This post really has nothing to do with grape-growing. It’s a funny one of my kid. Click the link to view the video in a popup.

Superman

 
Superman

Today has been one of the rainiest days of the season! The vineyard has likely received over 1.5″ of rain today. It’s been almost constant and at times has rained very heavily. In addition, we had a brief tornado warning for a specific area directly to our southeast during the mid-afternoon. Luckily no touchdowns were reported.

I’ll admit that I’m no expert (yet) when it comes to making wine. But here’s one lesson that I learned that I felt was worth sharing with others.

When it comes down to pressing your grapes, you may not need to buy or rent a press. In the fall of 2005 I made my first batch of wine from fresh grapes. I purchased about 100# of Frontenac grapes from a local vineyard and got them started fermenting sometime in late September. A few days later, I happily plunked down something like $60 to rent a grape press. It was one of the ratcheting type presses. I took it home and proceeded to scoop the grapes and skins into it from the primary fermenter. What I soon realized is that there was not nearly the volume of grapes/skins there for the press to actually be able to do it’s thing. After a few frustrating moments (and thoughts about pouring $60 down the drain), I began to scoop the skins back out and into a cheesecloth bag that I have. I then squeezed the bag over the primary for a while alternately opening the bag up, fluffing up the pomace and squeezing again. This worked just fine and I now know I won’t be renting a press for any small volume batches of wine I make.

Have you ever had a young vine not make it through the winter? Especially one of those ‘extra-hardy’ varieties? Well I have too and I thought it might be worthwhile to share my experiences and what I do to help keep this from happening.

Any fall that I have first year vines heading into their first winter, I take the time to hill up around their bases to protect shallow roots and the base of the trunk from the extreme cold of our Minnesota winters. The first year I planted my vineyard, most of my Prairie Stars and all of my St. Pepin and even a couple of Frontenac vines were killed by the deep penetrating cold of a winter where temps plunged into the low -30s (F). When hilling up, I generally prefer to use compost or a dirt/compost mix. There are other possibilities including straw, wood chips, etc. But some of these can have the unwanted effect of drawing rodents into your vineyard and down near the base of your vines where they could start to nibble. That could spell disaster! In my experience, some combination of dirt/compost does the trick. I typically create a mound about 2 ft in diameter and about 6-8 inches deep at it’s peak. I have also piled whatever snow I can find on top of these mounds in order to afford some extra protection. I generally don’t have to use snow with the amount that we typically get it each, but it’s a nice extra layer if needed. Once the weather starts to warm in the spring, I remove the hill from the base of the vines. Left for too long, the base of your vine can begin to rot.

Hilling up can be a very valuable technique to use in your vineyard. It’s definitely easier to do on a smaller scale, but may come in handy for any vineyard situated in a northerly climate.

The last couple of days have been very dreary and rainy with highs in the 50’s (F). Oh well, it’s probably to be expected this time of year. Can’t get much done in the vineyard though!