Pruning season is soon, new vines are ordered

 

Pictures of last years pruning acitivity.

 

The pruning and planting season in the vineyard will be starting real soon.

The day after Easter, March 28th, we have about 20 high school youths that are out of school for their spring break out to the vineyard to prune and plant. We we have more pictures of their work in next month's newsletter.

Click here for pictures of last years crew......

More vines have been ordered. Due to the demand from our customers we are planting 6 more rows of red and white grapes for juice and wine.

Making Red Wine at the Farm - (Continued)

This is a continuation of a story that we started in September 2003 - showing how we make wine at our farm.

September 2003 - Many years we are so busy, and the grapes are sold so quickly we tend to take whatever is left for our own wine. This year I decided that I wanted some Baco-Foch red wine so I had some picked before our customers picked them first.     To continue from the start of the 2003 story...... Fall - 2004    Sandy Paetz, our MSU wine student (just a kid in his 50's), and I were sampling some of the wine and decided that it needed some treatment. The wine was a little high in acid to taste. (I did not really measure it like I should of - but tested it by tasting.) We decided to treat the wine with Calcium Carbonate to reduce the acid and also add some ground oak chips for a little oak flavor.
March 2005 - The wine is now ready to bottle. The two 10 gallon carboys are racked the final time and blended together.
Wine bottles are soaked and washed in a sink. People ask us where we get our bottles - We always tell them to go to a wine store and buy them (full) and drink the free wine that comes with the bottle that you purchased. After a few years of drinking wine you will have plenty of bottles.
The bottles are washed with a simple bottle washer that can be purchased at any winemaking supply store.
We made these bottle draining racks many years ago. You can really use anything you want.
We recycle (save old corks) and re-use them. It is a good idea to soak them in boiling water to soften them before use. The wine is racked into individual bottles and then corked.
The finished product. This wine ended up being a nice light red wine of about 11% alcohol. Bully Hill Vineyards makes a very nice red wine called "Bulldog Baco" - Maybe that is what we will call this wine. Most of the time we do not have to take the steps to reduce acidity like we did with this wine. The grapes in 2003 had a hard time ripening and the acidity in Baco Noir tends to run high by itself. Even though we added oak 2 times I still did not notice the oak flavor in this wine. ??Maybe the oak chips were old?? This is what makes winemaking fun - you can experiment and then consume the final produce.
For further information view our downloadable "Winemaking Booklet". This is a booklet that we hand out at our farm to help winemakers get started. Click here to view the whole story so far............ The Vineyard Winemaking Booklet (pdf file) Home Wine Making in the East Mead Making Winemaking Resources

 

Spring Issue Grape Recipe
Cato's Grape Bread

Yield: 4 Servings Ingredients:

4 cup Unbleached, all-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Lard, shortening, or butter Melted and cooled
1/4 cup Feta cheese, crumbled and Mashed into a paste
1 tsp Cumin seed, ground
1 tsp Anise, ground
1 1/2 cup Grape juice, purple or white
1 pkt Dry yeast
8 x Bay leaves

Method:

1) Place the flour, lard, mashed cheese, ground cumin and anise, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Blend well. Add the grape juice and mix the dough well for 2-3 minutes until all the grape juice is absorbed and evenly distributed. The dough will be damp and sticky, but no internal dry areas should appear by the end of the mixing. If they do, mix a few minutes more or add a little more grape juice and mix again.

2. Let the dough rest 5 minutes. Now sprinkle 1 or 2 tbsp. flour over the dough and knead, either in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and only slightly sticky. Add more flour if needed. Let the dough rest 2 minutes.

3. The dough should now be very smooth and easy to handle. Knead 30 seconds more, return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with a dish towel or large plate, and let rise at room temperature for at least 3 hours.

4. Sprinkle top with flour, punch down, and form the dough into 4 rectangular loaves (4 in. by 2 in. by 2-1/2 in.). Place two bay leaves on the bottom of each loaf, and lay them, leaf side down, on a greased cookie sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour, until well risen.

5. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 35 minutes, until the loaves are brown on top and make a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom. Serve when cool.

NOTE: To make these breads without leavening, omit the yeast, knead the dough thoroughly, then bake at 350 degrees for about 2 hours.

They will be chewy and moist, and very foreign to our taste. The Romans thought unleaven bread was manlier and much better for the digestion.

Do you have a great grape recipe - please

and we will put it in our newsletter.

Candle W*nner & Laugh of the Month

Congratulations!

Early Spring candle winner: barbsherlock@comcast.###

Will this months w*nner,
barbsherlock@comcast.###
please contact us and send your address so that I can ship your candles.

Our list of previous candle w*nners.

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Click below for something silly to end this newsletter with.

Laugh of the month: Strongbad Characters: Marzipan

See You Next Month!

Honeyflow Farm Main Page

Honeyflow Farm
4939 Mill Rd.    PO Box 275
Dryden, Michigan 48428
(810) 796-2344 (Phone & Fax)

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