Blog Archives

Connecting the Dots

8/28/2010

8.19.10

We made a lot of progress last weekend. We are 100% completed with the post pounding in the "Middle Place". Will's dad came out from central Iowa to help, and they were movin'. We have also begun stringing the wire from post to post in the row. My mom and Aunt were a big help getting that started. We can NOT wait to get the vines growing up on the wires.

8.12.10

We have finished tying up the vines on the "Knoll", and they have already started to take hold and grow into their new home.

8.14.10

So... LET THE POUNDING CONTINUE.

8.12.10

There was no time wasted as we moved our focus to the "Middle Place". The 4"x8' posts go in pretty smoothly... However, the 5"x8' posts that we use for the posts at the very end of the rows, can be buggers.

8.14.10

Will attempting to make some minor adjustments...

Dogs on the prowl for rodents...

Liitle Man lovin' time. 8.14.10

Loading up 4'x8' posts to be pounded. 8.19.10

8.18.10

The Kimberley Duo

8.20.10

When Will's dad came into town, he meant business... These boys pounded around 60 posts in 3 days and constructed nearly 40 H-braces. The weather was muggy, and hot. But they powered through despite it all.

Girl Power

While the boys were pounding, the girls picked up their hammers and tape measures. They measured and marked the posts at 62" and 36" and nailed each wire at the those heights.

Dad also frequents the vineyard when he's not doing the million other things on his list... Tendril tying is his favorite. He has also been helping Will finish up the H-braces, and tightening and splicing the wire.

Vents and Pipes.

GNR Plumbing out of Inwood, IA came out to install the in floor ventilation distribution system for the heating and cooling in the tasting room, and pipes for the geothermal heating and cooling system. We will have three separate zones controlling the production room, tasting room, and events.

It's Electric!

8.17.10
We now have electricity wired to the building!

We began digging the trench for the electric conduit in to the utility room for production so we can later run the electric lines through the production room... Dan (Dan's Electric-Inwood, IA) and his crew came to finish things up...

Shipment of Equipment

8.22.10

Crusher, destemmer, and hoses with fittings.
Macrobins, gaskets, glass lab ware and filters...
These are a few of Will's favorite things...

This is our "plate and frame filter" all packaged up. This will be used to remove any yeasts and/or particulates that hadn't settled to the bottom of the tank while fermentation/aging.

What it should look like when we have it together.

8.22.10

The larger hose will be used for transfers of juice and skin (must), and the smaller hose will be used for transfers of juice and wine. In amongst the hoses is our barrel washer.

8.25.10

The excitement continues!

Our second shipment contained 5 boxes of goodies...

Test Run.

Aronia berries - packed with anti-oxidents, higher than grapes and blueberries, for example. We were contacted by a local farmer asking if we might be interested in fermenting some of his backyard berries. And we said, "yes!" As we just got our equipment in, this was our chance to break it in.

The aronia berries have high tannin, (the dry feeling in the mouth), VERY high pigmentation, and it was picked at a low sugar (brix) content. The juice, however, was delicious.

Berry picking crew Will testing the sugar (brix).

The Crush.

Personally I've always been one to be a bit disgusted by the berry stomp idea... But now I say... Don't knock it 'till you try it! We had a great time.

8.22.10

The boys making the sugar additions. We needed to add sugar so we can ferment to around 12% alcohol, for stability of the wine.

Concrete and the Real Deal.

Up next... Pouring the floor to the production room and exterior concrete pad, and the grape scramble...

3 Comments

Postmaster Will.

8/15/2010

5 Comments

Our main focus the past couple weeks has been to GET THE TRELLIS UP! We've been pounding posts, nailing, splicing, stretching and tying...

The Training System

Of the many options there are for a training system for the grape vines, we decided to use what's called "high bi-lateral cordon", or "high wire" for all of our cultivars.

Vine trained to multiple shoots to maximize leaf area.

The most common issue that we have seen in midwest vineyards has been overly vigorous growth, (multiple leaf layers) causing excessive shading in the canopy. This increases the potential of disease, decreased fruit quality---fruit shaded by leaves/not exposed to sun will affect the clusters ability to ripen appropriately, decreased fruitfulness for following years, and reduced ability for vines to harden off before the first frost.

Most of the cultivars we have chosen to grown have a natural tendency to grow downward (procumbant). Downward growth is known to devigorate the vines. The "high wire" training/trellis will allow for downward growth with the fruiting zone near the top wire.

Our first year of growth we have been focusing on maximizing leaf area for increased root system. For that reason we have kept multiple shoots growing, vs. choosing one shoot to grow for the future trunk. When it comes time to prune in late winter/early spring of year 2, we will prune to two shoots/trunks. We will then focus on establishing the cordon.

The Trellis

The past weekend we accomplished our goal of finishing the trellis for the "Knoll", furthest southwest area of the vineyard. This was quite a relief as they had outgrown their bamboo canes and needed something else to hang on to.

Will putting a 5'x10' post into position to pound.

We continued our 8'x10' spacing, (8 feet between vines, and 10 feet between rows). We used 4"x8' posts every 24 feet, each pounded 2 feet, 4 inches deep. There are three vines between each pair of posts. The H-brace was our choice for the end assembly. The end post is a 5"x10' post pounded 4 feet deep.

There were a few 5"x10' posts that hit a few rocks on the way down... Bring out the auger!

We nailed our wires at 36" and the top wire at 62".

Next step was to tie up our shoots.

Rain delay! Always looking for an excuse to go to DQ.

The "Knoll" finished... What's next??

Why more of this of course... ;o) Our current goal is to finish pounding the posts for the "Middle Place", this contains our Marqette, La Crescent, Brianna, and Frontenac vines.

Will laying out the posts.

The fun that lies ahead---you might be able to see the posts laying across the rows ready to be pounded... It is actually pretty amazing to see the dramatic change in the landscape with the posts in the ground---really starting to look like a vineyard now!

5 Comments

The best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

8/2/2010

4 Comments

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

So, it's been raining a lot lately... Approximately 10" in July, three times more than average. Good thing we have a well drained site and thin canopy (good airflow, reduced disease). Despite the rain, the past couple of weeks have been filled with, weeding, spraying, classes, fertilizing, post pounding, and some building progress.

Water

The sump pit and drains were installed in the basement.

Will drilled the hole for the water line through the foundation wall.

Electricity

Dan's Electric---Inwood, IA 7.17.10

Will got to help install the conduit. They had to dig under the foundation to run the electric conduit into the basement before the floor was poured.

Hammock

Someday... Right??

Dad working side-by-side with his grandson. 7.18.10

With all of the rain we have been getting the weeds continue to grow... Earlier in the season we were able to carefully spray around the vines and in the rows. Weed control is one of the most important items on the list to stay on top of in a new vineyard. Thankfully the vines are also growing, however, this means we must be more careful with spray around the vines. To reduce the risk of spray damage/drift, we hand cultivated 2 feet in diameter around the vines and sprayed the remaining area in the rows.

It took us about a week and a half to accomplish weeding the entire vineyard while trying to balance the rest of our to-dos.

Music necessary.

Dyl on a quest to find the tallest vine in the vineyard. 7.21.10

Some vines are getting as tall as Will (6 ft), while most are averaging out to about 5 feet. Need to get our trellis up!!! The picture above was taken on the "Knoll" located on the Southeast edge of the vineyard. Likely the most vigorous site due to the sandier soil --- warmer roots. The winery is being built where you can see the open soil and odd humps in the background.

Trellis

So thankful we were able to purchase our post pounder from from a family friend, and fellow fencer... Sure beats augering---in speed and ease...

Since the vines planted on the "Knoll" are growing the most vigorously we will hopefully be able to finish that section of the trellis by this weekend (8.9.10)...

Winery Building

Due to the rain things are moving a bit more slowly than hoped... Not to say there hasn't been anything accomplished!

The floor trusses arrive! 7.19.10

The floor trusses that go above the basement arrived on a warm late afternoon.

Above, Will gives a tour of our floorless/wallless winery.

7.25.10

Concrete poured...

7.26.10

Trusses installed...

And now we wait for the rain to let up, the sun to come out, and the soil to dry... We met with our contractor today (8.2.10) to make some decisions. Roof pitch and siding, decided. We are really happy with the way the building is looking on computer---can't wait to see it in real life!

Vineyard Visits

As you may know we've been taking classes through DMACC to be certified viticulturists and enologists.This past weekend we were in Ankeny for a residential class (hands on learning). This was for a viticulture class taught by Randal Voss, we visited vineyards and looked at probable/common issues in the vineyard...

VIN 103, (vineyard pest management) scouting for insects and diseases...

Japanese Beetles devouring defensless grape leaves. Luckily we havn't seen these guys in our vineyard yet!

Downey mildew on grapes... Phomopsis on shoots...

Anthracnose on grapes...

Looking at a very vigorous vineyard.

VIN 104 (grape growing for wine production), checking out some vineyards for canopy management... Canopy management important for quality fruit.

Wine!

On the way back home we picked up our press! We purchased our press from Prairie Crossing Vineyard and Winery located outside of Treynor, IA. They were upgrading, and it was exactly what we were looking for... (They make a delicious port! "Portfolio")

It was an interesting/intense ride over to get it... Let's just say we were glad to get some weight on the trailer, and we were also glad that it fit onto the trailer. ;o)