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I have a few harvest details I thought I'd share. It's still a big learning process for me 😅 So, for starters, I didn't spray anything on my vines this year. This will be the last time I have no spray program in place. Foliar phylloxera had some big impacts this year, and there were a lot of...

Some grapes freeze better than others. I know that Vidal holds up well, not sure about Seyval, is it thick skinned? Here in Ontario ice wine is picked at -8c (17F), usually in January after a few milder freezes.

I think it depends on the site. I grow both Marquette and Petite Pearl, and my Petite Pearl has been more vigorous and productive. I also grow some Crimson Pearl but its not very productive yet (after 4 years). Marquette buds the earliest, Crimson & Marquette ripen around the same time, and...

They don't call Pinot the 'heartbreak grape' for nothing. Here in Eastern Ontario the commercial growers are quite aggressive with sprays, I'd imagine that it's even more difficult in wet areas of the West coast.

Marquette started around July 30th. Crimson Pearl on August 1st. Frontenac on August 4th Petite Pearl on August 7th. Verona on August 9th. Everything is roughly 1 week earlier than last year.

I don't expect to pick my Petite Pearl until the first week of October 😅

> I’m assuming the grape quality is not very good, or this variety would be a lot more popular for as easy as it is to grow It's tricky to make good wine from, the trick is to cold soak and don't allow to ferment to dryness before pressing. Old vine Foch can make excellent wine, I've heard that...

L’Acadie is coming along nicely. It’s the only one I have trained to the lower wire as it has an upward growth habit Nice morning to be out in the vineyard!

It would help to know what you are planting, the answer will be different for Vinifera vs Hybrid and how vigorous the site is Since it's a backyard vineyard I'm assuming you won't need to drive a big tractor down the rows. The minimum row spacing should be the expected height of the vine...

It would help to know where you are located. If in the northeastern US they look like a Concord type of leaf to me.

Vineyard is almost in shape, lots of dandelions! It looks like the Muscat Osceola will be the first to leaf out, with the Marquette not far behind. This location has a cool spring due to Lake Ontario being 2km to the west of the site, so vines tend to leaf later than those located further...

I've got lots of plans this year: fix my trellis, the anchors keep popping out of the ground so I'm switching to a dead man post (I've got shallow soil) Change vine training from umbrella kniffin to a high wire cordon for most of the varieties I grow, it's better suited for the vigour I'm...

Hrmm, maybe heating the vinegar would cause the acetate to evaporate

I bottled some wine a few months ago which seemed fine at the time, but now all bottles have heavy nail polish remover aromas (ethyl acetate I presume). I'm thinking that I can make it into red wine vinegar. Will a resultant vinegar have that nail polish smell still? AFAICT the way to do it...

I ran across this recently, a grape breeder in Quebec found a mutation of Gewurztraminer that is cold hardy and has been using it to breed other cold hardy pure vinifera varieties, having crosses with Chenin Blanc & Carmine. The vines are apparently cold hardy to zone 4a, although some need a...

Ah, sorry to hear about the low survival rates on those vines. Did they die due to a cold winter? I'm in PEC so winters aren't too bad here, just a bit colder than Niagara. Personally I've found Frontenac a bit hard to manage, it's really vigorous at my location but maybe it'd do better...

Hello fellow Ontarian! Where did you source Castel from? I haven't seen it for sale in Ontario. Also what led you to plant Seyve Villard 23-512? I've been interested in Seyve-Villard 18-315 (Villard Noir) if only because it's a permitted grape for VQA wines .. that said I've never found anyone...

2023 wines: 34L rose (Mostly Frontenac Blanc + Noir with a little Crimson Pearl + L'Acadie) 60L red field blend (Marquette + Verona + Petite Pearl) 68L Verona (with a bit of Frontenac Noir) This is my first time making red wine, and is by far the most I've made in a single year.

I've got a red wine that fermented dry several days ago and I haven't yet pressed it, but now I'm thinking it should have been Chapitalized. Adding sugar now should easily restart the yeast already present in the must, but are there any downsides to doing this at the wine's current stage?

I had that last year and assumed splitting due to rain, but then had the same this year in dry weather and have pinned the problem on wasps/hornets. I've watched a number of bald faced hornets crawling through the clusters, and they'll cut right through the skin in a semi-circle around the berry.