Harvesting the Niagara

I decided, for better or worse to harvest the Niagara grapes. They only reached a brix level of 16 and stalled. The seeds were brown and the flavor was good. Normally, I’d let them hang but since some of the berries were beginning to rot and I don’t have many clusters, I decided to [...]

Harvest Timing

I’ve given up with my Dornfelder. After an assault from birds, I learned to place netting over the vines and grapes. It helped somewhat. We did have to free a few birds from inside the netting. Then the bees went after the grapes. I guess they are ready for harvest although the highest brix [...]

California Grape Harvest

On a recent visit to California we had the opportunity to video tape harvest. Kathy and I helped Basignani Winery in Maryland, harvest Marechal Foch grapes in 2007. The workers in California put us to shame. They were much faster than we were and selective in what they took from the vine. [...]

Missing out on one grape harvest

Harvest is not predictable even the California harvest. The best guess two months ago was that Cabernet Sauvignon from California would arrive mid-October. So we decided to squeeze a California trip in late September and early October to film vineyards and hopefully harvest. Unfortunately while we are flying to the west coast, [...]

Ready, Set, Wait!

I live by my calendar. Blocking out certain days is no concern, unless I don’t know when the days are. This is the case while waiting for the grapes to arrive at Vint Hill Craft Winery and Tin Lizzie Wineworks. We are at the mercy of the weather, harvest and shipment. Is [...]