Vinifera in Wisconsin? Yes We Can! almost .....

Karen and Jack picking the Cabernet Franc.

Saturday October 17 we picked the vinifera grapes in the high tunnel. We picked at sugar levels much lower than ideal. We had a very hard freeze the weekend before (20F,) and the high tunnel got to 29 F, so ripening had pretty much stopped.

The vines were hit pretty hard with powdery mildew this year, due to some poor vineyard management by yours truly. The ripening on the cab sauvignon, cab franc and merlot was just creeping along over the last month and a half. Only the chardonnay escaped the full brunt of the powdery mildew. The Cab franc and Cab Sauv were very under ripe. (not quite 16 brix) Merlot made it too almost 19 brix, and chardonnay did best of all, getting to 21.2 brix before the freeze.

I will definitely have to be more aggressive with my spray program next year. I think that in a normal year, with better viticulture practices, I should be able to reach the low 20's in brix.

20F on Oct 11. Hard Freeze

The vineyard got down to 20 F on Oct. 11. Needless to say we got our hard freeze. Despite my best attempts to keep the high tunnel from freezing we got down to 29F the same night in the high tunnel. I plan to harvest those grapes this weekend.

Foch and lacrescent picked

early start

I picked Foch and Lacrescent on Sunday. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to measure the final brix on the foch. The Lacrescent was at 23.3 brix. I hope to measure the ph and TA tonight.

I also checked the lacrosse and st pepin.
st pepin was 18.8
lacrosse was 16.2

Brix numbers .... ripening before frost will be close

I took berry samples from all of the grape varieties in the vineyard. Here are the sugar numbers Measure 9/15/09 ( I haven't measured acids yet)

Foch 17.3
LaCrescent 21.8
St Pepin 17.6
Lacrosse 15.1
Seedless Concord 16.1

*Marquette 21.1
*Frontenac 22.3
*Prairie Star 18.9


Chardonnay 16.8
Merlot 15.3
Cab Franc 14.1
Cab sauv 12.5

(*only a few pounds each of these)

Veraison finally happening

St Pepin at Sampson Valley Vineyard Aug 28, 2009

Wow things are late this year!! I think we are about 3 weeks behind 2007. Foch is about 80% through veraison. Vinifera is just starting (merlot, cab franc, and cab sauv)

The first grapes ready will probably be La Crescent. Based on taste alone, I think those will be ready in about 2 weeks. The rest are at least 3 -5 weeks away.

Looks like I will have a nice harvest of St Pepin, and LaCrosse. LaCrescent will be not as much as I thought due to rose chafers eating the blossoms during bloom. In general those three white varieties look like they will be good quality grapes. I still have a few hundred pounds available for sale that aren't already spoken for.

Unripe Foch, from crop thinning in mid August.

I will have a small foch harvest, but last year, this year, and next year look to be a rebuilding years. I already picked about 70 lbs of green foch grapes prior to verasion a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to over stress some of the vines.

This year the vinifera experiment in the high tunnel will go a long way of telling me if it is feasible to grow grapes this way. Right now harvest looks like it will be Early October.

3rd year in a row with very dry conditions

We haven't had any measurable rain since early June. Luckily we got about 3 inches of a nice slow rain at that time to give the vines a good start.

One benefit of the dry weather, has been very little disease pressure. Even the humidity has been low, so powdery mildew hasn't been much of a problem either. As of July 5, I finished putting my irrigation system is in place. So I should survive lack of rain much better than in the last two years. However, I think the farmers in the area sure could use an inch or two of rain right now though.

Video update coming

It has been very busy in the vineyard this year. I haven't kept up very well with the blogging. I will post a video update shortly. In the mean time check out the 2009 grape prices. For the first time I will have Vitis Vinifera grapes available!!!