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!