Vineyard june 2002 newsletter

A cold and late spring has reduced our crop somewhat and will cause what was not damaged to ripen slightly later. We will also see clusters ripening at slightly different times on the same vine. It is a very good thing that all our grapes are picked by extremely skilled and intelligient people (YOU).

We missed the frost damage from the freezes in April that severely damaged the Paw Paw area of Michigan but we did have a lot of damage from freezing temperatures on the morning of Sunday, May 19, and two days later on May 21.

The only good part of this scenario is that because it has been so cold the bud growth was not as far along as it could have been and the vines are already pushing more buds. The damage seems to be quite varied, some vines that push buds later had less damage and some of the earlier ones have lost all of their primary buds. Most vines have secondary buds that are sometimes fruitful and we hope for a crop from many of these. Since we had a very mild winter the majority of the buds that are left are at least not winter damaged .

Here is a picture of a DeChaunac flower cluster.

Here is a picture of frozen shoots from a late spring frost last year on Mothers Day, 2001. This damage was VERY SEVERE and we lost about 2/3 of our crop. Fortunately this does not happen very often. This is somewhat like what happened to the Michigan Paw Paw area this year.

Here is a good article on how much cold temperatures grapes buds can survive in the spring. How Cold Can Grapes Go?

I have been bottling wine for quite a while with "T-Corks". They are cheap, easy to install & remove. I started using them because I was real busy and I could persuade my daughters to bottle wine for me. (A corker was too hard for them to handle)

I have noticed in the past that some of my wines go bad (oxidise) quicker than they should. I was in the habit of bottling 5 gallons of wine & leaving it up-right in a few bushel basket. (Sometimes it gets disappeared fast anyway). After a while it did not seem to taste as good so I would dump the rest. After all, owning a vineyard gives me access to a lot of fruit.

Earlier this year I bottle a 5 gallon carboy of a Vignoles/Seyval/Cayuga blend and I was very pleased with it. (I have found that Vignoles added to various blends really enhances them.) I left most of the bottles up-right (with t-corks) in a few plastic milk/juice cases with some of them stored on their sides laid on the top. (Sometime this is a dangerous practice with t-corks because the easily leak.) Only a few months later, after enjoying a few bottles, I tried one and it was not good (already oxidising) and was VERY SURPRISED. I went to the basement and pulled a bottle that was laid on its side and tried it. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE! The bottle stored on the side was wonderful and the up-right one was not drinkable.

I knew that wine not stored on it's side will not last as long, but this was the quickest that I have had some go bad. It may have been influinced by a low sulphite count in the wine (I had blended it a year before but did not get back to bottling it untill a year later)

This is just another warning to use proper corks, store wine properly, and adjust sulphite when necessary. Here are some articles on these subjects:

Aging Gracefully Winter 2001 - Winemaker Magazine
Some remarkable changes can occur when a wine is allowed to age - yet not all wines improve with time. A guide to understanding and managing the aging process, from selecting time-worthy wine to storing it properly.

The continuous story of Cayuga Row 34 and how it behaves during this growing season.

This is a picture of the first vine in row 34, taken in January 2002 - Watch it grow during the season.

Meet Cayuga Row 34 (or really the first vine in this row). This will be one of the vines that we will focus on this year, taking pictures of it all during the growing season. You will see it shortly after it is pruned (around Easter), when the buds are swelling and bursting in May, when it blooms in June, when the berries dramatically increase in size in July, when the berries color (although Cayuga is a white grape) in August, and you may be the one to harvest it in September!

In (February) we were able to get a very nice picture of our cayuga vine covered with snow. Near the end of march we will start pruning this vine. We will add to this page during the season as the vine grows.

Cayuga in row 34 before pruning

Same vine after pruning in late march 2002
(click on picture for close-up)

This picture was taken May 6, 2001. It shows Cayuga buds in the "bud swell" stage. Cayuga starts its spring growth somewhat later than DeChaunac or Delaware and had very little frost damage.

	This is a different cayuga vine down the row from our original. The first one was not typical of the row. See how there are not many new shoots and they come from anywhere on the vine rather than on the 5 bud spurs. This is caused by the freeze.
Picture taken on 6/3/02

Click here to go to our more in-depth study of 3 growing vines,
a Cayuga, Delaware & a DeChaunac

Enter your wine in winemaking contests. I have additional information regarding winemaking contests. Many of our customers have won in the past.

Enter the Michigan State Fair Homewinemaking Contest!
(must enter by late July)

Enter the 2002 Indiana International Wine Competition!
(must enter by July 15, 2002)

Enter the 2002 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition!
(must enter by November 8, 2002)

Michigan Wines - This is a very good site about Michigan wines and also has info abour last years Michigan State Fair winners.

Grape Recipe for June

Grape and Green Tomato Chutney

Put the tomato slices in a 5-quart saucepan. Peel and dice the apples and add them to the tomatoes. Add the onions, sugar, vinegar, raisins and salt. Mix well. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes.
Add the red pepper flakes, mustard seed, dry mustard, ginger and grapes to the hot mixture. Cook for about 30 minutes longer, or until mixture is thick.

Pack chutney into hot sterilized jars, preferable 1-cup size. Seal at once. Makes 2 pints.

2 lbs. Green tomatoes, sliced
4 tart apples
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup chopped onions
2 ¾ cups dark brown sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup seedless raisins
½ tsp. hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. Finely chopped fresh ginger
3 cups green seedless grapes