We got an early start this season with 3000 pounds of Brianna grapes arriving from our friends at Old Cellar Vineyard in Arapahoe, Nebraska this past Saturday. It was a long day, but with the help of our awesome staff and a few willing Harvest Hosts guests, we got 'er done in about 3 hours - plus the setup and cleanup time, which usually doubles the amount of time we spend actively crushing. Here is a cool video of Gary of Old Cellar Vineyard using his mechanical harvester to pick grapes:
That 3000 pounds of Brianna grapes yielded about 175 gallons of juice which we will turn into about 1060 bottles of Brianna wine. That works out to about 88 cases. We are now waiting for word from Mollie's Vineyard in Erskine, MN about when the rest of our grapes will be arriving, as well as watching our own Estate Frontenac Vineyard for signs that the grapes are ready to pick.
We anticipate that the rest of Harvest and Crush will happen in mid to late September. If you would like to be notified of future volunteer opportunities to help with the harvest, crush, bottling, etc. click the button below to sign up for email notifications.