This past week has been extremely busy here at the vineyard! Harvest is here! Working with weather, picker schedules, and broken equipment (new and old) had us all stressed, especially Marty. We made it through and we have all of our Traminette and Chardonel picked, crushed, and in our tanks. Our goal was to get the white grapes picked before the forecasted rains. Instead of machine picking (breakdown) we ended up scrambling to hand pick. It is hot, hard work but the family (along with the help of our great vineyard crew and a few friends) pulled together and got the job done. Last Saturday was our first crush and press on our new equipment. We had family and friends here to witness this exciting process. We had a few bumps and it was a bit of a learning process, but it was fun. Looks like we might have a week or two before we harvest our Norton and Chambourcin.

Fall is here, you can feel it in the air and that brings me into the mood to make jams and jellies. Besides fruit jams and jellies we will have Wine Jelly this year, and oh is it yummy! Be sure to look for it when you visit.

Its nice to have family drop by for a visit. This past weekend, our cousins from Breese, IL came by to say hello. Good to see you Sue and Greg!