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Home
wine making has always been a
challenging hobbies because of the many different techniques from which to
choose. The experienced home winemaker's greatest desire is to improve
this year's vintage over previous years. Each year he seeks to apply old,
successful techniques to the new season's unique grape harvest. And every
harvest tests his expertise fully, since no two are exactly alike. In the
history of civilization the cultivation of grapes is almost as old as
agriculture itself. The first wines may have been produced through the
accidental fermentation of stored grapes, initiated by yeast that
collected naturally on the skins of grapes while they are on the vine.
Scholars tell us that wine was being produced regularly in the Near East
in pre-biblical times. The drinking of wine, has been an integral part of
religious ceremonies in widely divergent societies: the Greeks and Romans
poured libation of wine to their gods, wine is mentioned often in the old
Testament and in the Babylonian Talmud: many Christians take wine in
Communion services. The art of making wine was saved from
virtual extinction by the Christian monastic orders after the fall of
Rome. Since the monks needed to produce only enough wine for their own
monasteries, they were able to dedicate their time and effort to
experimentation and refinement in viticulture. This resulted in some of
the greatest advances ever made in viniculture at a time when, in the
world outside monastery walls, winemaking had come to a halt. Wine with
its many variations has proved to be a drink of such universal appeal that
it need only be introduced into a society in order to assume a major role
in the agricultural pursuits of the people. And the home winemaker need
only produce one particularly pleasing bottle to fall prey to a passion
for the art.
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Death of a Vineyard
The Vineyard was established in
1984, in 1992 the date of my retirement, our vineyard was hit by the
herbicide 2-4-D used to control weeds. Half of our vineyard was destroyed
and the next year we lost half of the remaining crop. The third year we
lost the balance of our grapes.
We have restored the vineyard
We are limited to the French Hybrid, Seyval Blanc, (Save Villard 5-276)
which is a yellow-white variety with large compact clusters of medium
berries. It makes an excellent white wine. It is considered a
Mid-season, ripening around the last of September. In the past, we picked,
crushed, and then bagged the juice in a 5 gal container. We would freeze
the juice and ship UPS. We plan to return to that service in 2001and
will offer frozen 5 gal. containers of Seyval Blanc, Concord, Mars and a
Cider Juice blend.
Our vineyard consists of two American varieties, the Concord and the
Mars. We consider the Concord for juice to drink fresh, for jellies, and
for making wine. Concord is usually harvested around Labor Day or the
first of September.
The Mars is a seedless table grape sold through our market. The Mars
ripens about 10-15 days before the Concord
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Vineyard
