WINE GARDEN

[grapeman]

Light frost was predicted for North of us...I covered some of the garden andalso picked the few grapes that were out on the Louise Swenson vines, Edelweiss and Swenson Red even had a few clusters....

I got 15.5# of fruit....surprised me....

The two Louise Swenson vines were loaded...I thought they only had a few clusters...the berries are large and flavorful....

I will ferment them together and have about 1 1/2 gallon batch of Trinity Wine.

As usual, they all look great. That should make an interesting wine. Should turn out a ligh blush color. You could always add a couple bottles of the Beta to give it more color and flavor(if you don't mind that flavor in your wine). Keep us informed. Edited by: appleman

 

[NorthernWinos]

Your going to cringe...that I ruined possibly some good grape juice....I steam juiced it like I always do....Yeah, I know....that many grapes I could have crushed with a potato masher...or my feet.


The juice turned out a nice color tho...just those few Swenson Red gave it a nice blush......will get to it sometime his winter....

 

[jobe05]

NW, Id be interested knowing how the flavor of the grape came through.

You have seen my post regarding the scupppernong that I steamed last year and it had no flavor after fermenting. This year, I tried doing some steamed, some with 1/2 steamed and 1/2 pressed and a batch just all pressed.

All the pressed skins, are in the fermenter while fermenting, none of the steamed skins are being used. The 50/50 batch is finishing now but has little flavor, the pressed batch is still fermenting but so far, seems to be full flavored. So far, I'm finding that steaming this type of grape seems to wash out the flavor, or the Scuppernong flavor is in the skins moreso than in the grape pulp.

I'll keep ya posted, but would be interested in what you find after fermenting.

 

[Wade E]

I like the sound of that NW, Trinity wine, hmmm, I see a label in the future!

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

NW, maybe a silly question, but , do you process the jars after filling, or does the steam process suffice for preserving the juice until your ready for it?

 

[NorthernWinos]

I heat the juice in a big pot to almost the boiling point, pour into sterilized jars, fill to 1/4-1/8th inch and seal with sterilized tops....The jars always seal when you fill them that full....If you want to process the jars fill to 1/2 inch from the toop....

 

[grapeman]

Light frost was predicted for North of us...I covered some of the garden andalso picked the few grapes that were out on the Louise Swenson vines, Edelweiss and Swenson Red even had a few clusters....

I got 15.5# of fruit....surprised me....

The two Louise Swenson vines were loaded...I thought they only had a few clusters...the berries are large and flavorful....

I will ferment them together and have about 1 1/2 gallon batch of Trinity Wine.

I thought I would let you know I just got back from Willsboro. We picked 8 varieties today. One of them was Edelweiss. I got to pick those. There were 4 panels with three vines each. Absolutely loaded vines with bunches up to a pound or so apiece. Remember these are three year old plants and they averaged 30 pounds per vine! I was hoping to get a few of those to try, but ended up with my truck full before I got to those. I'm starting to worry a little about next year. The guy incharge of the technical stuff there was saying he vastly underestimated the crop size there this year. He was going to say those pound estimates he gave were really kilograms

 

[Wade E]

I think some of us would be willing to help lug some away if need be!

Hey, just remember theres a lot of I's in Fine Vine Wines!

Id even be willing to buy some equipment to press it if the grapes were free.

Edited by: wade

 

[NorthernWinos]

We squeaked by frost from what the meteorologists called the Polar Plunge....think it came pretty close, had frost on the garage roof, but all the plants were spared.


The tender garden plants we cover with 2 tarps that are 30' X 50', that's pretty simple with 2 people if it's not too windy. I had covered the last 2 vines with grapes on them, the Frontenac and the King of the North. I hung old blankets over the wires and then put a plastic tarp over that, and tucked it all underneath nice and snug...just in case it froze.


When I uncovered them I noticed that the King of the North grapes were falling off....maybe they don't like temps in the 30*'s...the pup like to eat tehm as well as some pears that fell off the tree in the wind...I picked the grapesand they seemed ripe, but they were only 18-19 Brix...maybe some grapes just don't get any sweeter, they tasted sweet. They are a chance rambunctious seedling that someone propagated...possibley a cross of Concord with something else. They get about 5 times the growth of any other vine we have.....Got 31 pounds of cleaned de-steamed grapes...should get 16-18 quarts of juice...will make a batch of wine sometime this winter.


Don't know if the Frontenac will ever get ripe...they sure are slow...perhaps planting out a row of them this year wasn't a good choice for up here.







Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

I'm glad you escaped the wrath of frost. It got down to 42 right here last night, may get colder tonight and then warm again. Probably that is as high of a brix as King of the North will get. If it is a cross with Concord, that is probably as high as one can expect since Concord don't get real high. That's one reason why wine grapes are used- they get higher sugar concentrations. 4 gallons of juice off one vine is a lot for sure! If you pressed them you would be lucky to get almost three gallons. I can taste it already this winter- yummy.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I often wonder how much of this juice is steam....? Guess it doesn't matter with what I am doing...these juices are kind of strong and need a bit of water anyway.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Looking like fall out in the Wine Garden....


The fall raspberries are still producing, but all will not have time to ripen...

The grape leavesare showing fall colors....

Everbearing strawberries are also producing, but not all of those will ripen either...The garlic is planted and needs mulching....The grape cuttings are growing well...

The small fruiting bushes have grown and the newly set out cuttings are still protected from the rabbits...

Little Johnny JumpUps are growing everywhere...they are the 'weeds' in the grapes....

Strong winds have the last apple tree dropping it's fruits....can't make the juice fast enough to keep up with the 'free-falls'...will be lots of apple wine made this winter...The neighbor took 2 baskets of apples...yeah!!!!

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Wade E]

Looking good there NW, if only we all had that problem of not being able to keep up with the food chain beating us.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Not much left in the Wine Garden...a few raspberries and strawberries. The veggie garden was looking pretty tatered and worn, so have been pulling stuff out....

Don't plant many potatoes, but got a good crop from the ones out there...we like rice and pasta better.

Got some awesome Brussels Sprouts out there...they are suppose to be better after a frost....going to try some tonight...without the frost.

One of these days the seasons are going to decide who's going to take over....meanwhile warm andpossible heavy rain for 3 days in the forecast...Que Sera SeraEdited by: Northern Winos

 

[swillologist]

Winding down here to NW. I still have sweet potatoes to dig yet and a few carrots. Everything else is pretty well done. If we look we can find a tomato that is still good. Most of it is left now for the wildlife.

 

[OilnH2O]

Any frost yet???

 

[NorthernWinos]

There was frost south of us...we are on a ridge and luck out many times.....Some of the cukeleaves were touched on the tops, but the plants were in tough shape....there was frost on the garage roof.


Our field corn could use a frost, some stalks are still green.


I picked the last of the tomatoes and peppers today and pulled up the plastic mulch.....seems like we just planted all that stuff.

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[NorthernWinos]

"SIGH"....Frost likely tonight and tomorrow night....darn..darn...darn...But everything is looking pretty ratty from age, heavy rain and extremely windy conditions....


So...I went out to say goodbye to some little friends and saw this...

The rabbit has almost eaten all of the black currant cutting/plant-lettes I made this past summer...they should all look like the one in the foreground and back ground....

So....

.....being as I like to watch things grow under the lights during the winter I took a few cuttings....

Have nothing to loose and the stems I cut off will likely get browsed off shorter anyway. I put some flags out there and will spread some thicker straw...so may save the base of the plants....gerrr!


The herbs are still nice,fragrant and tasty....

I dragged the potted geraniums into the garage where I will cut the plant back, make cuttings to grow and share and bring the pot into the downstairs for the winter.

The Begonia pots are in the warmer safety of the greenhouse...will get repotted and shared.

So...the end to another growing season is upon us....So it goes.Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[NorthernWinos]

Still no frost...yeah!!!


Spent the afternoon making chicken wire cages to pen up my little darlings...made enough for the Black Currant, Gooseberry and Red Currant cutting/plant-lettes....tucked the straw around them and hope they all survive the pending winter months....Finally saw the sun today...Life is Good!!!!

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Waldo]

NW I just put out some Blueberry plants and some more blackberries. Both were 2 year old plants but being this is so near the end of the season do you think they would benefit or be better protected if I mulch them heavily with some straw.