Archive forWinemaking

Newsletter Volume II, Issue 1 (February 2004)

September 9, 2006 @ 3:56 pm · Filed under Grape Growing, Winemaking

Greetings
Wow! The last week of January and the first days of February have brought with them alot of snow to our corner of the world! In the last week of January along we received about 18″ of the white stuff. Check out the 2004 pictures page for some new winter pictures.  

Recently, we received a batch of cuttings from three experimental varieties developed by Elmer Swenson. We’ll begin rooting these soon for planting in our vineyards this spring. Read more below…

Newsletter Contents
In this issue of the newsletter we discuss the following topics:

  • Winter Vine Death
  • New! Online Grower Tools!
  • Experimental Varieties
  • Question of the Month
  • Vineyard Status

    • Tell your friends about our newsletter!
     

    Winter Vine Death
    Last winter (2002/03) proved to us that we had alot to learn about growing grapes in this climate. The main thing we learned is that you can have the hardiest grapevines on the planet, but if they don’t enter winter in the proper state, they could end up getting killed. With a combination of immature plants, little snow and bitterly cold temperatures our vines did not stand a chance. Fortunately most of them pushed up shoots and began to re-grow. But there were a few that were killed outright. The only vines that thrived were our Valiants. 

    Last winter (2002/03) proved to us that we had alot to learn about growing grapes in this climate. The main thing we learned is that you can have the hardiest grapevines on the planet, but if they don’t enter winter in the proper state, they could end up getting killed. With a combination of immature plants, little snow and bitterly cold temperatures our vines did not stand a chance. Fortunately most of them pushed up shoots and began to re-grow. But there were a few that were killed outright. The only vines that thrived were our Valiants. As we have discussed in previous editions of the newsletter, we have taken a number of steps to help some of our weaker vines make it through this winter. The key to most of the work we did and the help we have gotten from Mother Nature is all geared toward protecting the lower portions of the vine trunk and the root systems. In a worst-case scenario, if these can survive our plants will recover. Ideally we will not have to take some of these measures in the future once the plants are mature enough and their root systems are down deep - beyond the point where frost can hurt them. Read more about the state of our vineyard on our Vineyard page.
    New! Online Grower Tools
    Over the course of the winter we have taken part in a few online discussions regarding how cold it gets in various places around the world. With those conversations come questions about how to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius. So we decided to build a couple of tools we thought growers might find useful. The first one is a Fahrenheit to Celsius converter. You can convert to and from either scale. Just enter the temperature, select what you are converting from and to and click submit. The result will be displayed in a field below the submit button. Check it out and let us know what you think.  

    The second tool is a replacement for the typical grids that folks use to determine how many vines can be planted per acre depending on plant and row spacing. This tool allows you to select the spacings and then displays the result in a field below. You can try this one out on our Tools page.

    		   Question of the Month
    What is your preferred method of getting cuttings to root? We are interested in hearing all about the methods and equipment you use and the kind of success rates you are seeing. Especially if you have noticed differences between varieties.
    Experimental Swenson Varieties
    Recently, we read an article on www.northernwinework.com about the efforts underway to preserve Elmer Swenson’s vineyard and have obtained some of the experimental varieties that the MGGA is looking to study over time. So this spring, we will be planting nine vines - 3 each of two table grape varieties and 6 plants of a promising red wine variety. The details are as follows: 

    ES 4-7-67 - a seedling of St. Croix and improved in every way. It is a red wine grape. Wine made from this grape has been dark and intense, very promising.

    ES 5-4-16 - a freak…huge (1 pound) clusters and big berry for juice and eating (and showing off to friends who have never seen grapes this big around here).

    ES 9-2-74 - a seedling from Monitor X Carman (TV Munson–West Texas - 1900). Carman is from a cross of vinifera X Vitis lincecoumi, a spicy flavored grape from West Texas. ES 9-2-74 is a great grape for juice that has some of the spiciness and intensity of V. lincecoumi. It can also be a great fruity port ingredient. It is super hardy, a survivor of the winter of 1996-97 at Elmer Swenson vineyard. Temperatures in the early days of February 1997 in that area were in the -40F to -46F range!

    Vineyard Status
    The vineyard is coming through this winter in good shape. We did have some cold early (-18F) before we had snow and again in late January (-26F) followed by 18″ of snow. So we are hoping everything is ok. We did take a number of measures to protect the vines and their root systems from extreme cold. So we will have to see how things look when we prune in late March.

    Once the ground is ready for planting, we will have a few changes to make in the vineyard. For one, we will be removing a number of vines - St. Pepin (3), Bluebell (3), King of the North (3). We may keep a couple of these around somewhere else in the yard, but we have not decided yet. These will be replaced by 3 experimental table grape vines and 9 Marechal Foch vines. The remaining experimental vines will be planted in our Hudson, WI vineyard. Look for updates in future issues of our newsletter.

    Read more about the current situation in our vineyard.

    Thanks!
    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.

    Look for the Falconer Vineyard and Winery (Red Wing, MN) to open in May of this year. Their website is located at http://www.falconervineyards.com.

    Our next newsletter should arrive in your inbox sometime next month. In the meantime, thanks for reading and take care! Don’t forget to tell your friends about our newsletter!

    Comments (1)

    Newsletter Volume II, Issue 2 (April 2004)

    September 9, 2006 @ 3:55 pm · Filed under Grape Growing, Winemaking

    Welcome
    Welcome to the April 2004 edition of our newsletter. Things are ramping up quickly in the vineyard this spring. We have had a run of warmer-than-average weather lately which has caused our grass to green up and our lilacs to begin pushing their buds. We are still having frost occasionally, but luckily none of our vines have pushed their buds yet. Below you will read how we have been out pruning vines and cleaning up the vineyard. We hope you enjoy this issue of the newsletter! Read on and drop us a line if you have a chance!        

    Newsletter Contents
    In this issue of the newsletter we discuss the following topics:

  • Pruning Season
  • Experimental Vines Update
  • Wild Vines
  • Vineyard Status
  • Links

    • Tell your friends about our newsletter!
        

    Pruning Season

    We were out in the vineyard the last weekend of March to prune vines and cleanup the vineyard. The first thing we did was remove the dirt we mounded up around some of the vines last fall. If our observations are correct, this aided the vines tremendously in surviving the past winter. Of course, 12-18 inches of snow did not hurt either!    While pruning, we were happy to note that all of the Frontenacs came through the winter just fine. The cuttings were green - many of them all the way to their tips. Of course, the Valiants are in great shape too. It is nice peace of mind to have the Valiants - if we ever have a winter that injures them it might be time to move to a warmer climate!

    While pruning, we were happy to note that all of the came through the winter just fine. The cuttings were green - many of them all the way to their tips. Of course, the are in great shape too. It is nice peace of mind to have the Valiants - if we ever have a winter that injures them it might be time to move to a warmer climate!We did not have any pruning to do with the Prairie Stars as we let them grow as much as they would last season while recovering from the winter of 2002/03. Some of these vines barely pushed up shoots from their bases by July 2003. We hope they continue their recovery this season - look for further updates in future editions of the newsletter.
    Experimental Vines Update
    The experimental Swenson vines we are planning to plant this spring are doing well. We have them rooting right now and they look on track to be ready to plant about the first week of May. We are on target to get about 75-80% of the cuttings to root. Read more in the Vineyard Info section of our site.
         

    Wild Vines
    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the pictures section of our site.  

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.   

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.   Vineyard Status
    Valiant - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year.

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year.Prairie Star - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season.

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season.Frontenac - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03.

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season. - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03.Sabrevois - we have decided to scale back our planting of Sabrevois from 6 to 3 vines. Two of the six vines we planted last spring did not take. So our thought is to keep the best three which makes room for the Foch and other experimental vines we will be planting this season.

    During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season. - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03. - we have decided to scale back our planting of Sabrevois from 6 to 3 vines. Two of the six vines we planted last spring did not take. So our thought is to keep the best three which makes room for the Foch and other experimental vines we will be planting this season.The rest of the vineyard is undergoing major change this season. We are removing our St. Pepin, Bluebell and King of the North vines and will be planting 9 Marechal Foch vines, 6 experimental table grape vines and 6 experimental red wine grape vines. See the Vineyard Info section of our website for more details.

    Thanks!
    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.

    MDT & Associates now has a website. They are a supplier of vineyard supplies and equipment. Their website is located at http://www.mdtgrow.com.

    Our next newsletter should arrive in your inbox sometime next month. In the meantime, thanks for reading and take care! Don’t forget to tell your friends about our newsletter!

    Comments

    Newsletter Volume II, Issue 3 (June 2004)

    September 9, 2006 @ 3:54 pm · Filed under Grape Growing, Winemaking

    Welcome
    Welcome to the June 2004 edition of our newsletter. After our last frost of the season on May 14th, most plants have recovered nicely and are well on their way to ‘getting big’. The frost was a hard one, especially for the date. The temperature got down to 26° F which caused a few leaves to die and many to become deformed. But the plants are pushing past this now. Read on for all the details!   

    Newsletter Contents
    In this issue of the newsletter we discuss the following topics:

  • New Vines Update
  • Surprise Vines!
  • Fertilizing
  • Weather Notes
  • Vineyard Status

    • Tell your friends about our newsletter!

     
    New Vines Update
    Well we have planted about all the new vines we plan to for the season. In all, we planted 12 Marechal Foch and 3 Sabrevois. We had not planned on planting any Sabrevois, but when we received three bareroot plants in the mail from Great River Vineyard, we had to make a quick decision about what to do with them. It turns out that these three vines were the remainder of our order from last season.   

    We put grow tubes on the Foch right away - if nothing else to protect them from deer and rabbits. We have also grow-tubed a couple of the Sabrevois from last year that did not have a strong season of growth last year. Based on our previous experiences with the ‘tubes, we plan on removing them at the end of June. This will give the vines plenty of time to harden off before winter. We will just have to be extra attentive with deer-preventive measures.
    Surprise Vines!
    After realizing that all of our Prairie Star vines were dead this spring, we began trying to figure out what we were going to replace them with. We had several ideas - all of which meant waiting until next year to replace the vines. Then on a recent trip over to our Hudson, WI vineyard we noticed that despite severe deer predation and neglect (on our part), many of the vines we planted there have survived and were attempting to outgrow the weeds. So with a little work, we cleaned them up and put grow tubes on them. For the Prairie Stars, we actually used two grow tubes (to make them 4 feet tall) - again mainly for protection from deer. In all the surviving vines include 4 Prairie Stars (out of 6), 5 Frontenacs (out of 6), 5 Valiants (out of 6) and 2 Sabrevois (out of 6).   

    So our gameplan now is to get these Prairie Stars to thrive this season and into the future. We will take cuttings from them and use them to replace the Prairie Stars that have died in our Lake Elmo location. We may do the same with the Sabrevois. This is a great option to have and we will definitely be paying more attention to the Hudson vines than we have.
    Fertilizing
    This season we are trying a couple different options for fertilizing the vines. The first is a product from Miracle-Gro called Shake ‘N Grow - it’s a 10-10-10 slow-release fertilizer. In addition, we are adding well-seasoned compost to the vines. The plants are responding well - we have seen more growth this spring than we ever have. Of course the vines root systems are undoubtedly bigger than ever - that could be a contributing factor as well. On a recent visit out to the vines, we noted several Valiant leaves bigger than my hand.

     
    Weather Notes
    We have had an odd mix of weather this spring. Early May was warm enough that our Valiants and Frontenacs began leafing out. Then on the 14th of May we had a frost with temperatures down to 26° F. Since then we have received a lot of rain. It rained 21 out of the 31 days in May. We have begun breaking out of the wet weather pattern and are now seeing rapid growth in all of the vines - especially on the warm sunny days. On June 7th we had a high temperature of 97° F!   

    Vineyard Status
    Valiant - After losing a few leaves to frost in the middle of May, the Valiants have recovered nicely and lately have been exhibiting tremendous growth. These vines will be monsters by the end of the season, therefore we will be putting up trellis wire ASAP. A few primary fruit clusters were lost to the frost, but we have let a few secondaries fill in for a small crop.

    Prairie Star - These vines appear to all be dead. We attribute the deaths more to the growers lack of knowledge than the plants ability to survive. We recently discovered four Prairie Stars in our oft-neglected second vineyard in nearby Hudson, WI. Upon this discovery we took several steps to protect these vines and will put additional updates on our progress on the website.

    Frontenac - After getting hit by the mid-May frost, the Frontenacs have also recovered nicely and we expect (and are already seeing) major growth out of them.

    Sabrevois - Two of our three Sabrevois survived the winter and are growing - albeit slower than the Frontenacs. But with proper care, they should be fine. To our surprise, we received three additional Sabrevois bareroot vines from Great River Vineyard in May. These were left over from last season’s order. So far, they have not pushed buds - we are a bit concerned, but it has been cool here until the last few days. Look for additional updates on our website.

    Marechal Foch - The Foch seem to be taking well. We have been watching them closely and watering as needed. Lately we have had enough rain that we have not had to water much.

    Thanks!
    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 next month. In the meantime, thanks for reading and take care! Don’t forget to tell your friends about our newsletter!

    Comments (1)

    Newsletter Volume II, Issue 4 (July 2004)

    September 9, 2006 @ 3:53 pm · Filed under Grape Growing, Winemaking

    Welcome
    Welcome to the July 2004 edition of our newsletter. After a cool, wet month of May and early June, the past few weeks have been warmer and dryer. Consequently we have witnessed unprecedented vine growth. Also we have experienced minimal (knock on wood) predation by deer, rabbits, gophers, etc. Read on for all the fun details!  

    Newsletter Contents
    In this issue of the newsletter we discuss the following topics:

  • Latest News
  • Trellis!
  • Weather Notes
  • Vineyard Status

    • Tell your friends about our newsletter!

     
    Latest News
    Despite a cool and wet month of May and early June, we have had pretty good grape-growing weather for the past few weeks. Its been warm and dry. Consequently the vines have been growing explosively - the Valiants and Frontenacs are now up on the trellis and the Foch are (with the exception of one plant) nearing top-wire height!  

    We have been monitoring the vines for nibbles from the neighborhood deer and rabbits and so far it has not been too bad. We have been using a combination of Bonide spray repellent (odor and taste) and fishing line. The fishing line is strung around the perimeter of the vineyard at chest height for a whitetail and acts as an invisible barrier to the deer. The theory is that being mostly nocturnal, they will not see the line. When they walk into it and feel the resistance, they are redirected. Since stringing the line, we have only had one occasion of deer predation. For the most part, the vines are out of the reach of the rabbits.
    Trellis!
    This month we have finally begun installing our trellis. We had installed the posts about a year and a half ago, but had not strung wire. With this season’s growth by both the Valiant and Frontenac vines (not to mention the Foch!), it has become a necessity. So we purchased a roll of 12.5 gauge high-tensile wire and the necessary hardware and so far have strung wire for the rows of Valiant and Frontenac and hopefully in the next week or so for the Foch.  

    For now, the wires are strung at 30″ and 60″ in each row. We are leaving open the option of a divided trellis if rampant growth becomes a problem with our spacing (6 x 6). Hardware-wise, here is our materials list:

    - 1000 feet of 12.5 gauge high-tensile wire
    - 12 wirevise wire fasteners
    - galvanized nails - to keep wire up
    - 3/8 inch drill bit - for drilling wirevise holes
    Weather Notes
    Overall this has been a cool season for us. So far this year we have had two days over 90° F whereas normally we have had 15 days over 90° F by this time. The early part of the season was also very wet - we barely needed to water newly-planted vines during May and early June. Then in mid-June we hit a dryer stretch, but the temperatures were still only hitting the upper 70’s for daily highs. This pattern held until the last week where temperatures have climbed into the mid to upper 80’s with high humidity levels. Despite the cooler than normal weather pattern, the vine growth this season has been nothing short of phenomenal!  

    Vineyard Status
    Valiant - The Valiants are now up on the trellis and really seem to be reaping the advantages of that. They have all been topped and their cordons are growing out vertically. We have left a few clusters on the vines this season and will report on the fruit as it develops into the later part of the season.

    Prairie Star - In our last newsletter we mentioned that all of the Prairie Stars were dead. Well, we were wrong! About 3 weeks ago, we noticed one of them had pushed shoots from below ground. We quickly grow-tubed, fertilized and watered it. In the past couple of days it has begun peeking out of it’s tube!

    Also - the Prairie Stars in our Hudson, WI vineyard continue to make good progress. Several of them have pushed 4 feet of growth this season. We may transplant these vines to our Lake Elmo vineyard in the future.

    Frontenac - The Frontenacs have probably experienced the most growth of any of the vines we have. Four of the plants were pruned to 2 buds this spring. Each of these has now grown past the top trellis wire - over 5 feet of growth. A couple plants are way beyond this and have been topped already. We expect to harvest a small crop of fruit at the end of next season.

    Sabrevois - Two of our 3 Sabrevois from last season have come back and are doing ok. They have achieved about 3 feet of growth. Only one of the new bareroot vines has shown any growth. We have been a bit disappointed in that, but will make do and take cuttings to fill in the rest of the row.

    Two of the Sabrevois in our Hudson, WI vineyard survived and are thriving this season. We may end up transplanting these vines to Lake Elmo in the future.

    Marechal Foch - The Foch started out this season as nursery-started plants. We grow-tubed and fertilized them and watered them regularly during the dry part of early summer and they have also shown explosive growth. 11 of the 13 vines are now up to 4 feet high. We will be installing trellis wire for them as they will definitely need it by the end of the season. These will be the most tender vines we have in the vineyard and we plan to protect them accordingly so they can survive the upcoming winter. Our plan is to hill up dirt around their bases up to 8 inches deep. This may evolve over time as we gain experience with the Foch.

    Thanks!
    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 next month. In the meantime, thanks for reading and take care! Don’t forget to tell your friends about our newsletter!

    Comments (1)

    Newsletter Volume II, Issue 5 (October 2004)

    September 9, 2006 @ 3:52 pm · Filed under Grape Growing, Winemaking

    Welcome
    Welcome to the October issue of our newsletter. It has been too long since we issued our last one - the summer got away from us! Anyway, thanks for taking time to read it and let us know how your vines did this year.  

    Newsletter Contents
    In this issue of the newsletter we discuss the following topics:

  • Season Wrapup
  • Trellis Update
  • Winemaking Plans
  • Vineyard Status

    • Tell your friends about our newsletter!

     
    Season Wrapup
    This proved to be a very successful season for us for a number of reasons. Unlike many growers our vines will not be ready to fruit until next season. So the cooler-than-normal weather did not hurt us as much as it could have. Overall our vines experienced phenomenal growth. Some of the Frontenacs were pruned to one or two buds, then get nipped by frost in May and still managed to put on 6-10 feet of growth by season’s end! The Valiants continued to mature and the newly planted Foch took very well. Read a variety-by-variety breakdown in the Vineyard Status section of the newsletter.  

    Relative to other seasons, animal (mainly deer) predation was minimal this year. Besides just maintaining a regular presence in the vineyard, we strung 6 lb test fishing line around the perimeter of the vines. The theory is that the deer run into this invisible barrier, feel the pressure and are redirected. By and large, it worked extremely well. Because they cannot see it, they don’t seem too willing to jump over it either. After stringing it, we had one or two minor episodes of leaves being nibbled. Later in the season the string was accidentally removed while mowing the rows and since then we have noticed a jump in the number of ‘attacks’. We will surely be employing this tactic again next season as one of the weapons in our arsenal of deer-fighting methods.
    Trellis Update
    We have completed our trellis work for the season. Since our last update, we strung the top wire for both rows of Foch. Many of the Foch vines are already at or above this height. For those that were not, we ran string from the tip of the vine up to the wire. Next season we will run the lower wire for the Foch and complete the last two rows - one for the Prairie Star and the other for the Sabrevois.  

    If you would like to read more about our plans and ideas for trellising a backyard vineyard, read more on our Trellis page.
    Winemaking Plans
    Due to our vines still being a year away from a decent crop we will be making a kit wine once again this fall. We had thoughts of buying grapes from a local vineyard as well, but could not find the time to get away on the weekends on which harvest occurred. So our plan is to go a bit more upscale from last year’s Brew King (now Winexpert) Chianti kit and try one of their Selection Estate Series - possibly the Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel.  

    Next fall, we hope to be able to make wine from our first crop. The Frontenacs should provide enough fruit for a small batch. Otherwise, we’ll try harder to make it to a local vineyard during harvest.

    Vineyard Status
    Valiant - The Valiants have responded well to being trellised. We harvested a few clusters of grapes - probably a bit early. But by and large, these vines experienced outstanding growth this season. Most have been hardened off for several weeks already. One vine was attacked by a gopher that must have severed its root. The vines leaves are completely brown and we fear it may be totally dead. We will wait until next spring to see if it sends up shoots from it’s roots - it would be surprising if it did not. But if it does not come back, we will probably explore layering a new vine in from an adjacent one.

    Prairie Star - By season’s end two of our Prairie Stars had sent up shoots - albeit very small ones. But if we can get these plants to survive, we will add to them from our vineyard in Hudson, WI. The vines there did well this summer despite HEAVY deer traffic. We plan to transplant them next spring

    Frontenac - The Frontenacs growth has been nothing short of spectacular this season. By season’s end they compare in size to the Valiants despite being a year behind due to poor management! We expect a small crop from the Frontenacs next season.

    Sabrevois - We end this season with three Sabrevois. Two of them put on decent growth, the third was so-so. In addition we will be moving two Sabs from our Hudson, WI vineyard next spring. These vines are probably two years away from cropping.

    Marechal Foch - The Foch vines have all done extremely well with most of them reaching the top trellis wire by the end of the season. The vines that did not reach that height will probably be pruned down to a couple of buds next spring. As far as the upcoming winter is concerned we are working on our gameplan for ensuring that the Foch survive. Our main goal (as it is with any variety we grow) is that we do not want to bury the vines. We removed their growtubes in early August and they seem to have hardened off well. In addition we will mound up dirt around their bases to give their roots extra protection from freezing.

    Thanks!
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