Sunday, March 30, 2008

The pruning is finished! The last of the vines were pruned today. So now we have a moment of rest in which to prepare for planting. We will be planting new vines next Saturday, and we are very fortunate to have friends and family who have volunteered to help, as they have so often in the past. We will be planting around 550 new vines, mostly Chambourcin and Seyval. We have promised them better weather than last year, which was bitterly cold, and so far the weatherman is cooperating. We'll see- like so much of farming, we really have no control!

We tasted all the wines we have aging in the cellar yesterday. They seem to be maturing nicely. It really is fascinating to see how the flavors develop over time. We hope to start bottling our 2007 white wines within the next month or so, which should put us on target for a limited summer opening.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Pruning the Grapevines


The pruning continues, and fortunately the weather has cooperated. After the Easter freeze of 2007, we had a lot of plant damage to contend with, so this spring has been a challenge. But we are making good progress, and we finished pruning our hybrid grapes today. We still have several rows of vinifera grapes to go, but the end is in sight! We expect to see budbreak within the next two weeks, at least in some of the vines. Things will look much greener after that.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Welcome to our Blog!


We are busy with pruning our vines at this time and getting ready to bottle our 2007 vintage white wines. Planting day is coming up on April 5 and we are putting in more Chambourcin and Seyval vines. The winery building is getting updated and our website is now up and running. Thank you for visiting us here on the web and keeping tabs on the happenings at Grace Hill Winery. We look forward to seeing you out here!