For the second year in a row, I’ve begun to see a few Grape Flea Beetles in the vineyard. Last year, I noticed them mainly on the Frontenac vines. But they also munched on the buds on the Valiants and the Prairie Stars.

This year I believe I caught them before they did too much damage. Last night I sprayed the plants with a product made by Safer - Safer® Brand 3-in-1 Garden Spray. But it’s supposed to work on grapes and specifically for beetles. So time will tell, I guess.

With our recent string of beautiful weather and temps in the 60’s and 70’s, the vines have begun to awaken. The different varieties are at different stages of budswell - the Foch vines are the furthest along, followed by the Valiants, the Prairie Stars, the Marquettes, the Sabrevois and then the Frontenacs. I’ve also already noticed a couple grape flea beetles and plan to spray for them this week.

Well, after a few fits and starts, spring appears to finally be here in Minnesota! I had thoughts about pruning the vines in mid-March as I usually do, but didn’t feel like dodging snowflakes while working in the vineyard. So I kept putting it off until we finally started seeing normal temps again. This weekend we finally got the spring weather we have been expecting.

Pruning went quite well. I did not run into any unexpected surprises - for once. I had slight concerns over the new Marquette vines surviving the winter. But it was pretty mile overall and the Marquettes look great. Overall I have not settled on a specific pruning style for each variety. On two of the Frontenacs, I’m trying spur pruning this season. Looks for further updates as the season progresses.
After completing the pruning, I see reason to be pretty optimistic about this season’s crop. Barring any late frosts - the vineyard is set for it’s best crop yet. The only vines in less-than-optimal condition are the Valiants. And I don’t think I can do much with them.

The Frontenacs look great. I replaced the one vine that was killed by a gopher with one I grew last year in a temporary location.

The Prairie Stars also look great. They came on so strong last year and appear ready for another breakout year. They will be allowed to crop a small amount this season.

The Foch also look great. Unlike last year, they aren’t even close to budswell yet. This is good as they have been hit by late season frosts both of the last two seasons.

The Sabrevois are in great condition. Three of the four vines exploded with growth last season. One is still a bit on the small side, but is ready for a jump in growth this season.

Time for more beer info! Tonight I took a little bit of time and racked my batch of beer to a glass secondary. I plan to leave it there until at least the 14th and then bottle it. I might leave it for another week. Below are a couple of images from racking night.

This first image shows the empty (almost) primary fermenter with a little bit of beer left in it. The rest of the gunk is spent yeasts and hops.

The image below shows the glass secondary once racking was completed. This carboy holds 6.5 gallons and the batch of beer is 5 gallons - hence the extra headspace.

Just when you thought it was over… Like a bad horror movie, this winter seems to have taken on a life of it’s own. Last week we had a 1″ snowfall and this week we are looking at another 2-5″. After hitting a high of 80F in late March, we have been back in the cooler ever since. One good thing is that it’s kept the vines from achieving budswell too early. The odd thing is that despite daytime highs barely hitting the low 40s, spring seems to be marching along. Tree leaf buds are swelling, the lilacs especially. And the spring peepers never really did shut up. Rooster pheasants have been running around like crazy. So despite the cold, we are probably not far off from a normal Minnesota spring.