Wine Tasters Wanted!
We’re very fortunate that over time, previous owners have left behind a few old photos that have remained with the house! This is a newspaper real estate clipping from 1971 showing the property for sale at the time, as a 45 acre “High Producing Grape Farm”! We always loved the idea of paying homage to that part of this property’s history with our own tiny vineyard.
The three old cedar posts found in the barn, were perfect for this project! We chose Baco Noir grapevines because they’re a hardy and fast growing hybrid that can produce rich, flavourful wine. In June of 2019 we planted the grapevines which were basically 6” stems and really enjoyed watching them flourish!
In our second season, we actually got grapes and were so excited to harvest them later in September. However, one late August evening, the birds quietly cleaned us out! We woke up the next morning in disbelief! Lesson learned the hard way! This is why vineyards have bird-bangers (air guns to scare birds) or some type of visual deterrent! For the 2021 season, once the grapes started ripening, we put up mylar Scare Eye Balloon Bird-B-Gones and mylar streamers. It looked like an outdoor disco party but it worked!
Here’s when the magic happens!
In September we harvested!
Found a resourceful way to de-stem and remove the grapes that were too green!
Crushed the grapes and left for one week of the first fermentation process!
Removed the skins and left for second fermentation in the cellar!
After seven months, we bottled 18 lovely bottles from our tiny vineyard!
Of course taste testing was required! It will be better in 6-12 months, but it was not bad at all!
