Harvest 2005 Vineyard Newsletter

We spoke to many people this year - I thought we would mention a few of them.

Allan Griggs found me back at the barn and we had a very interesting conversation. He grows 5 acres of grapes in Oklahoma. The climate is very different from ours! He has a store called "The Merc," located in Oklahomas panhandle near Black Mesa State Park.
His website ....

Jim Lemire is an old friend of ours. He brought us a bottle of his "Vineyard Red."

Jim contributed the crusher-stemmer that our customers our now using. That originally was used at "Bailey Vineyards" in Troy, back in the 70's.

Jim has also contributed article to our site in the past.

Nuveau Wine
How to tell the Ripe from the Not Ripe

Paul Sbraccia won a gold medal at the Michigan State Fair last year with a White Concord-Steuben-Buffalo wine.

Paul is a member of Richmond Worthogs - his email message is below:

"Richmond Worthogs is a homebrew club of 20 or so members who meet monthly to discuss homebrew styles, techniques, recipes, activities, and equipment for home fermentation of beer and wine.

More importantly, we meet to share our homemade beverages. We find that by sampling many beers and wines, and talking with other home brewers, everyone learns a lot about making really good beer and wine. We try to have a lot of socializing at each meeting. About 15-20 people attend a typical meeting.

As a club, we made wine at 9 of our 12 brews each year. We make wine from kits, fortified wines from canned fruit, and even pick our own fruits and grapes. This season we were just shy of processing 1/2 ton of grapes!

Club members have won 2 red ribbons and a white ribbon for their wines at the Armada Fair and have won two blue ribbons at the Michigan State Fair. One of the Michigan State Fair Blue Ribbons came from grapes grown at Honeyflow Farms."

Visit the Richmond Worthogs site.

Nick Scramlin, from Bad Axe, brought us the very unique looking bottle with a 60% Blackberry/40% Black Raspberry wine.

"My name is Rabbi Gordon, together with my fifth grade class from Southfield we visited your vineyard and had a most enjoyable time. We were so enthusiastic that we picked 360+ pounds of Niagra grapes. As a class project we make wine going throught the entire process from vine to bottle. It a great way to teach the class many things without sitting at a desk. We certainly look forward to our annual trip (4th year) to your vineyard. When we return to our neighborhood there is always a gaggle of children waiting to join in the fun. Once thank you very much for your hospitality."

Sincerely,
eli Gordon

We received these 3 bottles from John Errante - a Marechal Foch, a Seyval Blanc & a Delaware-Niagara. They all had a very nice "soft" finish and I asked him how he did it.

"Great to hear from you. I'm very surprise that more people don't bring you bottles of wine when they pick the following year. I love to share my wine with other wine/grape lovers. Also getting the feedback on what people think good or bad.

When making the Foch I use Malolactic cultures (Malolactic Fermentation) after the primary fermentation.
After 2 to 3 months MLF I racked and bulk aged. Just before I bottled I put in a product called 'Wine Conditioner' (sugar syrup with POTASSIUM SORBATE) to taste. You could make it yourself but I just buy it instead of going thru all the trouble. Sorbate keeps the yeast/sugars from refermentation starting. -- John Errante"

Rrok Kalaj and his family are like many of the customers we see each year in the vineyard. Their family immigrated from Albania 10 years ago and they have a long history of winemaking.

They brought us another bottle of their favorite red wine.

Rrok Kalaj article.....

The Heng family brought "Bella" the cat. Bella supervised everything the Hengs did at our farm.

Bill & Sue Wills - Wills Winery - Lapeer, Michigan

"Just wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for your hospitality. Bill and I have been busy processing our harvest from your vineyard. So far looking gooooood. I anticipate this to be a very fine wine. We are very excited to go through the complete process. This will help us serve home vintner's needs. The experience was so exciting that we anticipate doing this again next year with a twist. We want to offer classes and bring some groups out to join us. I would also like to discuss the possibility of harvesting more next time as well. We would like to carry, not only a US product, but a commodity from our community."

"I have ordered a complete line of home vintner's supplies as well as some testing equipment."

Thanks again!

Take Care,
Susan Wills
810-245-9348

The Vineyard

The Candle Shop & Honey Farm

People at the Vineyard

Interesting new site - "Homebrew Exchange"

Vineyard FAQ

Holiday Grape Recipe - Champagne-Roasted Turkey

**Candle W*nner & Laugh of the Month**

Last Months Newsletter - Harvest, 2005

The Vineyard

The Candle Shop & Honey Farm