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Thanks. I (and my wife) actually destem by hand :h. Takes us a half day and a bottle of wine. It's good therapy. And then I crush and juice with a little fruit press. Then skins go into a mesh bag with juice and I inoculate. I press out the mesh bag after primary.

Thanks for your feedback. It eases my mind that it won't be a mistake to keep the seeds in the must. Yes, last year I picked the grapes too soon, another mistake I made. This year I got a refractometer and tested brix. I'm at 24 on my Frontenac and 23 on my Gris and my pH is surprisingly good...

Excellent Greg thanks! I'm always afraid that I'm pruning too much but your example is encouraging. I believe I will try training on higher wires. Mine are currently at about 5 feet. I pruned my cordons to about three feet early in the year (March) but I have shoots (and many of them) that...

Wow those look nice. I picked my measly 20 lbs each of Frontenac and Frontenac Gris yesterday and crushed today. Unlike your drought problem we had rain overload here in Wisconsin. I lost half of my crop early in the year because of all of the moisture. Last year I had over twice as much of a...

Hi All, Back again this year in this forum having just picked and crushed grapes - about three gallons each of Frontenac and Frontenac Gris. Not much this year I know but it gives me enough to keep it interesting. The rest of the year I get kits (maybe a juice pail from Chile next spring)...

I am fascinated with the Petite Pearl. I read another post on this site that was talking up Crimson Pearl which apparently was bred by Tom Plocher of the University of Minnesota who also bred the Petite Pearl vine. This might be a good choice for me as a blending grape. How are your acidity...

Nice looking grapes. Should make a nice wine. You are right about the Frontenac. You need to wait them out. I picked too soon last year and my wine was not great. I used Malolactic fermentation as per the recommendation of UW Minnesota who developed the grape. The wine turned out still to be...

Also, I'm using neutral grape juice this year (Global Vinters Inc.). I'm not sure what grape they use but I'm lead to believe that it is a more neutral flavor and it's main purpose is to increase SG without having to add sugar. In my case I will not have enough must this year to get 6 gallons so...

Hey Kevin, I will share my story. Last year I had a possum (yes a possum!) invade my crop. I was on vacation the last week in August and that left enough non activity (our dog was with us) for him to invade for a week. He got a good share. I got nervous just like you and picked the crop on Labor...

I will say that your Marquettes are much more "tame" than my Frontenac. They look very nice. My Frontenac grow very vigorously. I've pruned them two or three times this season (and that's after the initial pruning in early March) and they are still going strong. I had much fruit early in the...

Well that would be an option but I don't have much room to add more vines. If I did it would be East/West and in a shady spot (trees in the way) which would not be ideal. My vines now (8 of them) are North/South and do very well as far as sunlight. The other option I have explored was to source...

Hi Grapeman, I think you said that you have been replacing your Frontenac with Marquette as it is a better wine grape (less acidity). I'd like to do the same but wonder how it's done. Do you just pull out the Frontenac vine and then put in a Marquette in its place? I've only got 4 Frontenac...

Hi Havlikn, Sorry I'm a little late to the party. I just now tripped across this post and thought I'd contribute since I'm in your neck of the woods. I too experienced this on my Frontenac but only on selected vines and not on my Frontenac Gris. I did lose some fruit clusters. I surmised downy...

I've been using Sevin on my Frontenac and Frontenac Gris for three years now. Works good but I have to apply about every two weeks or so throughout mid July to mid August. I applied Milky Spore last fall to my lawn. Didn't stop the JB's. They were back in full force this year. They can travel...

Interesting. Wonder why then they include it in the kit and the instructions? Some say it helps preserve the wine after bottling.

Thanks Jim. No Sorbate or do you add that with the K-Meta at day 42 also?

Hi all, I'm in the middle of an En Primeur Amarone kit and have a question. The instructions call for adding K-meta and Sorbate after the secondary fermentation racking (about 14 days) and then fining (Kieslsol/Chitosan). Then let sit to day 42 and bottle. I've always stabilized (K-meta /...

Just pruned my Frontenac and Frontenac Gris vines. Now is the time. Last snowfall (6") just melted early this week. Frost is starting to come out of the ground. I hope to get a nice yield this year. And per Grapeman's previous advice will be patient and let them hang until good and ripe. I...

Thanks grapeman. Absolutely true. I was reading a thread in the Grape Growing and Vineyard forum where one person is combining Frontenac with Valiant which is a very low acid grape. This counteracts the high acidity of the Frontenac. That sounds like a plan I can work with. I probably would have...

Thanks. The jury is still out on how it will turn out. I currently have a post running in the Wine From Grapes section. The Frontenac Gris looks like it will be good but the Frontenac is a little trickier. The problem is dealing with the higher acidity of cold weather grapes. Also I think I...