Concord Harvest

We are in the middle of harvesting our Concord grapes - and ever so thankful for the large walk-in cooler that allows us to store the grapes before crushing them.

Chardonel Grapes are Ripening

Planting more Grapevines

The last few weekends were spent planting more grapevines. We had prepared the ground already, but still  had to mark the rows, as well as each spot for the vines.  Then we dug out a deep enough hole for each rootcluster.    The first weekend, we planted 200 additional  Traminette vines at  Anja & Duff's ground, and last  weekend, we planted 150 Chambourcin vines (grafted, on rootstock 3309) at the Long Shot Farm.  Everyone helped and it did not take us that long at all!

Toben (7) helps to make holes for the vines

We must have made some math error because when we were all done, we still had space for another 50 or so vines.  Luckily, Double A Vineyard had sufficient grapes left over, and shipped them out  right away- so those stragglers got planted today.

After we had planted all the vines, we used our plastic layer, and covered them - then we had to go through and poke holes for each new vine to stick out.  We are hoping that this will help in case we run into another drought like last year.

Duff checks out his newly planted Traminettes

Grape Harvest Sequence

Yesterday we picked the last of our grape variety, the Vidal Blanc.  We should have harvested them 4 days earlier, because the birds got the majority of the grapes in just the last few days :(

Here is this year's chronological grape harvest:

1. Concord 
2. Chardonnel, at 21° Brix and a pH of 3.06
3. Corot Noir
4. Chambourcin harvest part 1, for making Rosè, at 19.9° brix and a pH of 3.31
5. Chambourcin harvest part 2, for red wine, 22° Brix, and pH of 3.47
6. Vidal Blanc, 20.6° Brix and pH of 3.33

1st Corot-Noir Harvest

Our first Corot Noit harvst turned out to be rather sparse.  Not only was it the first year that the vines were producing, but we had pruned a lot of clusters off to ensure the vines stayed healthy through the dry summer conditions.  But on top of all that, we had major bird damage - the story of our 2016 harvest season.

For these grapevines, we had used black netting, since it is a lot more aesthetic to look at - sadly, the black netting was completely useless.

We picked just enough grapes to end up with 2.5 gallons of must (we had been hoping for ten times that much).  Since we had so few grapes, we destemmed them manually, and then crushed them by hand.

We let fermentation run its course, punched down the cap every day, and ended up with 1.5 gallons of wine.  We'll see how it turns out in about a year.  For 2017 we are hoping for a full barrel!

Ripening Grape Clusters

Chambourcin

Corot Noir

Vidal Blanc

Concord

Chardonel

Skidril

We got a gas powered, handheld fence post driver.  Ours is made by a company called Skidril  (which is how we refer to this tool by now).  Probably one of the best tools ever for putting in metal trellis posts.  It works so much faster than drilling holes with a tractor attachment, and then pounding in the  wooden posts with another tractor attachment.  And - with the handheld tool, we can easily replace or add posts when the grapevines or blackberry bushes are already established.

Of course it does take some stamina, and balance and in our case a crew of three people.  We marked the field where the posts had to be placed before we got started, and build a platform for the truck for one person to stand on to use the post driver. The second person held the post in place with a level to keep it straight, and the third person drove the truck.  They managed to set about 80 posts in an hour!

And, the Skidril has a jackhammer attachment, which will come in really handy once we put in expanded drainage troughs in the barn...

Wooden Trellis Innovation

To date, most of our vineyard is trellised with wooden posts - which has a major disadvantage when compared to metal posts:  metal posts have "build-in" brackets that make it very easy to move the catch wires to a higher level as the grape vines grow and get longer.

Jeff decided to make his own system to allow us to move the catch wires:  he cut metal strapping (the lighter weight, about 28 gauge) into short section, containing 3 holes.  He then bent this short section into a U shape.  He made a lot of them - coffee cans full of them.

To each U shape, he inserted a weather proof drywall screw and we screwed them onto the fence posts, about 6" above the fruiting wire for the first one, and the second one about 12" higher.  Two on each side of every post.   We used long, galvanized nails to closed the "bracket", to hold the catch wire in place.

It worked like a charm -  we already moved the catch wires to the second level on nearly every variety.

Making Space for Niagara Grapes

A few weeks ago we "erased" the small, upper blackberry patch which we had started next to the vegetable garden a few years ago.  We never paid too much attention to this patch, and therefore it never produced many berries.  Within one afternoon, all traces of the trellis and the brambles were gone.  The old rows were plowed and disked, and orange marker paint clearly showed where the new plantings were to go.


The reason for all this destruction was a new order of Niagara grapes, an American white variety of the  Vitis labrusca species.  Similar to Concord grapes, with a typical "grapey, musky" flavor profile.  We ordered 150 plants to give these grapes a try.  We planted them the same way as the Traminettes last weekend, with cardboard and mulch, to keep the weeds at bay.  They have been growing rather vigorously and within a month, healthy, happy grape plants are visible.

Berry Patches Revived

Despite the unseasonable cold weather (and snow), we managed to get a lot of work done on the farm this weekend.  The most important task was to plant the remaining 100  Niagara grapes - so that plot now has 150 grapes in about .5 acres.

We planted 14 new blueberry bushes, slightly enlarging the patch near the barn, and replacing some of the previously planted bushes.  We also applied aluminum sulfate to the blueberry patch, to keep soil acidity low in order for the bushes to thrive.

Our strawberries started shooting leaves over a week ago and the colder weather has not slowed them down.  We cleaned up the patch and then covered it with straw, letting only the new leaves show through.

The elderberry patch also got a good "thinning out".  They need to be pruned almost like brambles (just not as often).  Old fruiting canes need to be removed so that new canes can grow and bear fruit.  And yes, we are still cleaning up and pruning in the blackberry patch - just two more rows to go!!

Planting Traminette

We had lots of helpers this weekend to plant 200 new Traminette grape vines.  It did not take us that long at all!

Anja and Leif are planting

girls taking a snack break

We stuck to our "proven" method of planting vines, but this year, we surrounded each vine with cardboard (which we had been saving all winter), and then we covered the cardboard with mulch.  Hoping that this will keep the weeds a bay and allow the grapevines a head start.  It certainly looked pretty when we were all done.

Half the vines were grafted, using rootstock #3309, the other half was not grafted.  We'll try and document the difference in growing habits, disease resistance, winter hardiness etc.  

Eastern Winery Expo

Jens and Tina each took a day off work to attend one day of the Eastern Winery Exposition - which is held in Lancaster every other year (the odd years are held in Syracuse).  We split up for the educational sessions, so that we could cover the double track of seminars.  Luckily we did, as there was a lot of good information! We also had time to walk through the exhibit area and talk to a lot of vendors.

Sessions that were especially useful were a track dealing with the chemistry, processing and fermentation of fruit wines; and a session devoted entirely to Chardonel,
which is a variety we recently planted.  Other sessions dealt with filtering protocols for winemakers, and fungal disease prevention in the vineyard.

We ran into several winery owners we knew, met new ones and also met several of Tina's former "classmates" from the HACC enology/viticulture program. Definitely a worthwhile day!

Planning a Bonfire - à la "Burning of the Vines"

We are planning a big bonfire...as soon as we have our grapevines pruned.  As of this weekend, we think that we are one third done with the initial pruning (which is where the massive amounts of vines come from).  As we prune, we keep the cut vines on several piles in the center of every other row. This eliminates driving the tractor through every row, which cuts down on soil compaction by the heavy tires, and makes it altogether faster.

We attached the pallet forks to the tractor bucket, and then scooped up a pallet.  Jeff drove through the row, and Lars and I lifted each pile of vines onto the pallet.  Toward the end, its more of  a rolling, rather than a lifting effort :).

Lars then jumped on top of the whole pile,  in a belly-flop sort of fashion, and his weight kept the vines from falling off as Jeff drove toward the "burning pile".  (it's quite a balancing act for him).

   

We have been dumping all the vines on one huge pile, which we'll have to light on a calm, wet day.

                   

Signs that Spring is Near

Temperatures "soared" to the upper 50's today - a great day to prune grapes:

Also a good time to take some cuttings from lilac and forsythia bushes to force them into an early bloom indoors:

Winter Vines

Pruned vines 

Not yet pruned vines

Grape Harvest 2015

We had a great grape harvest this year - weather conditions were perfect and harvest parameters were great for each of our varieties.

We started with our Concords, which we picked  over several days during the last week in August.  We sold most of them at the local fruit auction.  On August 30th we picked the last of them and pressed them for juice (some of which we fermented for some wine experiments).

Nothing beats fresh Concord grapes and juice!

We harvested Chambourcin grapes from our young vines on September 7 (Labor Day)- a bit early, as we are going to try and make some rose wine from these.

On September 13 we picked all of our Vidal Blanc grapes.  This was our first harvest from these vines and we are looking forward to some white wine experiments.  Next year, we should have a lot more as the vines mature.

And finally on the weekend of September 19 and 20, we picked the remaining Chambourcin grapes.  It kept us busy all month!  Now comes the clean up of the bird netting, the harvest bins and all equipment maintenance.

State of the Vineyard - August 17

Looking good - time to bring out the bird netting:

Chambourcin

Vidal Blanc

Chardonel

Concord