Kennell Estates Vineyard & Winery

[fivebk]

I've got to find a place first

BOB

 

[grapeman]

Simply amazing they could survive that. I hope they give you a decent crop after all your hard work over the last few years.

 

[fivebk]

Update on my vines

Well, after all the flooding last year out of 4 rows of vines I only lost 1 row (vignoles) Edelwiess, Frontenac Gris, Brianna and St. Croix all survived.

Here are some pics

 

[ibglowin]

Fantastic Bob!

Are the grapes still yours or did you sell the property?

 

[grapeman]

Wow, those babies are good sized for already this year! Amazing!

 

[winemaker_3352]

Very nice indeed - I am so sorry you had to experience the flood last year...

 

[TxBrew]

I am originally from Iowa and it has such pristine agriculture land, why is it not a dominate AVA? The winters? Soil just not good for wine grapes?

 

[ibglowin]

Bob could tell you better than me but he isn't online as much as he used to be so I will try and quickly fill in the blanks. I believe the grapes and land are actually back in MO just across the MO river. The house, land and of course the vines spent all last Summer under many feet of water as the COE opened up the levee and flooded all the area for miles. Bob and his family were forced to vacate the house and land and found a new home just across the river in IA. There are some amazing (but sad) pictures of the land and house under water if you go back through some of the pages of this thread. Bob came over from the FVW Forum. They just don't come any nicer than him and we could sure use a few more like him these days.

 

[fivebk]

Mike, Thanks for all the nice comments. The ground is mine untill the grapes are harvested, then sadly I have to dig them up because I am in the process of selling the ground to a long time neighbor ( who is also a farmer ). By this time next year it will all be farm ground.

Here are some pics of what I've been up to lately

 

[ibglowin]

So sad to see Bob but fully understand that you don't ever want to go through that again. I hope you have great success at transplanting the vines or at least perhaps getting cuttings to try and root. Either way Rich is your man with advise on how to proceed if possible. I hope the harvest is a good one and that the wine produced is more sweet than bitter in the end.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I hate to see that - but like Mike said - one can understand not wanting to endure that again.

Good like with the grapes this year and keep us posted!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Bob glad to see you posting again. Very sad to see the house go but glad to see you moving on after all those years there. Good luck on moving the grapes.

 

[fivebk]

Veraison to harvest

Good morning everyone,

I have a quick question that I know someone can answer for me.

My St. Croix grapes have started veraison. About 50% of the grapes have turned color.

Roughly how long do I have untill they should be ready to harvest???
When they get there what brix should I be shooting for???

My frontenac gris grapes have started to blush
Same question When should they be ripe and at what brix should they be harvested???

Thanks

BOB

 

[ibglowin]

Perhaps Rich will chime in here Bob. I know he is pretty busy these days. Do you have a refractometer? You will need one to check Brix levels.

 

[grapeman]

I don't know how I missed this yesterday Bob. It is really difficult to tell how long until they are ripe, especially this year. I suspect it will be a few weeks, but a lot depends on temps during that time. Keep checking them for sugar. St Croix will likely ripen around 20 brix or so. If you can check the pH of a bit of juice, that will tell you more. As it getsw ripe, the pH will rise quickly to 3.8 or so. St Croix also has a good indicator of ripeness in that it will get extremely juicey when ripe. The skin will be very tender and if you squish the grape a bit, it will turn to almost pure juice.

 

[fivebk]

Thanks guys,

I know there are a lot of variables. I started to get a little concerned because I am leaving on a trip in less than two weeks and will be gone about 8 days. I sure would hate to get home and find them all gone to waste.

I put my netting on them this last weekend. Should have been watching them a little closer, because the birds had already started to work on them.

I do have both a refractometer and a ph meter and will watch them closely.

The weather here has finally cooled down (back to normal anyway) we need rain bad. The grapes are going to be a little small I fear because of the lack of rain.

Any crop will make me feel good (being it will be my first and last off these vines)

BOB

 

[fivebk]

Well, I got home today from the trip I went on with the gospel group I'm in. We had a great time performing on the way to Colorado as well as performing at a park one evening in Estes Park, Co. The mountains were awesome as always, the house we rented was awesome, and the fellowship with friends was priceless.

Now for the "BAD NEWS" I went to the farm this afternoon to check on the grapes only to find that they had all went to waste. I guess 100-105 degree temps for the last I don't know how many days was enough to cause my grapes to ripen faster than anyone could have expected.

My grape growing experience has been less than stellar....... three years growing, training, pruning and learning, one year of flooding and this year a drought with excessive heat.

I have come to believe over the last few years that everything happens for a reason. I now know that I was to learn what that..... " labor of love "...... that every grape grower goes through..... was all about, but that I was not meant to raise any grapes of my own.

I now have a new found respect for every grape grower out there.

I will probably order some fresh grapes this fall and continue to learn all I can about winemaking......

BOB

 

[ibglowin]

Perhaps you were not meant to raise "those" grapes. Never give up. Never surrender! Start over. Learn from your past.

Life is all about rebirth!

Glad you had a fantastic time in CO.

 

[grapeman]

Sorry the grapes were lost Bob, but if you had a great time then you truly won. Plus you had all the great experiences of growing the crop. Farming is all about the growing process and harvest is seldom assured. Last year we had a great crop growing, and then lost almost half of it to the storms right at harvest time.

A farmer gets up after being knocked down, dusts off the dirt and starts over. Maybe your calling is with the church group. Somebody else will always take the risk and grow the grapes if you can get enjoyment and self fulfillment out of the gospel group.

 

[fivebk]

Hi guys,

Last weekend my youngest daughter went to a wedding and at the reception she started talking to an old friend she had not seen for awhile. He told her that they had just purchased a place and there was a vineyard on the property. They had been trying to find someone to use the grapes before they all went to waste. Brittney told him that I made wine and would probably want some grapes......he gave her my number. I called the next day and arranged to go get some grapes. When I got there I found that he had 30 rows 300ft long divided into what I think are 3 different varieties. Two red and one white. I checked the brix and found one of the reds to be ready to harvest ( some grapes in this bunch were even starting to raisin). With no crusher/de-stemmer I crushed and de-stemmed enough that I now have 12 gallons of must that I added a yeast starter to last night.

With none of the posts marked how do I determine what varieties of grapes these are???

Can they be sent off and tested to find out what they are. The owners have a call into a guy that helped establish the vineyard. Hopefully he can remember what they are

I got fresh grapes after all...... I just don't know what I have..... LOL !!!!!

I tried to pay them some for the grapes, but they said they were just going to go to waste this year anyway so just use what you can. I plan to go back again !!!!

BOB