Newsletter Volume IV, Issue 1 (April 2006)
| Welcome Welcome to the April 2006 issue of our newsletter!  Our vines have made it through another winter - and a mild one at that. Read on for more details! Newsletter Contents Tell your friends about our newsletter!  |
| What’s New This past winter was quite mild - relative to a normal Minnesota winter. The coldest temperatures we experienced were in the teens below zero and there was no extended period of cold weather. Last summer we completed the installation of the trellis in the vineyard, so this season there should be more time for tending to the vines. |
| Spring Update Our plans this spring include pruning, general cleanup, fertilizing and trellis maintenance. We will begin pruning very soon. This season, our Valiant and Frontenac vines should take their more permanent shape on the trellis. The Foch should get there by the end of the season. The Prairie Star and Sabrevois won’t be far behind.  On a whim one day last fall, I contacted Northeastern Vine Supply in Vermont to find out if they had any Marquette (MN 1211) vines available. At that point, they still had a few vines left and I only needed 3. These should arrive in late May or early June and will be planted in the front half of row 5 with the Sabrevois vines. I’m excited for the possibilities this grape offers in terms of winemaking. If it does well and makes good wine, I’ll have to make room for more! |
| Winemaking Our Frontenac wines from last fall continue to bulk age and are progressing just fine. After some initial concers with H2S, the larger batch seems to be fine. Acids are a little bit higher than we would like, but otherwise it’s not bad. We also have a small (1 gallon) batch of Frontenac Rose. It lacked a little body, so we blended it with a wine that could help to round it out. This wine should be bottled pretty soon. Read more on our winemaking page. |
| Vineyard Status Valiant - At this point, we have three healthy Valiant vines. The other three all suffered from gopher attacks and only one of the three is still alive. I have yet to decide what to do…replace the dead/dying Valiant’s with another variety? Or replace them with more Valiant? I have one extra Valiant vine planted outside the row end and could use that.  Prairie Star - I am excited for the future of the Prairie Star vines. Last season, they did very well with 2 or 3 making it to the top trellis wire. I will need to start one new vine with any cuttings I take during pruning. Frontenac - The Frontenacs are setup for what should be their biggest harvest next year. These vines just keep getting bigger! I have a couple spare vines growing at the row ends that I could use elsewhere in the vineyard should I so decide. Marechal Foch - We are keeping an eye on the Foch this spring to determine if they will get frosted back to the ground every year. If this proves to be the case, we will pull them and replace them with another variety like Marquette. Sabrevois - Like the Prairie Stars, our Sabrevois finally seem to have taken hold last season. 3 of the 4 vines made it well past the top trellis wire. We may have a small crop from them this season. The remainder of this row will be filled with three Marquette vines that should arrive in early June. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter! We don’t pretend to be experts at growing grapes in cold climates, but rather we hope you find the newsletter an informative and entertaining source of information. If you do, feel free to forward the e-mail to others that may be interested. If you have suggestions for future topics or general comments/suggestions, feel free to send us a note using our Contact Us page. Our next newsletter should arrive in your inbox sometime soon. In the meantime, thanks for reading and take care! Don’t forget to tell your friends about our newsletter! |
Grapelog » Newsletter Archive Said,
September 16, 2006 @ 1:03 am
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