The Miracle of Grapes into Wine

It has been a fantastic season in the vineyard and we are expecting our best harvest yet.  The grapes began ripening in early August and are now reaching the sugar and pH levels where they will be ready to pick. The birds have a good sense of when the grapes are reaching their perfect ripeness, so to keep them from eating, we are covering the vines with netting.  If you see the tractor and the guys unrolling a long roll of netting over the rows, that's what's happening.  Although we do take brix (sugar) and pH measurements, tasting is the best way to tell if the grapes are ready to pick.  Briana is first, a white grape that is blended into our Fossil Rock White.  It is a early ripener with a soft skin and tropical fruits - pineapple, mango, even banana.  We taste each day letting the soft pulp sit on our tongues.  We bite down on the seeds; when they are green they are hard and stiff.  When the grapes are nearly ripe the seeds will begin to crack under the pressure of our bite.  Lorelei is almost ready, the white grape  with a delicate honey flavor.  Next will come LaCrescent, our star white grape.  St. Croix, a red grape will follow as will LaCrosse and Prairie Star, two white grape varieties.  Finally, we'll pick Frontenac, the grape we use in our big red, Fossil Rock Red.  This year we'll harvest Marquette for the first time.  A recent release from the University of Minnesota, Marquette has Pinot Noir in its parentage.  We had some Marquette wine at the Cold Climate Conference held in Minneapolis last February and were impressed.  Excellent fruitiness with wonderful tannins and none of the vegetative flavors and high acid we've struggled with in older varieties.  This variety holds alot of promise for a great red for the upper Midwest.  Our growers in Illinois and Wisconsin will be bringing in their harvest by the ton.  And soon the winery will be filled with the aromas of fruit and yeast as fermentation starts.  Every year I can hardly believe the miracle of grapes into wine!