My harvest in College Grove, TN

[Runningwolf]

Very exciting pictures. Did you make a recording of the air locks to take on the boat with you for night time sleeping. Wow the sound of the waves and an active air lock!

 

[Randoneur]

Things are winding down now, other than the kit I'm making... waiting for aging on my wine from grapes.
Chardonnay is on lees until 6 months of stirring (every other day). Maybe I should add the oak beans about1-3 months before the end ofsur lees. I need to decide how much oak I want.


Norton aging on oak for two months, then into freezer for cold stabilization at 30F. I'll carry over the oak into the next carboy.


Cabernet on oak aging for two months, then into freezer for cold stabilization at 30F. Haven't decided on oak carryover yet.


Vidal, aging in carboy w/o oak, then cold stabilize. I'll back sweeten this one before bottling at either 2% or 3%, depending on taste, 2% was pretty good last year. Looking for some juice to add instead of back sweetening with wine conditioner.


For the Vidal -What do you guys think of adding in from a can of concentrate? Gewurtraminer or Reisling???
I would mix it in (with sorbate) until I get the S.G. where I want it.

 

[Wade E]

How much Vidal do you need to sweeten?

 

[Randoneur]

Vidal is 5 gallons.

 

[Randoneur]

I now have all of my labels made for all of my 2010 wine. Will make minor changes (%ABV, etc.) just before I print them at bottling time.

 

[BonnieJoy]

NICE, classy labels.

 

[BonnieJoy]

What kind of printer do you use, Inkjet or Laser? Have you ever used the "removable" labes from OnLine Labels? I'm looking for something easy to remove so I can recycle bottles without a lot ofeffort.

 

[Waldo]

Great looking labels

 

[Wade E]

Nice labels. You could probably lose the "wine" after Chardonnay though.

 

[Randoneur]

What kind of printer do you use, Inkjet or Laser? Have you ever used the "removable" labes from OnLine Labels? I'm looking for something easy to remove so I can recycle bottles without a lot ofeffort.

I use an inkjet printer and amdoing the labels with microsoft publisher.


I have just recieved my first label sheets from Online Labels. I have the "removable white matte" sheets. Don't know yet how well they come off.

 

[Randoneur]

Nice labels. You could probably lose the "wine" after Chardonnay though.

Yes I think so too.

 

[Randoneur]

I opened a bottle of Norton tonight that I bottled in 2008. One of the last ones left. I think I have only two more bottles.One to drink in 2011 and one for 2012. I think my daughter still has three in her cellar.


It is so good. I don't know what it was about this one year, but it is the best wine I have ever had - period. None of the "Norton Twang" on this one. It is actually a mix of 80% Norton / 20% Cabernet Sauvignon out of my vineyard.

 

[BonnieJoy]

My dry red ah-ha moment was with a bottle of Norton from Hermann MO. IMO this grape, when done right, can hold its own with the other big reds.

 

[toddrod]

You are missing out on another income stream. Trap the coons and sell them. Down where I am a smoked coon gumbo is hard to beat.

 

[Waldo]

Got a recipe for that toddrod? I made some pretty good money several years ago picking up road kill Armadillos and taking them up North and selling them as Possum on the half shell !!

 

[ibglowin]

Bwa hahahahahahahahahaha!

 

[Randoneur]

You are missing out on another income stream. Trap the coons and sell them. Down where I am a smoked coon gumbo is hard to beat.

Hmmmm....I doubt there is a market for them here............unless I could get a fad started withthe Country Music folks. LOL

 

[Randoneur]

Pruned vines today. Don't know how others do it, but this the 1st pass through - cut eveything back to the mid wire. Iwill go through them again when the buds start to swell and thin down to the right number of buds. I use VSP on most of my vines. MWC on some of the hybrids and Norton.
My oldest vine - a Cabernet Sauvignon

This is the Chardonnay after pruning

And the Cabernet after Pruning

 

[grapeman]

Another guy who lives where it is warmer. No snow! Wish I had that problem..............


Very nice vineyard.

 

[AlFulchino]

truly a beautiful site...glad that it is warm enough for you....you have done a nice job