Today we began our first-ever batches of grape wine. In the past we've made several varieties of fruit or "country" wines, but never grape. The trick with grape, as friends and books tell me, is that you have to have the right acidity and pH levels to make it work. Thankfully we have help!
We happened upon MELANCY'S HILL TOP VINYARD. Sorry no business cards. blogs or websites, but I did get this picture of an old newspaper add, and I know the phone number is right.
Mel and his wife Nancy, grow 7 varieties of u-pick grapes. Boy did we-pick, and pick and pick until we had a large batch of Landot Noir variety red grapes. That was two days ago. Yesterday we did not pick at all, but Mel picked white grapes for us! We just had to pick up the juice. We're very excited now about making red and white grape wine.
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| Part of the vineyards and the house. |
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| Our arrival. |
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| A tiny birdnest among the grapes. |
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| The boys taking a moment to help us harvest. |
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| Mel and the boys taking a ride. |
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| Landot Noir |
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| The red grapes after de-stemming. |
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| A post in the office. |
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White grapes in the press.
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Great pictures, and i guy i worked with made his own wine. He gives a bottle out for christmas gifts and folks seem to like his wine. Richard
ReplyDeleteOooh white wine. I cant wait to see how that turns out. What a nice place to have nearby.
ReplyDeleteI love the sign about the dog with rabies! HA! Looks like a wonderful vinyard and the folks love their land! I have never tried home wine with grapes either, so I am curious to how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post! That's a wonderful vineyard as evidenced by the pics. It's so important to get the kids involved when they're young. Good job! It looks like when you have THAT many grapes you have enough to let the birds have their share.
ReplyDeleteOh Wow you will have many selection of home-made fruit wine this year for festive season.
ReplyDeleteAmish Stories, thanks. Home wine making is really fun. We started a couple years ago and haven't stopped since. They do make great gifts.
ReplyDeleteJane, I bet you've made red wine with your own grapes before. The white grape juice looks wonderful. I can't wait to see how it turns out. It only takes 6 months to mature. That means we'll crack our first bottle in the spring. I'd love to share a bottle with you and yours sometime.
Apple Pie Gal, the place was full of character. Mel and Nancy were delightful people. I wish I could package the entire experience in a post and share it with the world!
Veggie PAK, Thank you. The kids had a great time. Although Q. James was stung by a bee. He's better now. He even helped us press the grapes where bees were buzzing all around.
MKg, thanks we sure will have lots of varieties. We opened a bottle of peach and of apple this week. They are delightful! I wish we could share them with you.
I just got a book on home wine making. Thanks for the visual inspiration!
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