Chronicles of the Long Shot Farm

Grape

1st Corot-Noir Harvest

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Our first Corot Noit harvst turned out to be rather sparse.  Not only was it the first year that the vines were producing, but we had pruned a lot of clusters off to ensure the vines stayed healthy through the dry summer conditions.  But on top of all that, we had major bird damage – the story of our 2016 harvest season.

For these grapevines, we had used black netting, since it is a lot more aesthetic to look at – sadly, the black netting was completely useless.

We picked just enough grapes to end up with 2.5 gallons of must (we had been hoping for ten times that much).  Since we had so few grapes, we destemmed them manually, and then crushed them by hand.

We let fermentation run its course, punched down the cap every day, and ended up with 1.5 gallons of wine.  We’ll see how it turns out in about a year.  For 2017 we are hoping for a full barrel!

Skidril

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We got a gas powered, handheld fence post driver.  Ours is made by a company called Skidril  (which is how we refer to this tool by now).  Probably one of the best tools ever for putting in metal trellis posts.  It works so much faster than drilling holes with a tractor attachment, and then pounding in the  wooden posts with another tractor attachment.  And – with the handheld tool, we can easily replace or add posts when the grapevines or blackberry bushes are already established.

Of course it does take some stamina, and balance and in our case a crew of three people.  We marked the field where the posts had to be placed before we got started, and build a platform for the truck for one person to stand on to use the post driver. The second person held the post in place with a level to keep it straight, and the third person drove the truck.  They managed to set about 80 posts in an hour!

And, the Skidril has a jackhammer attachment, which will come in really handy once we put in expanded drainage troughs in the barn…

Wooden Trellis Innovation

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To date, most of our vineyard is trellised with wooden posts – which has a major disadvantage when compared to metal posts:  metal posts have “build-in” brackets that make it very easy to move the catch wires to a higher level as the grape vines grow and get longer.

Jeff decided to make his own system to allow us to move the catch wires:  he cut metal strapping (the lighter weight, about 28 gauge) into short section, containing 3 holes.  He then bent this short section into a U shape.  He made a lot of them – coffee cans full of them.

To each U shape, he inserted a weather proof drywall screw and we screwed them onto the fence posts, about 6″ above the fruiting wire for the first one, and the second one about 12″ higher.  Two on each side of every post.   We used long, galvanized nails to closed the “bracket”, to hold the catch wire in place.

It worked like a charm –  we already moved the catch wires to the second level on nearly every variety.

Making Space for Niagara Grapes

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A few weeks ago we “erased” the small, upper blackberry patch which we had started next to the vegetable garden a few years ago.  We never paid too much attention to this patch, and therefore it never produced many berries.  Within one afternoon, all traces of the trellis and the brambles were gone.  The old rows were plowed and disked, and orange marker paint clearly showed where the new plantings were to go.

The reason for all this destruction was a new order of Niagara grapes, an American white variety of the  Vitis labrusca species.  Similar to Concord grapes, with a typical “grapey, musky” flavor profile.  We ordered 150 plants to give these grapes a try.  We planted them the same way as the Traminettes last weekend, with cardboard and mulch, to keep the weeds at bay.  They have been growing rather vigorously and within a month, healthy, happy grape plants are visible.