The danger of Frost gave way to sun and growth and greenery almost instantly. Our vineyards were lucky indeed. We escaped the frost with only a minor damage around the periphery. The vines are just loaded with buds (unlike last year; on May 6 a killing frost cut our harvest in half). Now we have […]
The Endless Summer Stretches Ahead Read More »
The triple demands of life intersected last night. Tired from my day job, but warmly enscnced in my Toronto den and watching the NHL Playoff game with my Hockey Daughter, I also monitored a frost warning in Prince Edward County (via Twitter #PECfrost). A hard frost in late Spring is bad for the vineyard. In
Frost in the Vineyard Read More »
These unassuming buried sticks hide so much latent potential. Inside every grapevine bud is a tiny copy of a fully formed vine – tendrils, grape clusters, and leaves. To reach full size it only needs sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients from the soil. Budbreak was May 2 in the Pinot Noir blocks. In a
Beginning of Growth Read More »
Our new Winery means we can share our wine, and our County dream, with other people! Wine enthusiast and blogger Joe Hache from www.princeedwardcountywineries.com reached out to us with a great idea. Why not host a whole busload of wine enthusiasts before we even open? The Opimian Society, Ottawa chapter. And so, after a frantic
“…like an upturned snow globe!” enthused the country music station as I turned off Wooler road and onto Loyalist Parkway, headed towards our vineyard. True enough, old man Winter still has the vineyard in his grip, although it’s officially Spring. But good thing for Winter, it gives us a nice breather. After all that rest
Spring in the County Read More »
We’re almost there! Our first wine, our first label. In the background, there is the outline of a vine ball made by John, one of the many indespensible people who have helped us with our winemaking dreams. Design of the label and logo by Kyle McGuire. I didn’t fully appreciate how detail-oriented you have to
Our hard-won grapes are now officially a young wine. From this point to bottling it’s a 8 month journey past a series of relatively easy wine making milestones. Fortunately it’s a quiet path. The other half of our project – growing kids in the city – really starts to take off this time of year.
Two weeks after fermentation begins, the must stops bubbling and all the skins sink to the bottom of the fermentation vat. It’s time to press the wine and put it into a stainless steel tank. Winemaking is rich with odours, textures, and images. I can only share the images. You’ll have to imagine the rest,
We have two small vineyards planted at the front and the back of our property. We call the front “the Magic Hill” and the back “the Back Acher”. We had big hopes for The Back Acher this year as the vines were coming into production for the first time. But Nature, capriciously, decided to send
World’s most expensive grapes Read More »
Saturday it was a busy day. Eight hardy workers arrived at the crack of dawn early to take grapes off our magic hill vineyard. A flatbed trailer arrived from Central Fabricating with our wine making equipment shortly thereafter. With clever ingenuity and two helpers to bucket must from the crusher destemmer into the fermentor, we
Let the wine making begin Read More »