Willsboro NY Cold Hardy Grape Variety Trial

[farmer]

Foliar Phyloxera,is that what you call it?, I have seen it on my two year old Frontenac I was wondering what it was. GuessI learned something today.


Those are some great looking grapes . We visited a winery/vineyard just south of the Twin Cities over the weekend, their clusters looked pretty bad conpared to those in your pictures.

 

[grapeman]

Today we harvested the Edelweiss, Louise Swenson, St Croix and St Pepin Grapes. I t was warm and sunny all day after a coolish start. Once we got organized it went quickly and we all had a good time. They averaged between 15 and 20 pounds per vine with the greatest amount coming from the Louise Swenson and St Pepin. Like a dummy I didn't take pictures so I can't post any today. I will try to remember next time when we will be harvesting a greater number of vines.


After picking today, we went to the office building and had a wine sampling and evaluation session of 6 whites and Marquette made from grapes from Willsboro last year. The general consensus was that they were mostly very good on their own. The real fun came when we started blending combinations, building on the strong points of each. A few grapes that hadn't drawn a lot of attention have several vintners attention now. Amazing what a little mixing can do for these wines. One has a nice body and middle, one has a good finish and one is all forward and fruity- put them all together and you have a great eye popping wine.


The fun continues Saturday.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like a good time, keep us posted on these.

 

[grapeman]

I wanted to let you all know that we finished up harvest of the vineyard at Willsboro today Saturday October 4. The grapes had all matured about all we could espect for the year, and the cool wet weather had set in. That caused a few botrytis spots to show up and some varieties were getting very soft and juicy. We therefore decided to take all the remaining grapes off today. I got some pictures and will post some soon.


Here is a pdf file of Veraison to Harvest #5 for 2008. This is a weekly newsletter put out by Cornell covering harvest and little articles from around the state concerning vineyards and wineries. This week they had a short article on our vineyard. Check it out.
http://blogs.cce.cornell.edu/grapes/files/2008/10/veraison-to-harvest-2008-_5.pdf

 

[AlFulchino]

Thanks for letting us know Rich....i will skip next wednesday then if they are all done....my mom was released from the hospital today.....i look forward to seeing your pictures and any stats and insights you have - AL

 

[Waldo]

Looking forward to your pictures appleman. Was your harvesting by machine or hand

 

[grapeman]

The harvest I refer to here is hand harvested by volunteer help at thee Willsboro Cold Hardy Trial Vineyard. I had the pleasure of being the one with the duties of maintaining the vineyard this year and collecting a TON of data. Each vine was tracked form first budswell to harvest. We have information on each vine when budburst first occured, blossom, veraison and harvest with many incremental steps in between. Each harvested vine was recorded with total weight number of clusters harvested and berry weight(avg). There was also a final test of each vine for brix, pH, berry weight and TA.


It has been a very busy and rewarding side job.


Next up- my main harvest begins tomorrow!

 

[Wade E]

Must have been a lot of work weighing each individual cluster and checking each stat on each vine! All very rewarding in the end though and Im sure you have learned quite a bit over the last (2 years?) with this.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Appleman that must be one heck of a learning experience to be so involved in this trial, sure it will pay off for you in your vineyard!

 

[grapeman]

Wade we weigh each vine and divide by the number of clusters to give average cluster weight. The average berry weight comes from randomized berry collection of 100 grapes and averaging those. It would be impossible time wise to weigh each cluster. There were from about 50 clusters per vine to over 150 clusters per vine depending on variety. During the bud progression series, I set up my pocket pc to use the excel spreadsheet I created for tracking the progress. Each week had it's own worksheet. I needed to collect on paper some times because the sun would be too bright to see the screen.

 

[Wade E]

Still a lot of rewarding work any way you look at it.

 

[grapeman]

Here are a few pictures taken at the last harvest. A few pictures showing some of the harvested grapes in bags to be weighed. The ones in tubs are going to Geneva to be made into wine at Cornell.

 

[Wade E]

Looks like a few grapes were picked!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Now the fun begins....

 

[AlFulchino]

fascinating stuff Rich..i so wish i didnt have to miss that experience....tell me something...now that the grapes are harvested...what is the intention regarding final sprayings for this year? thanks in advance - al

 

[grapeman]

I asked about that myself yesterday. We will discuss it and decide if any is needed. The vines are much cleaner than years past.

 

[AlFulchino]

great ..i wouldlove to know what their plans are so i can model my own after theirs


i was thinking dithane once more right after leaf drop which is onsetting


or based on what you say Cornell does..maybe an so/dithane this week


or maybe both...so/dithane now and in two weeks dithane only

 

[grapeman]

In reality Al, I will decide if anything is needed on these. To me they look clean enough not to worry. How do yours look? if they are clean, they really don't need anything. If you have disease let me know what you have and I might find something you could use on it

.


PS. I have no plans to spray any additional sprays at my place this fall. Just a waste of money if there is nothing to control.Edited by: appleman

 

[AlFulchino]

well to be honest i dont see any issues w the leaves....i was thinking of maybe trying to control the spores not seen...on leaves and on wood


tonite may be a frost...so the point may be moot?????

 

[NorthernWinos]

We have been hearing that you should spray your dandelions after a frost....

Do you think we could spray 24D after the leaves fall off of the grapes??? He would still keep some distance.

Jim has been spraying a form of 24D this summer on the lawn farthest from the grapes...It is not suppose to drift and so far the grapes haven't been affected....I am out there like a hawk...

Watching the wind directions and hoping for a rain soon after his applications....The Dandelions, Sweet and Red Clovers are starting to show stress from his spraying....