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!