It has been a fairly mild winter and pruning of the vines is complete. The new shoots are almost all attached to the trellis and ready for the vines to "wake up" as I like to say. I will update the pounds available per variety after fruit set.
2017 Harvest
I would like to thank all of the 2017 buyers. This year has been good even though there was drought and intense heat when we were harvesting the grapes. We finally started irrigating some of the adult vines due to berry shriveling, which we have never done before. 2 varieties lost about 80% of their leaves just before harvest, which makes ripening a challenge. They were troopers, made it through and gave a lot of fruit in the end.
Post cards will be mailed in late July 2018, the same as this year. If we do not have your snail mail, you will be contacted via e-mail or phone. The varieties and pounds available will be updated in the spring after fruit set--maybe mid to late May.
Thank you for a wonderful year and I hope your wine, juice and jelly turned out well.
Marquette and La Crescent
We started harvesting Marquette yesterday and will begin harvesting La Crescent tomorrow. These are two early varieties. The nets are doing a good job with bird control. There is minimal damage this year so far.
Aromella
The variety to ripen after Marquette will be Aromella. We tasted them today and the grapes are at least two weeks from ripening. The acids are still quite harsh. Updates will be added as time progresses.
Nets on Marquette
We put the nets on Marquette this weekend for bird control. Somehow the birds know when grapes become purple they taste best. Next weekend we will begin taking brix, pH and TA readings to ensure proper ripeness for picking.
Marquette 2017
We will continue to update the Grape Varieties and Pricing page so you know how many pounds are still available for purchase.
2017 Grape Harvest
The vineyard and grape crop look well this year. We will begin harvesting the first variety, Marquette, mid to late August. This variety is an early budder, early ripener. Other varieties will follow quickly behind Marquette.
We will continue to post in advance other varieties before they ripen.
If you are on our snail mail list, you will be receiving a post card in the next week.