Okay, when most of you saw the title, “Condensation”, you figured I had definitely been out in the rain too long. There was a lot of rain in October and November. It will soon turn to snow. But the condensed theme stems more from my major activity this month, condensing raw apple cider into a… (read more)
For years I have been cooking down apple cider to bring it up to the sweetness, measured as brix, of the grapes I make wine from. Brix is roughly equivalent to twice the alcohol percentage that you can expect in a dry wine. Lower brix readings, 20 to 24, generally result in dry wines. Higher… (read more)
October was wet, really really wet. It rained on more days than were dry. You would think that any sane person would be doing a lot of writing and computer stuff inside. That didn’t happen much. It was still all wine, wine, wine. It was picking grapes on dry days and crushing, cleaning, bottling and… (read more)
Sometimes big changes sneak up on you and have happened before you know it. September was one of those times. Actually on August 30th when I picked and bought my first load of grapes from a vineyard other than my own, a change had begun. Those grapes mark a turning point from just being backyard… (read more)
Got, got, got… no time… Well you get the idea. This will be a relatively short blog. Harvest season is upon us and it hit early and hard. Soon after I got my bird nets up, my neighbor, Don Worley, at Downriver Orchards offered me some ripe Leon Millot grapes and I went for it…. (read more)
This is the time of year when I am typically at war with the birds, mostly warblers. Once they get a taste of the grapes, it is very difficult to keep them away from them. I have tried flashy objects and a plastic owl with little effect. Other vineyard owners have used scary noises like… (read more)
Don’t Make Plans. That seems to be the theme for this past July. The month seemed to be on track for the first week. I picked pie cherries and made a pie (which ended up having a LOT of cherry pits in it) for a 4th of July potluck with our new neightbors. We had… (read more)
We are giving away grape plants this weekend. Check it out.
Memories (<-link to song) May be beautiful and yet What’s too painful to remember We simply choose to forget So it’s the laughter We will remember Whenever we remember The way we were Not to get all nostalgia on you, but the theme that seems to tie this month’s string of days together is memories. Perhaps… (read more)
