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.

Last night I decided it was time to bottle a small batch of wine I started in the fall of 2005. It is 80% Frontenac and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. The bottling went just fine - I didn’t expect to but ended up with 5 full bottles. It’s not a great wine, but it’s not bad. The Cabernet was a more recent addition as the Frontenac needed a little more body.

Once the wine was bottled and tucked away, I decided it was time to break out a beer kit I recently purchased. The kit is from Midwest Supply and is a Red Amber Ale. Its from their ‘20 minute boil’ line of kits. Since it was my first time making beer, I thought this one sounded good and simple. The process went very well with no major problems. One issue I did run into was that my wife was pretty grossed out by the smell - to the point of gagging. Future batches may have to be done in the garage or when she’s not home. Other than that, the beer is happily fermenting away in the basement. I’d like to hear what others have done to counteract the odor from boiling wort. Add a comment and let me know.

Since our back-to-back late winter snowstorms, the weather in the vineyard has definitely been on a springward uptick. All of our snow has melted, the ice is off of the vineyard pond and even a nearby lake. Additionally, I heard the first spring peepers of the season Saturday evening.

Here’s a picture of a spring peeper…more information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_peepers

Temperatures have been in the 60’s and 70’s the last couple of days. Today’s forecasted high is 74 F! Thankfully the ground is still either frozen or too cold for the grapevines to begin waking up. If they were to break bud this early, they’d be sure to get hit hard by frost. I did notice that Lilac buds seem to be swelling along with a few maples and poplars.

That’s all for now, enjoy the spring weather!

Since my last post we’ve experienced a fairly typical Minnesota March. First we were hit with another round of snow - to the tune of about 11″. This was accompanied by wind too - parts of the state had blizzard conditions. As a matter-of-fact, yours truly decided that was a good weekend for a ski trip to Lutsen on the North Shore. Needless to say, it was an interesting drive.

Since that storm hit, things have been warming up. And the snow has been rapidly disappearing. Yesterday’s high was right on about 50F. Today it’s supposed to be even warmer - closer to 60F. As much fun as the snow has been to play in, I think I like watching it melt even more. It reminds me that I *really* need to get out there and prune the grapevines!

Well, after all the hand-wringing by the local weather forecasters we ended up with 8″ of snow in my area. Not a major storm - but they had forecasted much more than that. Oh well. Areas to the southeast of us (Winona, MN and LaCrosse, WI) got hit much harder than we did.