Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[AlFulchino]

holy cow Lamoy Man!!!!!

we slowed down teh picking because of the aging tank situation... we are 14,500 lbs w another 1-2000 to go


your pics are oustanding,.....very happy for you and couldnt happen to a nicer guy!

thanks for sharing the info

 

[ibglowin]

Wow, wow, wow!

Beautiful grapes, beautiful vineyard, beautiful winery!

Very nice job all the way around Rich!

 

[Wade E]

Rich, the winery is really coming together and the vines, well they just look to die for!

 

[grapeman]

Harvest has started to pick up a bit now as I am getting a bit more time to pick. I have been tied up a lot at Willsboro, but that harvest will soon be over. I picked in the Leon Millot today, picking the trial section and the rest of them. I have 50 vines of them and ended up with a bit over 1000 pounds.


This year's trial with the Leon Millot shows the 4 Arm Kniffen the clear winner all around. In the trial I shoot thin, cluster thin or have a check which receives neither. They are repeated on 4 arm kniffen and Vertical SHoot Positioning. The three treatments varies a bit in yield. In the VSP trial they averaged around 15 pounds per vine - your typical VSP yield. The 4 Arm Kniffen averaged a bit under 30 pounds per vine- about double the yield. I have to run the final labs tomorrow to compare the numbers and quality, but they are very close and probably favor the 4 arm kniffen if the trend from previous tests holds up.


It is interesting in that the lower cordons of the 4AK are just about identical to the VSP alone, but a bit thinner because they were initially pruned that way. Where the real yeild and quality difference came in wat the upper arms. Man are the clusters up there nice and big. It was taking about 2 to 3 clusters per pound of them but probaly 5-7 of the lower ones. It was time to get them pick because some clusters had some bad berries in them, probably from the hail damage. They smelled fine, so I sulfited them after crush and they are all in the primaries now.


I will be giving further results of the trial as I develop my results and report. I video taped the Leon Millot to document their comparisons after removing the netting and before picking. Stay tuned for further developments.

 

[AlFulchino]

wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BonnieJoy]

Rich, your 4AK trials are very impressive. I'd love to drive out east to visit you & Al next year to learn from the forum experts. And, of course, purchase some of your wines

 

[OilnH2O]

Wow. I leave for a little while and you go bonkers! (For the last month I've been in Germany and Switzerland... now, really: on business... and tasting new wines too!) I'm blown away by the yields -- 30 pounds a vine is one thing, 41 is mind-blowing!

Later I'll be interested in knowing how "the numbers" all turn out. I noted in Swiz/Germany many of the growers were trimming whole clusters and leaving them on the ground - to concentrate energy in the remaining clusters right at the end of the growing period. September was a nice month to be there! I'd better go check the brix of what few vines I have left!

 

[rrawhide]

great job Rich - things are finally taking a great turn for you - looking forward to many more great posts.


rrawhide

 

[Scott B]

Looking Good!

 

[fivebk]

Rich, The place looks GREAT!!!!! The grapes do too !!

BOB

 

[AlFulchino]

Rich is the forum expert....!!!!i am just the guy down the street w a lot of luck

 

[grapeman]

"The Grasshopper "snatched" the ball from my hand and is running with it".

 

[grapeman]

Since we finished up picking at Willsboro yesterday,I can get down to more picking at home. I picked the GR-7 . Man was it ripe. The grapes had started to split, but I don't think it was from the hail- just getting very ripe. I brought them right in and crushed them and sulfited. These were a test planting. They are four years old and I got 400 pounds off 25 vines-not too bad.


I then picked one section of the Training Trial for LaCrosse - The Top Wire Cordon Section. Again more intersting information is coming out. In the trial they are cluster thinned or shoot thinned or neithr in the control. It was quite obvious the shoot thinned grapes did much better. Both had comparable cluster numbers. The shoot thinned ones though were thinned the the best shoots leaving the best clusters, rather than thinning out cluster to get to the target- result- bigger clusers where the clusters were not thinned! Because of this, the cluster thinned vines averaged a bit over 21 pounds - the shoot thinned vines averaged almost 27 pounds per vine.


If the weather permits, I will pick the 4 arm kniffen section of the LaCrosse. I am pretty sure that those vines will yield substantially higher.
Then onto St. Pepin, Chardonel, Frontenac, Steuben, Buffalo, Niagara, Concord and finally Catawba. The largest crop is definitely in the Frontenac since I have more of those vines than anything else that is bearing.

 

[hannabarn]

Rich, I just got around to viewing your pics. The winery has certainly come a long ways since Betty and I visited you. The vinyard is impressive also. Looks like lots of hard work and it is paying off!!

 

[R Ziegler]

Everything looks spectacular!!!
I am glad you post the info for your trial - I look everyday to see if there is more.


There is one thing I have a question about and I think I have re-read almost every post looking for it and must have missed it - I am suspecting.


What is your vine and post spacing?


6x8 or 7x9 - from the pics the vines look much closer than 8ft.

 

[grapeman]

My vines ar in row 9 feet apart. The vines vary depending on location from a close spacing of 6 foot to the farthest at 7.5 feet apart. This is determined by variety and length of rows. My driest ground gets 6 foot spacing because that is the least vigorous site.

 

[grapeman]

I picked the rest of the LaCrosse vines today before it began raining. I have 25 vines of them. They yielded a bit over 600 pounds and will yield a bit less than 50 gallons of delicious white wine. Again, they are part of the SARE trial and I compared Top Wire Cordon to 4 Arm Kniffen. The quality was very similar with TWC having a very slight edge. The 4 arm kniffen had about 25 percent more yield. I also compared shoot thinned to cluster thinned and the shoot thinned is the winner all around. Not by a ton, but significant.

 

[AlFulchino]

Rich how old are those lacross vines?

 

[grapeman]

Al the LaCrosse and St. Pepin are both in their 5th leaf in the vineyard. The trunks look like they are 10 years old since many of them are about 3 inches across.

 

[Randoneur]

Sounds like a great harvest. Great information you are sharing, thanks.