Welcome to the September 2007 edition of our newsletter!

Fall In The Vineyard

What a great time of year it is - especially in the vineyard. The fruit is ripe…or ripening. The weather is starting to cool and thoughts turn to winemaking. Whether you are making wine from fresh grapes, other fruits or kits, its all fun and exciting. This is also the time of year I scramble looking for my favorite winemaking books. Below are two of my favorites - especially useful over the past few years as I have embarked on my grape-growing and winemaking adventures. These books might not be for the more technically inclined winemakers out there, but I think you’ll find that even seasoned vets will be able to glean a nugget or two of useful information from them.

	Cox’s guide to growing grapes and making wine is a great introductory resource on both topics. Click to check it out on Amazon.
	This book is chock full of recipes and insights taken from years of winemaking experience. Whether you are looking to make a classic red varietal or are wondering what to do with all of those apples in your backyard, this is a great resource. Click here to check it out in Amazon.

Fall Tasks

This fall I have a number of things I need to do to prepare the vineyard for winter. Chief among them are making sure that young vines have enough insulation to keep their roots from freezing:

• clean up weed and debris around base of vines
• hill up dirt around vines
• spread rodent deterrent powder (gophers seem to be pretty active in the fall)
• remove dead vines - one Valiant and possibly some others
• determine how many new vines are needed for next spring - 6 or more total

Fermenting

I have a small amount of my own grapes to ferment. I likely will just place whatever amounts of all varieties I grow into one batch of wine. On top of that, last winter I stashed away a Winexpert white wine kit. I am also planning on finally getting that one going.

On a related note, a friend of mine has been bugging me for a few years to try making a batch of hard cider out of apples that grow in his yard. I think we finally will get this done this year. I’ve pressed samples of juice from the apples and it has a good balance of sweetness and tartness. I’ll try to provide an update in a future newsletter.

Yet another fermented beverage that always comes to mind this time of year (or any time for that matter) is…BEER! Last fall I rounded up a group of guys for an evening of ‘brewing’ at a brew-on-premises place in St. Paul - called Vine Park. It was a good time. The beer making is very closely controlled. As a matter-of-fact, customers really only add the pre-measured ingredients to the kettles and then come back two weeks later to bottle the final product. With the size of the group we had, we reserved six kettles and made a batch of cider on the side. So each person went home with 36 22oz bottles of beer and/or cider. It was a really good time. This fall I’m thinking it would be even more fun to just host a home-brew event at my house.

Weather

After such a dry and hot summer, our weather has begun to cool off a bit. On top of that, we have received a great deal of rain in the past month. Its been quite amazing - our pond was completely dry six weeks ago but now it is larger than it has been all year!

Despite the recent rains, a summer like this past one has pretty well convinced me that I need to install some sort of manageable watering system in the vineyard. I do not know that it will be fully automatic, but at a minimum something that I can attach a garden hose to that will water the entire vineyard at one - or at least one row at a time. A system like that will make my life much easier.

Whats Coming Up?

What else do I have planned? Well, there’s always something. Besides vineyard maintenance and wine or beer making, I also spend a fair amount of time working on this website. I have a few things up my sleeve. Soon I plan to offer a new discussion forum open to anyone that has an interest in growing grapes and making wine. On top of that, I am working on some tools to assist grape growers and winemakers. Stay tuned as I begin to roll out some of these new features.

Thanks and have a great fall 2007!

Don

Welcome to the Summer 2007 edition of the Blue Door Vineyard Newsletter! I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and good spirits. It’s been awhile since my last newsletter, so there is plenty to talk about. Read on and enjoy!

Weather

The weather in my part of the world never ceases to amaze me. We have experienced drought-like conditions for the better part of 2007. In the last two weeks however, the rain has finally arrived. At my last check, we are ahead of average for the month of August. While the dryness has been tough, the vines have been healthy with minimal mildue and fungus disease. Look for another update as harvest nears to find out how things ended up for the year weather-wise.

Summer Maintenance

My maintenance tasks have been fairly minimal this summer. I’ve tried to stay on top of keeping the vines and shoots growing in an orderly fashion. In addition, at this time of the year I put nets on the vines to protect the fruit from marauding birds. Last season I was not able to net the fruit and lost most of the crop over a two day period. Here are some other tasks I have ahead of me:

• clean out weeds from under vines
• stay on top of tying up the vines
• monitor ripening grapes
• reapply powdered rodent repellent

There will be more tasks to be accomplished post-harvest - look for those in the next newsletter.

Additionally, because I have multiple varieties of grapes each ripening at different times, I will likely freeze some of the earlier-ripening fruit until the later ones are ripe. Then they will all end up together in the same fermenter. I’ll keep notes about the progression of the wine as it ferments and share them in upcoming newsletters.

Vine Status

In this section of the newsletter I try to provide an update on the progress and status of each variety I grow. I’ve found this helpful for me as I plan out the evolution of my vineyard. I hope you find it interesting reading.

Valiant - one Valiant vine has done ok this season. It has enough fruit to make it worth putting the nets on it. It’s fruit will end up in the same fermentor with the rest of the grapes. I really need to evaluate the future of these vines in my vineyard. Each year they seem setback a little bit more - mainly due to disease and animals chewing their roots.

Prairie Star - I am excited to harvest my first (albeit small) crop of Prairie Star fruit this fall. These vines have done quite well over the past two seasons and I only expect their production to improve.

Frontenac - After replacing one Frontenac vine, the rest of the vines have done well. They bear the heaviest crop right now among any of their vineyard relatives. I am slowly working to retrain a couple of them that grew out of whack last season.

Marechal Foch - The Foch vines have had a good summer. They didn’t suffer their normal late frost issues of past seasons. But still they seem to struggle a little bit. Maybe it’s the grower!

Sabrevois - After a great year last year, three of these vines have had problems this season and I think it’s due to having their roots chewed by gophers. I continue to try alternative methods of protecting the vines from rodents, but to date, nothing has been that successful.

Marquette - Two of the three Marquette vines made it through the winter and seem to be ok. I’m doing what I can to help them end this season strong in order to make it through the winter. Once these two get better established and produce fruit, I’ll begin evaluating their ability to produce quality fruit in my vineyard. If so, I’ll begin adding more of them.

Wine

As mentioned above, I plan to make a small batch of wine out of a mix of grapes from all the varieties I grow this fall. I expect to produce about 2 gallons of wine from that batch. In addition, I have a white wine kit from a 3 grape blend of California-produced fruit that I will also get started.

Another interesting winemaking note: Northern Brewer in St. Paul, MN has begun offering pre-order sales of fresh California grapes by the lug. Prices vary, but are generally in the $23 - $26 range per lug. This seems like a great deal for fresh, quality wine grapes. I was tempted, but think I’ll stick to what I already have going for this year. If you’d like to know more about NB’s offer, go to their website: http://www.northernbrewer.com.
Calling All Authors!
If you are interested and have some grape-growing knowledge to share, contact me and I can see what can be done to include your writing on the pages of Grapelog.com. There is no monetary reward, but I will gladly add links to your website in exchange.

Support Grapelog

If you like what you read and would like to continue to hear more into the future, consider making a donation to Grapelog. There is a Make A Donation button on the right-hand side of each page on http://www.grapelog.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter!

Don

Welcome to the February 2007 edition of the Blue Door Vineyard Newsletter! I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and good spirits. Even though it’s a pretty quiet time of the year in the vineyard, there is always plenty to write about as I plan ahead for spring and the rest of the 2007 growing season.

No New Vines

For the first time since I planted the vineyard, I have no plans for new vines this season. I may be doing some replacing/replanting, but no altogether new vines. I plan to concentrate this season on the vines I have in order to keep them growing strong and healthy. With any luck the 2007 crop will be bigger than last year.

Spring Cleaning

Below, I’ve outlined a few of the spring cleaning tasks that lay ahead. It will be good to get back into the familiar routine of vineyard maintenance. Last season was difficult for me as due to some back pain I could not work as much as I usually do.

Pruning - In about mid-March, I plan to be out pruning the vines. Each year this task has taken on more meaning as the vines have reached a mature state. I find myself taking it more seriously so that I don’t do anything dumb that could impact the success of the crop. Also, I will be tending to some typical vineyard cleanup at this time.

Trellis Maintenance - I need to re-tighten and adjust the trellis.

Fertilizer - I plan to fertilize in mid-May. Typically I’ll give each plant a cup of slow release 10-10-10 and work it into the soil around the base of the vine. I’ve had good luck with this in the past and see no reason to change things up too much.

Spray - beginning in May, I plan to get the vines on a regular spray schedule. I will talk about that in greater detail in upcoming newsletters.

Vine Status

In this section of the newsletter I try to provide an update on the progress and status of each variety I grow. I’ve found this helpful for me as I plan out the evolution of my vineyard. I hope you find it interesting reading.

Valiant - the Valiant vines are likely on their way out of the vineyard. While they are extremely winter hardy, they definitely face disease pressure in my climate. The last two seasons have seen a decline in their overall health. And it hasn’t helped that the local gopher population seems to have taken a liking to their roots. I am actively looking for a replacement for the Valiant vines. Could be more Marquette, Sabrevois or Frontenac.

Prairie Star - despite a slow start and having to replace a few vines, the Prairie Stars are setup for another good season. I will be replacing one vine that never made it with a rooted cutting. Otherwise I may see a small crop from them this year.

Frontenac - The Frontenacs have taken over as my healthiest and largest vines. They are definitely winter hardy and show little impact from disease. I do have to make sure the gophers are not chomping on their roots too much. But other than that, they should have a great year.

Marechal Foch - the Foch vines ended the season strong last year. My main concern with them is that they tend to break bud earlier than anything else and have had a tendency to get nipped by late season frosts. I currently have 12 of them and am excited to see how they do this season. If they do well this year, they will probably be here for the long haul. But if they get frosted again, I have thoughts of removing half of them and planting more Marquette.

Sabrevois - the Sabrevois vines had a breakout year last year. They are finally achieving a mature size and are taking up their rightful place on the trellis. I currently have three of them and am taking a wait-and-see approach to their future. If the Foch vines end up being removed, I will consider planting more Sabrevois to take their place.

Marquette - last season, I planted three Marquette vines. They seemed to do ok with what little time I was able to spend with them. I need to give them more attention this season and can hopefully get them to take off. The winter has been pretty mild and their bases are hilled up so hopefully there won’t be any damage.

Calling All Authors!

If you are interested and have some grape-growing knowledge to share, contact me and I can see what can be done to include your writing on the pages of Grapelog.com. There is no monetary reward, but I will gladly add links to your website in exchange.

Support Grapelog

If you like what you read and would like to continue to hear more into the future, consider making a donation to Grapelog. There is a Make A Donation button on the right-hand side of each page on http://www.grapelog.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter!

Don

Greetings and welcome to the October 2006 edition of our newsletter!

In this edition of the newsletter, I will discuss the following topics:

• Site Changes
• Newsletter Subscription Changes
• Grape Growing Plans
• Winemaking Update

Site Changes

If you have visited BlueDoorVineyard.com in the past, you probably have noticed the changes that the site has undergone. Chief among these changes was the acquisition of a new domain name - grapelog.com. I feel that this more accurately reflects what this website has become over time. Additionally, I have moved the site onto a dynamic publishing platform using Wordpress. Wordpress is a blogging tool that also contains alot of content management functionality. This change brings with it many useful features for people visiting the site as well as making it much easier and quicker for me to update the website. All in the name of freeing up more time to grow grapes and make wine!

Newsletter Subscription Changes

Up until now, I have managed your newsletter subscriptions manually. Recently, I setup a list management software that allows users to self-subscribe and self-unsubscribe from the newsletter. In addition it gives me greater control over the list and how and when and in what format e-mails are sent.

Grape Growing Plans

For my backyard plot of grapes, I have a number of things to do. First off, I plan to remove the Valiant vines either this fall or early next spring. There are only 3 alive and they are all pretty sick. I will be filling in their spots with Marquette and possibly some Prairie Star vines.

The Foch vines had a great year and should continue to do well - assuming a cold, snowless winter doesn’t do them in. The Sabrevois vines are looking great. They are filling up the trellis nicely and had a decent crop of fruit this year. One of my Frontenac vines was killed by a gopher late last fall. I have cut it down and will replace it in the spring with a vine that’s currently growing at the end of the row.

The Prairie Star vines also continued their progression toward filling up the trellis. Four of the vines have grown up past the top trellis wire. A fifth is close. I will be filling in an empty spot with a cutting next spring.

Winemaking Update

At the time of this writing, I am putting the finishing touches on a couple of batches of Frontenac wine. The larger batch has proven more difficult as the acids are still quite high. The smaller batch is more of a rose and is doing quite well. One decision I need to make now is whether or not and how much to oak these wines. Look for more info in future newsletters.

Thanks for reading this edition of our newsletter!

Don

In the summer of 2003, we began publishing a newsletter to share our experiences growing grapes in a cold climate with others. In each issue we try to include information about the current state of our vineyard along with items of interest to other growers. We are always open to new ideas for inclusion in our newsletter. If you have an article or a link you would like included in one of our upcoming newsletters, just let us know. We would be glad to consider it - all in the name of sharing information with our grape-growing friends!If you would like to receive our newsletter hot off the “presses” via e-mail, subscribe by completing the form below.

2007 Issues

Volume V, Issue 2 - August 2007 (summer edition)
Volume V, Issue 1 - February 2007

2006 Issues

Volume IV, Issue 3 - October 2006
Volume IV, Issue 2 - May 2006
Volume IV, Issue 1 - April 2006