Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[grapeman]

It has been a bit since I got any pictures so I will just post a bunch here. A couple showing what looks like great Marquette. Then there are some showing what we ran into with them and all season- rot! A lot of grapes went to waste, but I was still able to make a fair amount of wine. With any luck I should be all picked in another week. Then there are a few inside the winery showing some of the primaries (brutes). Then a couple of some of the Flextanks I got this year. One shows how I will fill them from the brutes- with the vacuum system. I only need to hook the second hose with the racking can and turn it on. I tested it to full vacuum with no collapse. Hopefully it will work great. I will report on that in a day or so when I actually do it.

 

[ibglowin]

So sad about all the Marquette! Just too much rain?

Winery is growing like gang busters for sure. Have you finished or done much else to the tasting room this Summer?

 

[AlFulchino]

glad your almost done w harvest Rich...you will have time to breath at that point...there is a new fruit fly in new england now...my friend at UNH said it came from the south and west..it is dropping the eggs onto good fruit and when they hatch they are burrowing into the fruit while the traditional fruit fly depends on already openned fruit..he was recommending the speeding up of harvest on some slightly under ripe fruit so that people had time to get the juice and also get the whole harvest in

all the best..let us know how your vacuuming of the must after press works getting into the tanks w/o clogs....

 

[Wade E]

Bummer about the rot Rich. How did all the other grapes hold out with all this crappy rain?

 

[grapeman]

I have been battling rot and mold and bees and splitting all season long. The grapes aren't as ripe as I would like, but I have had to pick sooner rather than later on all varieties. The Frontenac had been holding up pretty good, but today even they were molding badly and about 1/3 to 1/2 were thrown away as we picked. Tomorrow we pick the Niagara and if any time left some more Frontenac.



Al, I have racked after pressing with whites using vacuum and you do clog once in a while, but keeping the cane off the bottom helps. I also wear work shoes while racking. I never wear clogs to rack.

 

[grapeman]

I almost forgot............ the marmorated stinkbug also came in on Irene with the wind. I saw a swarm of young ones a couple days after the storm and now there are adults showing up all over. Then the ladybugs have also moved in and are feeding on the grapes. Now don't forget the hard frost tomorrow night also- about 29 expected.


I really think I will be glad if I make it through this year....

 

[AlFulchino]

we have tallied about 32000 pounds thus far....versus 16k last yr....i was in over my head so i asked customers and friends and they were a huge help!..could not have done it w/o them....yesterday we crushed and destemmed 6000 pounds and then pressed and pressed and presses...today was rainy so it was a rack and bottling day...tommorrow we man the press again...been using some tem food barrels until my next round of aging tanks arrive ( hopefully next week)..it is a tiring time of year...but then again none of it was spent in a traffic jam to and from some workplace

 

[BonnieJoy]

Rich - that just stinks to have lost so much of your crop! The weather severity and swings has been about as bad as I can ever recall. On a more positive note, your winery is really looking good. Like those flextanks.

 

[Runningwolf]

Rich sorry to hear about the harvest, it has certainly been a challenging year for you. Winery looks great!

 

[rrawhide]

wow Rich you be comin' on strong!!! Stay healthy and get some rest too!!


Good luck


Rick

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Rich, that's amazing to hear of your losses to mold and rot. I would have imagined that your careful spray program would have kept things in check. It is a testament to how bad the weather events have been right from the start last spring, wet and cool then, soaking wet at the end now. That is a lot of good fruit lying on the ground. Now I don't feel so bad about the disease pressure I battled for the last two months, obviously I wasn't the only one. I hope your season turns out positively for you with great wine and good sales.

 

[grapeman]

Bill this year no amount of spraying alone was enough to afford protection. We had 8 inches of rain in May and June each, then it was too dry for July and August and then 8 inches of rain again in September, which swelled the fruit so fast they split, allowing for penetration of the spores. We have only 3 varieties left to pick and should have about 20 percent more than last year when done, so it isn't as bad as it could have been.


In farming.............. there is always next year!

 

[AlFulchino]

and there is wine to drink this winter

 

[grapeman]

Update on the vacuum racking to the flextanks. It does not work. I tried it this afternoon. When I got the wine almost to the tank, it sucked the crown of the tank down and the sides bowed in under only 5 inches of vacuum. I cannot recommend doing it as a result of this. I used my pump instead which uses a one inch food grade hose. It took 20 minutes to pump 3 partial Brutes to fill a 70 gallon tank.

 

[Wade E]

Oh well, at least you were prepared with the heavy duty back up! Thanks for being the guinea pig! LOL

 

[AlFulchino]

i know this my flex's cant be vacuumed either tried thata few yrs ago hehehehe

 

[grapeman]

The funniest part of the test vacuuming is what I did a few days ago. I had read where people had done it with the 30 gallon ones so I figured I would try it. I rigged up a fitting to put on the lid. I hooked up the machine and turned it on, expecting it to take a while to draw vaccum. I gave it a few seconds and looked at the guage- 20 something inches of vaccum. AH sucess, it held!!!


Today I hooked it all up, started to draw wine and it was taking forever to draw it up through the tube. When it got to about 5 inches, the wine was about a foot away from the opening and it held there. I thought well maybe I bumped the orange cap and it isn't tight so I pushed down slightly to seat it. Almost immediately, POP, down whent the crowned top of the tank and the side sucked in a bit. I quickly turned it off and said "Oh sh*take Mushroom"


I then had and AH Hahhhh moment! When I tested it I hadn't drilled out the opening in the top of the tank fitting yet, so when I tested it, all I was testing was my fitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wade E]

You silly!

 

[AlFulchino]

cool!!!! good for you!!!!!

 

[grapeman]

Sorry for the page bump but I want the post to start a new page.