Vineyard october newsletter 2002

Our Harvest has been under way for about a month and we will be closing our Farm Market very soon. It has been a very different year - quickly selling out of many varieties due to the short crop caused by spring frosts. We have not been able to press as much juice for winemakers as we usually do. It has also been a very rewarding year, talking to many interesting customers and making plans for the future. We have decided to plant some more vines, such as concord, vignoles and also a new vine called Frontenac, a red wine for winemakers.

Our season is very short and we may close early so please check back frequently - or better yet, subscribe to our “Picking Updates” for e-mail notification.

Click here to see pictures of grape picking at the vineyard!

In September we also send out our “Weekly Up-Dates”, there are only four of them and our “Up-Dates” subscribers can also win a bushel of grapes from a weekly drawing. If you are interested in picking grapes you should make sure you are a subscriber. All newsletters are FREE!

All you need to do is click here and subscribe to our newsletter.

Visit our on-line Candle Shop.
You may now purchase more than 70 types of candles, wax items or gift boxes and have them shipped directly to your house - ALL YEAR!
Visit us on line & see what we have available. Our website has expanded dramatically and we have been shipping candles to people all over the US.

We will not be able to have everything at our sales stand - so if you are coming out for grapes & honey, you may want to e-mail us a candle order & I will have it ready for you to pick up at our sales stand.

COMMODITY PRICES

U-Pick Grapes
1-19 lbs. .70/lb.
½ bu (20 lbs.) or more .55/lb.
5 bu (200 lbs.) or more .49/lb.
10 bu. (400 lbs.) or more .42/lb.

Red & White Blended Juice
$10.75/gallon
Single Variety Winemaking Juice:
Red & White wine - Most Varieties
5 gallon pails @ $50.00 ea.
(sold out for this year)

(An average person can pick from
1 to 3 bu/hr - bring lots of friends)

1 1/2 bushel (60lb) makes 5 gal wine

Generic Winemaking Juice
Red & White wine blend

5 gallon pails @ $46.00 ea.
(sold out for this year)

Call (810) 796-3253 in the evenings to order juice or
click her to order on-line

Large amounts of grapes are quite easy to pick. Most pickers (depending on variety) can pick from 1 to 2 or more bushels per hour. Bring your friends and get quantity discounts.

White Wine Notes ... I have had good luck the last few years with making a soft (or slightly sweetened) white wine with Cote Des Blancs yeast (available at the vineyard.) It doesn’t like to ferment very much past 12%. Adjust your juice sugar level for 12% alcohol & ferment with Cote Des Blancs yeast. 1 month later add 8 oz. sugar per gallon of wine, then crush and add 2 to 3 cambden tablets per gallon, let stabilize 6 months. Many people also add potassium sorbate at this time (1 gram per gallon). (Not foolproof, but often works)

New Research on Honey in Winemaking ... Cornell University in Geneva, New York, has just released new information on the use of honey in wine. The recent discovery that adding honey to apple juice helps retard browning led them to winemaking experiments. They found that adding ¼ to ¾ pounds of honey per gallon (or use instead of any sugar additions), helps clarify the wine, prevents browning and acts as a natural preservative. I used it in Cayuga & Vignoles wines. It helps a lot!

VISA - MASTERCARD WELCOME

Remember! Our season is very short - only 5 - 6 weekends - mark your calendars & visit us!

Directions to our Farm

An Interview with John Bishop - Winemaker

I thought it would be interesting to interview some of the people who pick grapes at our vineyard and make wine. John Bishop is very typical of many of our winemakers. He was hesitant at first to be quoted as he said he was definetly not an "expert." That is exactly why I picked him. He is very similar to the majority of our winemakers.

John and I were talking down by our sales stand one day with customers about when they made their first batch of wine. He mentioned that his first wine was in 1960. (I was still in Jr. High) I thought that anyone who has been making wine for more than 40 years is worth listening to. He has made many types of wine in the past, such as apple, blackberry, cherry, and dandelion but prefers grape wine.

John picked about 600 lbs of grapes this year, mostly DeChaunac, Seneca & Buffalo. He makes them is separate batches and stores them in 5 gallon glass carboys. He said he does not like to use barrels since they are hard to clean, get moldy and quite often smell like vinegar. Most of the time he bottles in champagne bottles that friends have given him.

Most of his sugar correcting is done by taste and he prefers to only use a vinometer to test the final alcohol content. Most of his wines are from 11% to 13%. He usually uses wine yeast such as montrachet, but this year he even threw in some bread yeast to see what would happen. Even when he does 20 gallon batches he finds differences in each 5 gallon carboy.

When asked what his favorite grape here is, he said the DeChaunac. He said the biggest problem here is that the grapes get picked out too soon. (We are trying to remedy that with more acreage being planted.)

When asked about other interests John said he sings in the Symphonia Chorale in Romeo, is also a beekeeper, and enjoys walking every morning with his wife.

With all of these interest, how can you go wrong.

I would really like to encourage every winemaker to subscribe to winemaker magazine. This may sound like a paid advertisement but it is not - although I do have and ulterior motive. This magazine is so valuable to home winemakers that I really believe that if you subscribe and read it you will buy more Michigan grapes (there is my motive).

Some of this months articles are: Concord Conquered, Mead Made Easy, Trouble Free Fermentation, Fill it Up! (bottling), Tips from the Pros, The Wine Wizard, Wine Kits, Techniques - How to make an Ice Wine! and more.

The magazine costs $22.00 for 1 year (6 issues) and is worth every penny. Go to www.winemakermag.com to subscribe.

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Enter the 2002 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition! Click here for their feature article!

The best homemade wines from across North America and around the world will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in 51 categories awarded by a panel of experienced wine judges. Enter your wines and compete against the continent's best home winemakers! You can gain international recognition for your winemaking skills and get valuable feedback on your wines from the competition's judging panel.

Entry Deadline: November 8, 2002.

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Here are some more great articles from Sandra Silfven's Wine Website at the Detroit News:

Michigan wine facts - A lot of good information about Michigan Winemaking!

Chateau Valerio

I just received a note from Valerio Poliuto. He has picked grapes from us in the past and has started a winery in Clinton Township, Michigan.

Although most of his wines are made from California grapes, he also has concoctions squeezed from Macomb County plums, Traverse City cherries and even jalapeno peppers. "You can't get this anywhere else in the country, perhaps the world," said Poliuto of his Chateau Valerio Salsa Wine, made from jalapenos, tomatoes, onions and garlic and meant for marinating or serving with spicy food.

Inspired by the wine his family produces in the Lazio region in central Italy, Poliuto first made and bottled wine at his home in 1992 and brought it to insurance clients as a way to break the ice. Eaight years later he obtained a winemaker's licens and bought property for a vineyard and showroom.

The vineyard, tucked behind a golf course and adjacent to a mini-market on Moravian Drive, boasts two arching iron Chateau Valerio signs and tidy rows of French hybrid grapevines, which should be ready for winemaking in a few years. The whole thing looks like a slice of Napa slotted snugly into the Macomb landscape.

"I invite everyone I know to come here and find a sense of peace," said Poliuto, who plans to move the winery from his home to the new vineyard. "A Vineyard can be a very serene place."

Valerio Poliuto
Chateau Valerio Vineyards
39085 Moravian
Clinton Township, MI 48036
phone: (586) 709-8989 fax: (586) 465-6633
email: chateauvalerio@yahoo.com

October Grape Recipe - Nauvoo Bleu Breasts (serves 6)
(Recipe is re-printed with permission from St. Julian's Website)

Saute olive oil, butter and green onions for 4 minutes. Add chicken breasts and cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes. Remove chicken to another plate and keep warm. Add cream, bleu cheese, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and chives, stirring until cheese is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the chicken and serve with sauce on top. Add some bleu cheese crumbled on top. This is rich and wonderful over rice.