Beating the Birds

Above and to the right are the Vidal Blanc and Chambourcin with the bird nets in place. Below is the Chardonnay that has been stripped clean by the birds in just 3 days.

In the past two weeks, just as our grapes are ripening, flocks of European Starlings and Cowbirds have been flying in to feast on our grapes. It began almost overnight as our Chardonnay grapes began to disappear at an alarming rate. I guess good news travels fast in the bird world and within 3 days our acre of Chardonnay that had such promise was stripped bare.

Thanks to the Orchard Valley Supply company for rushing our order of bird netting. Thanks to Jody, Lee and Colton who helped put the first day's nets over the Cab Franc and Vidal Blanc. Thanks to Chris, Greg, Becky and Elliot for helping to cover the Concord and Chambourcin. In just two days we have all our grapes covered from top to bottom and the birds have been forced to find food somewhere else. We learned another valuable lesson the hard way. Next year we will have our bird netting in place several weeks in advance of the grapes changing color. I have posted pictures of the vines that were stripped clean by the birds as well as several pictures of our netted vines hanging full of grapes.

The Grapes are Ripening

Here is a picture of our Chambourcin grapes as they begin to ripen on August 12th. They are looking exceptional thanks to the last two rains we had in the first week of August. The vines were struggling at the end of July in the hot, dry weather. However, they look excellent right now and all we have to do is keep the hungry animals and birds away so there are enough left for us to pick and make wine out of . We just completed an electric fence around the perimiter to keep the deer out and this week we plan to hang netting over the grapes to keep the birds from eating any more. It's always something.

Sounderosa Car Show Wine Tasting

We had a wonderful day today at the Bike, Car and Street rod Show at the Sounderosa Campground outside of Mercersburg, PA http://www.saunderosapark.com/. The festival was complete with 150 cars, hundreds of people and lots of good food, friends and fun. The wine was a big hit and we sold out of our Niagara and nearly sold out of our Peach and Honey and Concord as well. The weather was great, but several car owners said they did not take the chance of bringing their cars out to the show because of the threat of rain. Next year, we hope that everyone comes back to visit us again or stops by our winery to show us their very cool automobiles. Thanks for a great time to the friendly staff at the campground. They were exceptional and our day was outstanding.

250 Anniversary Wine Chosen

The Hummelstown 250th Anniversary Committee has selected Cassel Vineyard to provide the wine for next years celebration. Today we unveiled the White Niagara and the Red Concord that will make up the set. The wines (250 bottles of each) will be available for pre-order at $15/bottle or $25/set. The special labels will make a great gift while the wine tastes excellent too. Today at the unveiling of the the quilt, we had a very successful introduction. If you are interested in sampling or purchasing a bottle/set, please call the winery and provide your name, phone number and e-mail address so that we can arrange payment and pick-up. The committee will release the wines next summer on July 13 during the 250th anniversary celebration. We are looking forward to several other celebratory events in order to introduce our wines. Hope everyone can make it to try the wines and join in the celebration.

A Visit from the Red Hat Girls

I had the pleasure of hosting a group of ladies at the winery today who call themselves the "Dames of Wine and Roses". This group of 7 ladies set up a winery tasting/tour and stopped by to sample and hear about our wines. It was a very enjoyable visit and their enthusiasm and vitality was like a breath of fresh air. Each of these ladies said they love local wines and tasting events and knew a great deal about the wines and wineries of central Pennsylvania. Thank you for coming to visit Cassel Vineyards, and I hope you had as much fun tasting as I did hosting.
Anyone who is interested in a private, group tour/tasting just needs to call the winery at 533-4301 and arrange a time.

Pruning Cab Franc

Here is a picture of one of our Cabernet Franc Vines that is pruned and preparing to ripen it's fruit. The 4 canes run from the central trunk, 2 on the lower wire and 2 on the upper wire. This technique called Scott Henry pruning causes some of the energy to be used by the bottom canes as they are forced to grow downward. The upper canes are pruned to carry more fruit and together the top and bottom canes produce a balanced vine with optimal sugar content in the fruit. Unfortunately, this pruning technique takes almost twice as long as the traditional 2 cane VSP or High wire techniques. Hopefully, the yield and quality will make up for the extra hours of pruning and training.