Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[NorthernWinos]

We've had an old fashioned winter the old folks talk about....One to remember...Been hard on the wood supply, we do have a couple or three dead oaks in the yard should hard times set in.

Jim had a guy plow a road out to the fish house today. Took 3½ hours, really tough going...Lots of snow out there....The guy said he won't come back. Jim didn't go to the house with our pickup, he said he'd have to drive 100 feet through water 1 foot deep that was under the snow in a spot....He's hoping it will freeze now that it is exposed to the air....Good ice underneath. 3 more weeks of fishing....

On the plus side...YES...the days are noticeably longer...This is always a good thing...Don't feel guilty about having good weather....we all get our turn....Maybe.

 

[dragonmaster42]

So there's water under the snow thats over the ice that's over the water?

Sorry, cold medicine is kicking in..... ha


Just curious, since I've never been ice fishing or up in your neck of the woods, how do you know when the ice is too thin to go out onto to fish?

 

[NorthernWinos]

The frozen lake has flooded in places from the weight of the snow...There is always cracks in the ice and the water seeps up when the weight pushes down.

The snow is deeper in places....People drive and make roads, plowed roads leave ridges of snow...The snow drifts from the winds and is deeper there and makes for more weight.

The water under the snow is insulated from the cold...
Guess that sounds kind of odd...

This year the guys walked out and fished when the ice was about 6 inches...I didn't go out till it was 8 inches or so.
We drive out once the ice is 12 to 15 inches thick...providing it is 'good ice'.
'Good ice'.... is ice that froze without any snow...it is harder and stronger.

The first time you drive out on a frozen lake it does give you a creepy feeling.

Actually ice fishing and spearing is probably a weird sport... But, it would be long winters without it.

 

[OilnH2O]

Dragonmaster, here's how you know if the ice is too thin

 

[grapeman]

I think we lucked out here again with this latest storm. We came in with the lesser amount of the predictions with about 10-12 inches of snow here. The wind has been blowing quite a bit so there is some drifting going on. My truck looked almost like that this AM OilnH20 only it was parked on land not under water - and the top of the cab was covered also

I'm running out of places to push the snow when plowing. I may need to get a loader i to pile the snow higher.


I'm looking forward to the coming week in a couple days. Highs are up into the 30's and lows in the teens and 20's. Heat Wave!!!!!!

 

[gaudet]

Dragonmaster, here's how you know if the ice is too thin

Just a subtle hint eh????

 

[dragonmaster42]

NW - Interesting. That makes sense with the snow insulating. I know when we've gotten ice with snow following it always takes longer for everything to thaw out. Never was crazy about cold weather, but catching some of the fishyou've had pictures of looks like fun!


We lucked out too,with the storm that went through the day before. The upper half of the state got anywhere from 2-3 inches or more of ice. Just had a few icy spots in the roads in the lower half where I am.




OilnH20 - LOL!! Yep, I'd say that ice is too thin! Hate to explain that one to the insurance agent....


BTW Appleman, I noticed your location has changed to Italy.On vacation?

 

[grapeman]

We had an overnight low as a record high for the date if that makes sense

. It got to 44 and then got colder this morning.


Since the buds had thawed overnight I just went out on a damage assessment survey. Things at this point are pretty much as expected with our coldest temperature of -22.4 degrees F this year. You would expect USDA Zone 4 vines to be OK, but Zone 5 or higher should show a lot of damage. That is exactly what I found. Zone 3 and Zone 4 vines are fine with most of the buds green inside after checking with a razor on a number of canes.


Zone 5 and 6 vines only show live buds very close to the ground where they were covered with snow. All buds above 24 inches above the ground are dried out and brown. Some tertiary buds may grow. Since this was a rare occurance this year and may not happen again, I need to decide if I want to regrow the vines for bearing next year or replace them with more cold hardy vines. Right now I am leaning towards keeping them, but I won't increase their numbers.


This is very valuable information to get at this point since I am preparing to plant a number of acres of vines soon. I want to be sure that the vines I increase are sturdy enough to stand our coldest winters here and ripen fruit well. These cold hardy vines will form the base of my larger vineyard. As I find varieties I like that will handle the cold, I can increase those later as desired.


What are you guys seeing out there?

 

[OilnH2O]

Rich, I was in Buffalo on the 5th and 6th and folks laughed about how it was colder there (got to -6 overnight) than when I left Montana! I thought of you and was glad to get back here to the lows in the +20's and highs in the mid 30's -- but I worry now (see, too much information!) about the freeze/thaw cycle. Even if I lose all 25 of the PN vines from last year, it is/will be interesting to see just what does make it. I look forward to seeing what those different zone plants do, so, thanks for keeping us all in the loop. (Wear your mittens...)

 

[grapeman]

And next year you will be -25 degrees Fin Montana and we will be at the temps you have this year

Or at least I hope we are warmer!


What on earth were you doing in Buffalo this time time of year?

 

[OilnH2O]

Working on a consultant contract with a firm there - in and out - but saw the Sabres beat the Maple Leafs, and that was fun.

 

[grapeman]

The weather has warmed up some here and begun to melt the snow. It has been in the 50's three days in a row now. It melted down pretty good so I went out yesterday for a while and began pruning some more. I worked in Frontenac pruning for VSP. I figured I could do the Frontenac since there isn't any bud damage with them. They prune quickly and look good when done. It was nice again today, but it was pretty sloppy out in it so I didn't prune.


I finished getting my wines together for the WineMaker Magazine competition. I just had to enter my Mosti Mondiale Renaissance Amarone wine. The rest of the wines are mostly from 2007. I am entering them as varietals since I kept all of them at least 75% the main variety.


Whites-


1. Adalmiina (ES 6-16-30) - includes 25% LaCrescent -2007
2. Petite Amie - 15% LaCrescent - 2007
3. LaCrescent - 100% - 2007
4. St. Pepin - 10% LaCrescent , 15% Adalmiina - 2007
5. Chardonel - 100% Chardonel - 2008 - bone dry brimming with apples,pears and citrus. Just a touch of Seval character.


Reds


1. Sabrevois - 100% Sabrevois 2007 - oaked
2. Leon Millot - 100% Leon Millot 2007 -oaked


2007 Mosti Mondiale Renaissance Amarone - special tweak


So there you have it for my entries to this year's competition. Now a couple months until they announce the winners and more importantly give some evaluation notes!

 

[NorthernWinos]

proud of your accomplishments already...
Winning would just be the icing on the cake..

 

[Wade E]

Looking good buddy, now why is that cape blowing around, did you eat beans again?

 

[mjdtexan]

Ok, I am only on page 18 of this thread right now. You must be having a blast with all of those vines and apple trees not to mention the tomatos and peppers. I saw where you rented an auger earlier and I said to myself, "he does nothave a tractor, I wander why?". Then on page 18 I see you havea tractor. You, my friend, need a 3 point auger. I really would like to do two rows of 10 vines in each row just to see if I have it in me. I dont even know ifin one could grow grapes in my neck of the woods. I am off to try and finish reading the rest of this thread now that NASCAR is over for the day. Sure would like to eat one of dem dere apples.

 

[Waldo]

Nice selection for the competition appleman. How are you shipping yours?

 

[grapeman]

I got an e-mail today that was pleasantly received. Last November I prepared a grant proposal for studying improving quality of cold hardy wine grapes through training systems and canopy management. The idea is to study the feasability of this improvement to see if the quality of the harvested grapes can be improved to increase the quality and thus the value of the wine made from these grapes. I was hoping this could get some funding through the SARE Grant system for Sustainable Agriculture.
My project was one of 23 out of 77 approved for funding. WooHooo!

This will help me with expenses to gather this valuable information for others. I love compiling the data collected from my research. I will be performing this work in my vineyard at my home, gathering harvest weights and other pertinent data as well as recording growth stages, etc during the growing season. I don't want to bore anyone too much with the details, but as I gather this information I will share with others here- probably in a new post.

 

[Wade E]

Good for you Rich, what does the grant provide you?

 

[grapeman]

Wade it provides funding for my labor, consultants, and hosting field seminars to promote the results. That's simplified, but the details are to follow sometime.

 

[Wade E]

Thats very cool Rich!