Baby, it's cold outside!

The vineyard is beautiful in snow if the sun comes out, but we have only seen a few short glimpses of sunshine in the past week. I'm getting tired of being cold! Dave had me working in the cellar this afternoon, and it has no heat but is still a lot warmer than outside. At least the wind stopped blowing, so I should stop whining.

The year is quickly coming to a close, which means it's time for reflection. We've been looking at the photos, reliving some of the great harvest parties and remembering all the activity at the winery (like Dave's new big tanks). I won't have a top 10 list of best or worst moments, though that could be enlightening. Lately I've mostly just been trying to keep warm.

Business in the tasting room picked up for Christmas, which was really nice. Liz, who worked for us last summer, came out to help while she was home on break. Overall we've had a very good year, with sales up substantially from the year before. And we continue to learn what works and what doesn't. Business in the liquor stores has been good too, and we appreciated all the people who went in and asked for our wines.

The 2009 vintage wines are aging nicely at present. We have been working with them, trying to decide how we will use them this time. It's a lot more complicated that you would think, and we have rethought the plans several times now. Dry, sweet, blended or not, what will our customers like and what will we be proud to offer? When will be the right time to think about bottling?

The Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers annual meeting is in a couple of weeks, and we are proud to announce that our 2008 Red Barrel Reserve wine has been chosen by the chef to be served at the banquet. It's quite an honor, and we are thrilled. It has been our favorite of our wines for awhile, and we are glad for the chance to share it.

We will be reverting to our Saturday only hours now, until sometime in the spring when it warms up. See you then, and have a Happy New Year!

It's slow in the vineyard now, so the boys needed a project and did they ever find one. Dave and the guys from our winetasting group (the ones that got us started on this glorious wine adventure) decided we needed to have a pig roast.

So Dave got online and did some research. Then he and the guys did some planning. Then some building. Then some calling around because a whole pig already cleaned is not easy to find. And then Saturday, while Jeff and I worked the tasting room, they roasted the pig. With great ceremony. What a manly adventure!

Actually, the people coming to the tasting room often had to wander over to inspect the progress, although it was not a pretty day. I was glad to have an excuse to be inside!

But afterwards, when we had the feast with contributions from everybody and lots of wine, we all felt thoroughly satisfied. This is wine country living at its best. (You didn't know you could call it that in Kansas, did you?)

We had a great Thanksgiving, and hope you did too!

Things have definitely slowed down at the winery, and we are entering the quiet time of year. The vines are dormant and it's too soon to prune, so there isn't much to do outside. The weather has been gorgeous lately, though, so we have enjoyed some opportunities for outside clean up around the property. And the vineyard was perfect for a post-Thanksgiving stroll.

There are still inside tasks to be done, but most of the 2009 wines are just resting and aging at the moment, so even that is slower. As the holidays approach with their tendency toward busyness, it's nice that some things have quieted.

We are in the midst of planning for the next year though. The grape and wine meetings will start right after Christmas, and we are getting our orders ready for supplies and all. We ordered replacement grape vines months ago, though they won't ship until April. I think we'll only be planting about 30 vines this year, rather than hundreds like years past.

The spice wine has been a big hit in the tasting room, which has been a lot of fun. And our newest gift idea is an opportunity for a private tour with barrel tasting. So come by and get the details!

That's right, Toto. We weren't in Kansas anymore. And yet...

Once harvest was done at Grace Hill Winery, and all the wines were put to bed, we took a vacation. We went to France, where tradition reigns supreme in the vineyards. It was beautiful there, even if the weather didn't cooperate. (It was cool and misty, so the pictures don't do justice to the brilliant hillsides. It was not unpleasant.) They trellis differently, and their vineyard soil is very different in places, but vineyards still look like vineyards wherever they are.

Harvest was over there as well, and in Burgundy they are already starting to prune the vines. They burn the clippings right in the field, something I had read about but hadn't seen before. I had suggested it to Dave one cold day here, but he wasn't up for that.

We thought it was awfully early to be pruning, since we don't prune until spring. And a winemaker we talked to in Volnay agreed. He still thinks February is the proper month to prune. However, it was fun to see the over the row tractors in the tiny fields with stone walls all around. Fall is also wall repair season there, one chore we don't have.

We had a great time seeing the vineyards and trying the wines at the local cooperatives. It's different there, in that the wineries are generally in town, not adjacent to the vineyards like they are in this country. We found the people to be warm and helpful, in spite of our very limited French. I would go back in a heartbeat.

But we're home now, and are trying to get ready for the holidays here. We have lots of wine this year, and hope we have lots of chances to share it with friends, family and guests at the winery. Our hot spiced wine has been very popular so far, and the 2008 White Barrel Reserve is tasting really good right now. (The reds are good now too- don't think I'm not happy with them at the moment. I've just really enjoyed the white lately.)

The wines are available at the winery, which is now open Fridays as well as Saturdays, 1-5. They are also at Jacobs Liquor, ABC Discount Wine and Liquor and Groves Liquor stores in Wichita, as well as Newton Discount Liquor.

And if you didn't see our article in the November Splurge Magazine, look for it!

End of Harvest

Harvest is over for 2009. It has been a great year, and we have come a long way in the vineyard. Now we just have to nurse the wines along to completion (without messing it up)!

We harvested the Cab Franc last Saturday, and the grapes looked great. We think it will really make a premium wine, so we're excited. But it was a push to finish at the end, and we are a little worn out. The grape vines look that way too, slowly fading in color, getting ready for dormancy. There are still a few little clusters left on the vine, very sweet, which got missed during harvest. I thought the birds would get them, but Dave says they have moved on.

We had a huge group out here Friday to see the winery. The Pediatric Interest Group, where the residents and faculty host the medical students from KU School of Medicine-Wichita, came out. It was a lot of fun, but it was hard to really show the place off, because the group was big and night was falling. I hope they come back another time.

Now come the holiday preparations, and the start of planning for next year. Jeff is preparing a presentation for our board of directors, to see if there is a forseeable break even point in our future. (I'm afraid to ask, but I'm sure they will come up with some great ideas.) Dave wants to order more tanks and barrels, and he's right. We need them. Pat has recommended better sanitation equipment. I want to upgrade the tasting room. Always a wish list...

We did come up with a brilliant inspiration for fall/winter. We have a recipe for our Seyval as a hot spiced wine which is absolutely delicious. A real cool weather treat. Everyone who has tried it in the tasting room has been enthusiastic. It might be the perfect thing for a tailgate at a college or pro football game, especially if it's cool like this weekend is predicted to be. So come out and give it a try!

It was a quiet weekend at the winery, (well, except for the bachelorette party- that's another story) and we appreciated the chance to catch our breath. There was no harvest this weekend-we are almost done! The harvests have been great so far, and we only have cab franc left to go. It should be harvested this next weekend, if the weather cooperates. (Let us know if you want to come help.)

Last weekend we harvested the chambourcin and norton, and then were at the Kansas State Fair for a couple of different activities. We poured our wine at the Boots and Bling auction Thursday night, then later did a stint at the "Meet the Winemaker" booth. Our wines have been for sale in the wine garden as well, though they were so poorly displayed that I'm not sure we will do that again. The fair was a lot of fun, though, and we got to show Jeff our favorite attractions- really cool chickens, the butter sculpture and the biggest pumpkin. We admit to being fair nerds, but we love to go every year. If you know anybody who has Golden Polish hens for sale, let us know!

Dave and Jeff spent this Friday pressing the chambourcin, and were very pleased with the results. Dave was especially happy that he got to use one of his new 500 gallon tanks. It's pretty exciting to have that much wine. In fact, our harvest has been so good this year that we have serious concerns about having enough tank capacity and storage space. We are having to do some urgent bottling to make room. It's a good problem to have.

The norton is about sold out, but we still have 9 wines available for tasting, so come by if you are in the area. We are open Saturdays from 11-5. And if you come out on October 3rd, you can also hit the Whitewater Fall Festival!

Grapes everywhere- it must be harvest time. I think I'm beginning to dream about grapes, but have been sleeping so soundly that I'm not sure.

Harvest continues in full swing. We have harvested 11,000 pounds of grapes so far, or so Dave tells me. It has gone quickly, and our harvest crews have been great! It does get a little overwhelming though, since we have significantly underestimated every crop so far. It's a good problem to have, but a logistical challenge.

We continue to have fun and interesting people coming out to help, in a full variety of ages. And people are having a good enough experience that they keep signing up for more. So that's good news! We really try to make it fun and rewarding for our guests/volunteer workers, and give them a feel for what goes into a glass of wine. I think they mostly enjoy hanging out in the country and snacking on the grapes.

The seyval and vignoles grapes are in, as are the chardonel. Next is traminette, which will be a challenge, because they aren't trellised as they should be. We did our best, based on the information available at the time, but when the extension viticulturalist came out in July he had some suggestions for improvement. So maybe next year they will be a little easier to harvest.

Then we'll start on the reds!

We have had a neighbor girl selling her home-grown produce at the winery this summer, giving us the feel of a very tiny farmer's market. Her stuff is great- I wish it sold better. But people make a beeline for the wine, and don't notice much else. I guess I shouldn't complain, since at least I get to enjoy the produce delivery.

We now have Shannon working in the tasting room, which is a huge help. And she seems to know everyone from Newton northward- she has amazing connections. I have no idea where she finds the time to come work for us, but I'm grateful.

Dave says the fermentation smells really good right now...

Harvest has begun!

We started the 2009 grape harvest on Saturday. The seyval were ready to go, and so were we. About 20 people came out to help, ranging in age from 7 months to 80 years old. And they all seemed to be enjoying themselves!

Dave had underestimated the amount of fruit we would be harvesting, and was worried we had too many people. But it worked out perfectly, as the crop was bigger than we planned, but so was the crew. We finished up right on schedule. And the fruit looked great! It was by far the best quality crop we have ever had. The grapes tasted so sweet and good. People were eating them right off the vine- something I encourage. You can't get anything fresher than that!

Our helpers also seemed to really hit it off with each other, and I overheard some pretty interesting conversations. We had a real variety of ages and backgrounds, but everyone seemed to enjoy the chance to be outside, working on a common goal, something tangibly fun- wine! Quite a few people were from Wichita, but we also had several from other surrounding communities.

And Jeff is back! He was such a help last year, that when we got the chance to hire him again we jumped at it. He also got a promotion from vineyard boy to director of marketing. I think it's a solid move for him and for the winery.

I hope the weeks ahead are as much a success as this was. Pray for good weather and protection from critters. We do have nets and a propane cannon (very loud) to keep the birds scared off, which helps a lot, but isn't perfect. They still get some fruit. Probably the deer and possums get a little as well.

If you know of anyone who wants to help in the weeks to come (most every Saturday from now until mid-September) have them send us an email! (info@gracehillwinery.com). And I'm having internet issues, so if you want to see the photos, check facebook.

We are getting very excited about harvest! These grapes are chambourcin, just beginning to turn, and they still have a long way to go. They just glowed in the evening light tonight.

But the vignoles and seyval have ripened a lot in the past two weeks, and we are planning our first harvest of the season for Saturday. We put out an email looking for volunteers, and were fully booked in less than 24 hrs, which was very gratifying. It made us feel like a lot of other people were excited too! And there will still be many weekends left to harvest, so everyone who wants to participate should get a chance.

So we are doing a lot of preparation, making sure we have the supplies we need and the plans in place. What a great time of year!

We have the best friends and family! We decided that we needed to bottle Saturday, so a whole group of good friends and family came out to help. Dave and I got so busy in the tasting room and with various visitors that we didn't even really get to do much, but Pat was there to supervise and it was done before we knew it. Denny and Ann came out to get some pictures for a Splurge article, and before I knew it, Denny was right in the middle helping out. And then when we decided we needed to get the new tanks set up, we had the right team there to make it look easy. When it was done, we had the time and energy for goofy pictures in the vineyard. What a great day! And of course we had a wonderful pot luck dinner afterwards, with a homegrown tomato taste off. This is the essence of vineyard living, and why we love it so much!

The grapes are visibly starting to ripen, and we think we are getting closer to harvest. We think mid-August may be when we get started, but will know better in the next week or so.

Dave got the new tanks this week, and took my dad along to pick them up. We were all thrilled he went instead of me, since I always have visions of losing large and heavy things along the highway. It went fine, and we now have them set up and ready. As I look at them, I start to think we are becoming a real winery. Of course, I think that every time we make a major step forward, and it makes me question what makes a winery real. Is it the size, the quality, the financial stability? Or like the Velveteen Rabbit, is it when we are loved? We certainly felt loved this week.

Summertime in Kansas is rarely this lovely, but we are taking full advantage of it, being outside whenever possible. And we are saving up our strength as we mentally prepare for harvest. The first grapevine to start to go through veraison (color change) is a vine that isn't where it should be, and we don't know what it is, but sure is pretty! And it gives us hope that harvest will come sometime in the next month or so.

Pat, our number one assistant, went to wine school in Missouri last week, and came home with all sorts of good information. He told us the highlights were pH, temperature control and sanitation. We have a pretty good handle on pH, and our sanitation procedures passed muster, but temp control remains an elusive goal. Dave is looking into upgrading the insulation in the winery building, and he just ordered some jacketed tanks. (There goes my profit for the year!) So we will work on that piece. There is always more to learn, it seems.

We had another visit from a vineyard consultant last week, Andy Allen, from the University of Missouri. He showed us a lot of things we could do to improve the trellising, but I think we were generally on the right track. We had a couple of other vineyard owners out, too, and got a ton of questions answered. We also got to see first hand what 2,4-D damage looks like. I know our neighbors are careful, but I guess it's time to call the county and the highway department again and remind them that we are here.

The farm epitomizes fertility right now. The grapes are starting to ripen, the tomato plants are producing like crazy, the chickens are finally starting to lay eggs, and the "male" cat that Brian dropped off for the summer looks extremely pregnant. Kittens, anyone?

The grapes are going crazy! We have so much fruit out there- if we can bring it all the way in, it will yield an amazing harvest. (Dave is already starting to sweat the logistics.) The weather has cooperated so far, so we're pretty optimistic. Of course, living around farmers has taught us to be guarded in that optimism. We still have to worry about deer, birds, bugs, fungus... But I think it's going to be awesome!

The tasting room now features pottery and artwork by Janet Fisher. We have some really fun and whimsical things, and the artwork brightens up the place a lot. Since we now have 10 wines available for tasting, there are a lot of reasons to make the trip out to see us.

We will be open on Friday, July 3rd, from 11-5, as well as Saturday, July 4th. Come up and get some wine for your holiday celebration! Or stop into ABC Discount Wine and Liquor (Central and Woodlawn or 21st and Woodlawn) as they are now carrying a limited selection of our wines.

Happy Birthday, Brian!

This morning the vineyard is lush and green. We have had regular sun and lots of rain, so the vines are going crazy (as are the weeds- another project). The crop looks great so far, in fact a little too great. Dave and his helper, Michael, have been dropping fruit to try to keeps the vines in balance. Too much fruit stresses the vines, and is hard to get to ripen. But it certainly is a joy to watch the crop mature.

We now have a helper in the tasting room, Liz. She has been a great addition to our team, and has learned a lot about the vineyard and winery. We just wish she'd stay longer than just the summer!

We are really enjoying having regular hours every Saturday (11-5). Business has been good, and we have met a lot of people from all over. We have had the opportunity to do special tastings for a variety of people, including Casey and Janell- Happy anniversary!

The 2008 Barrel Reserve White Wine is now available in the tasting room, which brings us up to 10 wines that people can taste when they come out. It's pretty exciting for us, and we are getting lots of good feedback, and lots of repeat customers.

We now have a page on Facebook, so you can check us out, and "fan" us there.

Now it really feels like summer at Grace Hill Winery! It is hot and sunny, and the vines are growing like crazy. We are trying to keep them under control, but they can be just plain unruly at times. However, to get the best crop, in the best condition, we really need to control the growth. Since the quality of the wine is directly related to the quality of the grapes, we really want to do our best.

We had a vineyard consultant this week, Dr. Keith Striegler, from the University of Missouri. We walked the vineyard with him and got all sorts of recommendations about fertilizing, pest control and crop loads. It is so nice to have someone who knows what we could do better to advise us.

Memorial Day weekend was awesome for us too. We had Dave's parents and our boys here, and got everyone to pitch in to bottle the Barrel Reserve White 2008. It is a really nice wine, and we had a great time bottling, with music playing and the boys singing along. There is an entirely different energy in the room when they are there. We had a lot of fun bottling with Mark and Nell a couple of weeks ago, and it certainly wasn't dull conversation, but somehow the boys kick it up a notch.

The 2008 Barrel Reserve White is quite different from the 2007, but I think both are really good. It should be released for sale in about another month. In the meantime, we do have the 2007 vintage still available. We had it with oysters a couple of weeks ago, and it was a perfect accompaniment. (It's also good with quail, smoked salmon, smoked chicken, cheeses, and just by itself!)

We had a very nice article published about the winery in the Newton Kansan newspaper yesterday. You may be able to find it here. http://www.thekansan.com/news/x726819073/Couple-pursues-wine-passion. It has brought out some traffic today, and hopefully that will continue.

So come out and see us! We have lots of wine available, and lots of things to try.

Spring is finally here! The vines are awake- even the newly planted ones. This afternoon was one of those perfect days, where the air is crisp and the sun is warm, and everything seems possible.

The vines seem to have come through the winter well. Though the season is late this year, the plants look vigorous and we are anticipating a great season. (True farmers will tell you that it is way too soon to tell, though. Anything could happen.) It feels so good to be out in the vines, training them to grow properly.

We bottled yesterday, the Cabernet Franc and the Red Barrel Reserve. They should be awesome, and will be ready for release in another month or so. The Dodging Tornados Silver, the sweeter version of our signature Chambourcin wine, is now released and is for sale in the tasting room. It has been a big hit so far. So if you've been waiting for it, come on out.

Dave's sign seems to be working at bringing people in, which makes him very happy. I wasn't sure how many people would actually notice it, but people definitely have done so, and have stopped in as a result. We also got some people to come by when they heard Dave on Guy Bower's radio show, which was a lot of fun for him. One way or another, people seem to be finding us! So come on out, Saturdays from 11-5 or other times by appointment.

Grace Hill Winery is now open every Saturday from 11-5, as well as by appointment. Come out and try our new wines!

Our current offerings include the 2008 Seyval (sweet), 2008 Rose (slightly sweet), 2007 Barrel Reserve White (dry), 2008 Dodging Tornados (dry), 2008 Norton (dry) and our Cabernet Sauvignon.

We have been busy lately and this week will be even busier! Tomorrow night our wines will be featured at a reception for Cokie Roberts, who is in town to speak as a part of the 60th Anniversary of KMUW, our local public radio station. Friday night we will be pouring our wines at Emporia Main Street's Taste event, along with 5 other Kansas wineries. Then Saturday we will be open at the winery, and then will go to the Midwest Winefest, where a Grace Hill Winery harvest party will be featured in the live auction. We're excited!

The new vineyard is in now. The grow tubes are all in place and the wire has been strung. It's pretty amazing to think that the field is full now. It feels really good to have all that accomplished.

This weekend was another adventure at the winery, this time again with signage! Dave had put together a beautiful sign to put out on K-196 to show people where we are. He wanted to make it extra sturdy to stand up to the Kansas wind, and when he got it together, it was (at least to us) huge and heavy. So he got out the forklift, as he loves to do. We were fortunate that no one came down the road as we were headed out with the new sign. And getting it into place went really smoothly, except for getting the forklift stuck in the mud. (That's why we keep an SUV around- to pull things out!)

Spring has been painfully slow to come. The blizzard at the end of March really set things back, although I don't think it hurt anything. The vines are finally starting to wake up, and the buds are swelling. Pretty soon it should start looking a little green out there!

Planting day was amazing! We got all 750 vines in and the irrigation in place before lunch.

We were so lucky and blessed to have great weather and a great crew. The weather had been iffy after the blizzard last weekend, so we watched and waited as things dried up over the course of the week. But the ground was dry enough to dig on Friday and plant on Saturday. The sun came out and though the wind was blowing, it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, it felt really good to be out there. We had a great crew of about 25 people, and they literally made the proverb about many hands making light work come true. Many of them have come out for years, and so are very experienced, but they all were very helpful, enthusiastic and hard-working.

Then we had a great lunch with some Grace Hill wine, which made it extra fun!

Today it was bitterly cold with a stiff north wind and intermittent snow. Tomorrow is supposed to be not much better. But the plants are in, we have wine to sell, and we have great memories of a good day with wonderful people. It doesn't get much better than that!

We have wine again!! The 2008 vintage is here, at last. We have just released our flagship wine Dodging Tornados which we think even the governor would like. And for the first time ever, we have a very limited bottling of our own varietal specific 2008 Norton. It is a very special wine with lots of fruit and a touch of oak. The long cool 2008 summer allowed for development of wonderful aromatics which make our first Norton something worthy of cellaring or just drinking right now as well. Note the special bottle, too. Very handsome. Also, in the lineup you will note our very pink Rose' which shows off its color in the clear bottle. It also shows off nicely on the palate with a spring freshness that we long for especially this time of year. Last, but not least in the picture is the 2008 Seyval, which will make those of you with a sweet tooth very happy.

We are getting ready for a very busy planting on April 4 with another 750 plants going into the vineyard. We are adding more Chambourcin, Norton and Vignoles. We also have an experimental row going in for Noiret which is a new hybrid developed at Cornell University known for its cabernet flavors and Norton hardiness.

We still have lots of wine in the cellar yet to be bottled and will offer a Cabernet Franc, new Barrel Reserve White and Red, and a semi-sweet version of our Dodging Tornados. As mentioned, the 2008 vintage was really spectacular and the wines are very exciting.

There is just so much left to be done. There are still almost 10 rows of unpruned vines in the vineyard, the sign to go in at the end of Grace Hill Road is not up yet, our advertising campaign on KMUW has not yet started, and we have not found anyone to run the tasting room on Saturdays to start in late April. If you know anybody interested in Saturday work from 11-5 who is over 21, not a felon, friendly and loves wine, have them call us at 316-799-2511.

Come out and try the 2008 wines!

Pruning season has begun at the vineyard, as well as preparation for planting. We're feeling grumpy because the weather has been beautiful during the weeks lately, while we are busy at our day jobs. Then the weekend comes and it is cold and windy. It's not fun to think about going outside today, so instead we are going to bottle.

We bottled Seyval and Rose last weekend, and we will bottle Norton and Dodging Tornados today. That part is exciting, because that means we will have more wine to sell in a few weeks. And for today it means we will be out of the wind and in the cellar, which will feel balmy by comparison even though it's only about 48 degrees down there.

We had some new experiences this year at the Kansas Grapegrowers and Winemakers meeting. What a fun time! The meeting was in Emporia, KS and had a great program. JoAnn and Terry and everyone who worked on it did a great job of putting it together. Thank you!

The first new experience was when I was asked to be a judge at the Amateur Wine competition. I've never judged wines before, though I have a lot of experience tasting them. It was really fun to see what the winemakers were doing, and an honor to be asked to participate. Dave was very jealous that they asked me, but he was quite supportive. And I have to say, it is hard work! To keep perspective when tasting a lot of wines, and to offer useful feedback, is a challenge. But fun.

The next new experience was when one of our wines was chosen for the banquet which culminated the weekend. The meal was excellent, and the chef had chosen wines specifically to complement the menu. Our Barrel Reserve White was chosen for the first course, to accompany a bacon wrapped quail with a poblano chile stuffing. It was awesome, and we were thrilled that the wine went with it so well.

The whole weekend was fun, with lots of opportunities to see old friends and to make new ones. We are really excited about the Kansas wine industry, and the strides it is making in both quality and volume. We are honored to be a part of it.

Now we're home, getting ready to bottle the first of the 2008 vintage. All the labels are approved, thank goodness, and the bottles are ordered. Spring will be here in no time!