because of trunk damage and the vines cannot get further nutrients. In his situation, you may have to re-establish your trellis from the point of damage or from the trunk. The more dead buds you have the more likely this is to occur. 

Best of luck to you and your vines!

May 8, 2019

We are now in the final stage of our pruning. We are now cutting back to the required number of buds on each longer cane to the 2 to 5 bud spurs, depending on the grape variety.

We will be looking for nice buds that have not been killed by the very cold winter we have just experienced.  So if we are leaving 5 bud spurs on our concord vines we will be counting all the good buds on a long cane to select 5 good ones. In most years this is simple...you just start with the first one and count to five. This year however it might be something like 1,2,4,5,7 positioned buds in order to have the 5 good ones we want. Nature can throw some curve balls it seems. 

A common way to know what buds are good on a cane to to know that the buds develop and swell from the apical end of the cane, which is the end furthest from the cordon. The buds last to develop are near the base of the cane near the cordon. So if the cane is 30 buds long, buds # 30, 29, 28 and so on will be swollen before buds # 1 and 2, which are closest to the base of the cane.  This winter it may be common to find buds swollen in this order: # 1 and # 2,,,,but #' 3, 4, 5, may not be (but should be if #'s 1 and 2 are,), then maybe # 6 and 7 are, which means they are good. on a concord cane you might leave, #'s 1, 2, 6, 7 and another if you can find a swollen one. 

We will also be watching for the grape flea beetle. It is a very small shiny black insect that likes to chew a very small hole in the middle of the swelling buds. You have to look carefully for it. Look at your buds, if you see small holes in the middle of them, you can then look for these small black insects. They are just visiting you to eat your early grape flowers. When they do, you won't have to bother picking those grapes in September. They won't be there. In some years the insects are not there, in others they are there in hoardes. It ust takes a bit of careful looking. 

Items to sell:   We have alot of extra supplies at the vineyard, including:

Aluminum  picking trays, vineyard wire (and lots of it), in various lengths and sizes, trellis and vine equiment including wire catches, rubber tying bands, various VSP clips, bird netting,  GDC arms..all at very good prices. call us at 608 225 9210

Grape Picking Schedule  for 2018. 2019 may be different dates. We will know much more about the middle of August 2019 (dates can change as ripening proceeds)

2019 GRAPE AND VINEYARD INFORMATION  

LARGE, FRUITFUL CROP OF MOST OF OUR VARIETIES THIS YEAR!

We have been blessed with a bountiful crop of just about all of our varieties. The vines have recovered well from last year's, 2017, hail storm. The lighter crop load in 2017 and the plentiful rain this Spring have resulted in our nicest grapes in a number of years. Pickiing should be very good.....

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. It also has become popular as alow-acid wine grape.   It would still be a good seedless grape for home grape lovers, but it ripens too early for our winemaking customers. We have a very nice crop this year! 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 in 2016, 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 our largest in a number of years. 

Foch  This is the most widely planted red wine grape in the midwest and upper mid-west. It 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. We have a very large, easy to pick  crop of Foch this season. A small amount of Foch in a white wine can give you an attractive, delicious rose wine.

Marquette Our nices looking crop in a couple of years.  Thisis 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 16. Alcohol is typically around 11%   

LaCrescent is our most popular white wine.  This grape provides honey, grapefruit, and tangerine aromas and flavors. One of Mary's favorites. We have a very nice crop this year, our largest ever.. When you pick this grape make sure you pick the golden clusters, ideally on both sides. 

Istaca This is a new white variety. We will have our initial small crop this season. Here is a brief description of it: Here is a brief description of it: Itasca produces a dry, or sweet,  white wine that is light yellow to straw in color and has aromas of pear, quince, violet, melon, minerals, and subtle honey notes. Itasca has exhibited lower acidity and higher sugar levels., Showing a high resistance to downy and powdery mildew and the insect Phylloxera. Itasca is considered a very hardy, disease resistant cultivar expected to reduce spray inputs.

For winemaking the Acid is low, needing no adjustment, the sugar is high, it is disease resistant, and production is good. Have fun with this new variety this year. But supply will be limited!

AROMELLA/Muscat  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 moderatecrop 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 large 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? Why is it an extremely popular grape among the non-experts of wine tasting? It's because people like the flavor. It can be made dry, slightly sweet, moderately sweet, or as sweet as you might like. 

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

DELAWARE  Due to our extremely cold winter of 2018/2019, our crop this Fall of 2019 will be extremely limited. The vines will be in a revoery mode this season. Hopefull the 2020 willl find it back to its ususally fine place in our list of varieties. this is a pink, light red beauty, that is tasteee. Don't wait too long on it this year.  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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