Merry Christmas

Winter Sunset over the winery.

               A recent Cassel family photo taken at Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary gathering. 


Here is a wish for a very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family wherever you are.  We have enjoyed another very successful year at Cassel Vineyards of Hershey and have sold out of all but three of our original 12 varieties of wine.  It has been such a busy and productive year we hope that everyone has enjoyed the same health and good fortune.  We are looking forward to our upcoming 2012 vintage and plan to open again in March to feature all of our old favorites and some of our new wines too.  In the meantime, I will try to keep you all updated on the bottling, pruning and any other changes that take place behind the production room doors.  Meanwhile enjoy your holidays and the new year.  Looking forward to seeing everyone in the year 2013.  Meanwhile, thank you to everyone for your support and here is our wish for a happy holiday and glorious new year.

Holidays in the Vineyard

I gave Avery the camera

tonight and told her to take some seasonal pictures at the winery and vineyard.  We are getting geared up for the holidays!  With only 2 weekends left in our 2012 season we are getting ready to celebrate with our families and friends.  If we can help you by providing you with any last minute gifts of holiday wine please stop in and see us sometime in the next two weekends.  Our hours are Friday and Saturday 12 - 6.  We are serving our spiced wine as well as the 6 varietals and blends that remain.  Stop by and enjoy an afternoon and escape from the hassle and crowds.  Sip a glass of wine and enjoy the music and conversation in our tasting room.  We look forward to wishing everyone a healthy and happy Holiday season.

A Casual Celebration of our 2011 Vintage

 Family and Friends celebrating the end of a great meal at Dafno's wine pairing dinner.

Cheers to the last glass of Chocolate Port from our 2011 Vintage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pairing the Chocolate Port with a Peanut Butter Cheesecake 

but not just any Peanut Butter Cheesecake!  Melissa's Cheesecake had a dark chocolate glazed graham cracker crust.  It's hard to describe how amazing it tasted

The first course was a puff pastry wrapped brie cheese with Carmel sauce paired with our Vidal Blanc Semi-sweet.  Just there right balance of sweet, cream and nutty ripeness.

Some of our friends and family waiting as we explain the wine list and pairings prior to each course.

Just finished our wine pairing dinner at Dafnos Restaurant in Hershey where we paired 7 of Cassel Vineyards Best wines with their delicious appetizers, salads, soups, entrees and dessert.  As you can see from the pictures everyone was very happy with each course preceded by an explanation of the wine and the pairing.  We tried to make it very informal and fun without going into detail about the technical aspects of wine pairing.    We had such a great time.  The price was $50 dollars and in the 2 hour dinner I can safely say nobody went away hungry, thirsty or unhappy.  

The final course was just amazing with a chocolate, peanut butter cheesecake and our Chocolate Port.  The Chocolate  Port was our first wine to sell out this year and promises to be one of the most popular choices for next year.  It takes 2 years to make each batch and 2 years ago we never expected this type of demand.  Fans have enjoyed it in many ways as a syrup over ice cream, an accompaniment to a great cigar, over and with cheesecake and as a dessert standing alone.  In my opinion, it is one of the best wines and a perfect way to end a perfect meal.  Thanks to all our friends and fans for the support you've given us this year.  We plan to close on Dec. 15 but will open again with our 2012 vintage in May. 

That's Sustainability

With all the talk in the media today about sustainability and green environmental practices, its difficult to decide what is real and what is hype.  Last week I read a water bottle label that announced that the company was using 20% less plastic to make the lid of their bottles.  As a result, they claimed that their product was "eco-friendly" and "green".  I don't know about anyone else but I feel like using those words in that context really creates a lot of confusion.  Just because we waste so much, does that make us "green" and "eco-friendly" when we don't waste as much? 

 Well all of that thinking caused me to sit up and take notice when I was talking to some other Cassels who happened to visit our winery yesterday for their father's 50th birthday.  They were a great group and we talked about our possible relationship.  After a long discussion we found that indeed we were related from 4 generations back.  My Great Grandpa Christian who started the farm was one of 16 children and their Great Grandpa was his brother.  So we are cousins 4 generations removed.  I have enclosed two article to prove my Great Grandpa was indeed the man I claim he was.  He was recognized as a sustainable farmer back before environmental consciousness was even heard of.  My father was just telling me the harvest figures for this years soybean harvest and the numbers were incredible.  Most of the farms in our area who do not practice sustainable practices really struggled in the heat and variable weather but our soybeans and grapes produced huge crops.  Looking back, I guess we have Great Grandpa Chris to thank for teaching us the right way to treat our land since 1900.  Now that's Sustainability.

Chocolate and Wine

After eating chocolate and drinking wine all week, these are the 4 types of chocolate we came up with to present at our wine pairing event this weekend.  I have put together instructions and am asking visitors for their opinions about which chocolate goes with our Chambourcin, Finish Line Red, Concord and Blush wines the best.  We tried to find a chocolate to match each of our wine choices but want to see what other people think.  Food and Wine are very personal experiences and what I like may not necessarily be what you or the next person likes.  Therefore, I set up a voting program on my cell phone and our visitors can text their choices in and get results from each of the wines and chocolates.  It's a pretty fun little interactive experience and I plan to do it next week with wine and cheese.  If you are able to make it all you need is a glass of wine and a cell phone.  We'll provide the chocolate and the cheese.  Every vote counts so help us do some of the difficult work by drinking wine and eating chocolate!

White Sangria Recipe

Even though the cool weather is setting in, I had a request to publish my recipe for this Summer's White Sangria that we served during our Jazz Nights in August and September.  If you would like to mix up another batch before the cold winter snow hits, here is what you will need.

1 bottle Cassel Vineyards Vidal Blanc Dry
1 bottle Cassel Vineyards Niagara
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (reconstituted frozen works fine)
2 cups 7-UP or other lemon lime soda
1 lemon,
1 lime
1 orange

slice lemons, lime and orange and sprinkle with sugar to draw out juices, meanwhile combine liquid ingredients.  Pour over the fruit until the sugar is dissolved.  Serve over crushed ice. Enjoy.

Great Weather for Spiced Wine

     With cold weather upon us, the time for spiced wine is here.  We just received our third order of spice packets after our first two orders sold out.  So many people have asked for my secret recipe the past several weeks that I'm going to share it with you.  All it takes is one bottle of Cassel Vineyards Concord and one bottle of Blush in a crock pot, throw in the lemonade and sugar and our secret spice pack and you are prepared for any storm.  (You didn't really think I was going to tell you what's in the spice pack did you?)
     The weather continues to get colder but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a warm glass of wine beside the fire.  Stop by and pick up a spice pack today and mention my blog and tell Chris to give you my family discount if I'm not there.  Thanks for reading my blog and enjoy a glass of spiced wine on me.

Cassel Vineyards of Hershey's Swedish Meatballs

What a weekend!  Thanks to all the friends and fans who came out and gave us such wonderful compliments.  With the help of some great friends and the family our inaugural Hershey/Harrisburg wine trail event was a HUGE success.  Our friends both new and old made our harvest festival a great time shared with great people.  One of the biggest hits was the Swedish Meatballs in our own Cassel Vineyards Vidal Blanc Cream Sauce.  So many people asked us for the recipe I promised to put it out here on the Cassel Vineyards of Hershey Blogspot.  The recipe comes from my old school friend Kisa who now lives in Minnesota with all her Swedish friends.  Thanks to Kisa, Dave, Greg, Anne and everyone who spent\ their time helping us for this event and the many to come.

Swedish Meatballs in Vidal Blanc Cream Sauce

1 Bag Frozen Meatballs (Swedish style if possible)

Cream Sauce
2 Tbs. melted butter
2 Tbs. flour
1 1/4 c. Beef Bullion
 1/2 c. Cassel Vineyards Vidal Blanc
dash of nutmeg
dash of ground ginger
dash of white pepper
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 quart 1/2 and 1/2

Melt butter, stir in flour and make a roux, slowly mix in beef bullion and H20 and heat while thickening.  Add 1/2 and 1/2 and slowly increase the heat.  When mixture is warm and thick add ginger, nutmeg and pepper.
Meanwhile, heat meatballs in the microwave and cover them with the sauce.  Heat the mixture in a crock pot and serve.  Enjoy with Cassel Vineyards Finish Line White or the remaining Vidal Blanc or both. 

Fall Harvest Celebration at Cassel Vineyards (Italian Meatballs)

     Today we had 500 people pass through our winery.  Everyone seemed to have a great time sampling wine,  talking about the harvest and eating different foods we prepared to pair with our wines.  The wine received some great reviews.  Our Vidal Blanc Semi Sweet nearly sold itself out and we turned many friends on to our new Warm Spiced Holiday Wine.  We switched it up a little bit and Becky ended up in the production facility giving tours to several of our interested guests.  She did a great job and got several compliments.  As promised, I will also give my secret recipe for my meatballs in the next several days.  The Meatballs in Italian Concord Wine Sauce was a big hit served with our Finish Line Red.  Tomorrow, Sunday October 28th from 11 - 5:00, will be the last chance for everyone to try these and other delicious wine paired treats.

Italian Meatballs in Italian Concord Wine Sauce
1 jar of your favorite Italian Tomato Sauce (I use Rague)
1/4 cup Cassel Vineyards Concord Wine
1 bag Moma LaRossa precooked meatballs (or your favorite brand)
Warm sauce and wine in a pot.  Add the meatballs and warm until meatballs are completely heated through.  Enjoy over spaghetti with a glass of Cassel Vineyards Finish Line Red.

Fall in the Vineyard

    The Fall colors in the vineyard are beautiful right now!  In the last week, the sunshine has given us the chance to clean up the vineyard and enjoy the fall colors.  This weekend is our wine trail final event of the season.  Come out and enjoy the beautiful weather on Saturday.  Tickets for Hershey Harrisburg Wine Trail's Fall Event http://www.hersheyharrisburgwinecountry.com/signature-events/fall-festival/ are available at our winery beginning on Saturday at 11:00.  On Saturday and Sunday from 11 - 5:00, we will have free wine tasting, 10% off of all purchases, samples of fresh grape juice, a souvenir glass and a ticket that will allow you to visit all the other area wineries for a similar offer on Saturday and Sunday.  For $10 each or $15 per couple, this is a great deal.  The weather forecast on Saturday still looks great so start early and we will see you at Cassel vineyards.

Everybody Plays a Part

  The final weekend of picking and everyone steps up to contribute to the final product.  In this case it is the Cabernet Franc our premium red.  We waited until all the numbers were perfect.  The night before we picked was the first freeze of the season.  The temperature went down to 27 degrees and as we picked the frost was melted off of the green leaves.  It was not difficult to convince anyone to put on a pair of gloves to begin picking the grapes.  We worked through the morning amidst the friendly banter and stimulating conversation that seemed to warm us up.  The sun began to warm us on the outside, and the sunshine melted the frost from the vines and grapes.  By the time we were done, the frost had melted and the leaves were drying up.  The grape clusters were hanging on the vines and our picking rate increased.  The kids were getting hungry so we decided to finish the job before we adjourned for lunch.  We hope everyone had as much fun picking as they seemed to throughout the day.  The lunch was great and we can't say thank you enough to everyone who contributed to the success of this years harvest.

Celebrating the end of Harvest

Here are pictures of our picking crew at 1:00 when we were all finished and enjoying our  lunch.  We worked until all of the Cabernet Franc were harvested.  Unfortunately, because the bird pressure was so bad this summer, we had only 2 tons of fruit.  The weather this Saturday was stellar.  We ate chili to warm up after a cold start in the vineyards.  It was a great day to do work and finish with our harvest.  Many o four workers were second and third time volunteers and since they work for free all we have to say is thank you and give them a free lunch.What a season, what a harvest.  We are grateful to everyone who has supported our effort in any way.  We couldn't have done it without you.

Caught Working

I was getting wet and dirty on the back crush pad after picking and crushing Chambourcin last weekend when someone picked up my camera and took this picture.  It doesn't happen very often but I got caught getting dirty.  I am cleaning up the crusher de-stemmer in anticipation for this upcoming week.  We hope that Saturday, October 13th will be our final day of picking as we pick the Cabernet Franc.  At this point we have an incredible harvest of exceptional quality fruit.  The weather has taken a turn and the temperatures are getting cool.  We hope the sunshine later in the week can dry off the fruit and give us a nice warm window of opportunity.  If you are free this Saturday, stop out to help us.  You will be rewarded with a great time with a great group of people and an awesome lunch.  You might even catch a glimpse of me working .... maybe.

Curse the Birds

Sometime you just have to hate the birds.  We have been visited by many flocks of starlings, cowbirds and blackbirds.  Back in August, we put our bird nets up to keep the birds from eating all of our Chardonnay, Cab Franc and Chambourcin.  We were very fortunate with the Chardonnay and Chambourcin.  It is amazing how hungry and tenacious the little birds can be.  The only way we could keep the birds off of the Cabernet Franc was to place double side nets on the vines.  At first, we thought the 4' side nets would keep the birds away, but they figured out how to get through to the fruit.  Next we put 18 ' nets over the top to double net the Cabernet Franc.  That worked wherever we had both nets.  However, the pictures above show how we overlooked the double netting on 2 of the  rows.  On these grapes we only put only the 18' nets.  This would have been enough in most places but not with our friends the birds.  They have actually learned how to push the nets in and sit on the 18' nets while picking the vines clean.  So, we are left with 2 rows of grapes with nothing but stripped vines.  Next year we will be ready for the birds.

Chambourcin in Primary Fermentor

     We picked 4 tons of Chambourcin today in a Cassel Vineyard record time of 3 hours!  What a beautiful day!  It all started last night at the Friday night Jazz in the Vines Party.  We had a beautiful evening and around 300 people showed up to enjoy the friends, music and wines.  We knew we had to pick Chambourcin this afternoon so I took the opportunity to ask friends in the crowd if anyone would like to help pick today.  I never imagined that 30 people would show up and help us pick today.  The weather cooperated and the clouds blew through as we picked each row clean.  By 3:00 we were done and ready to eat.  The sun came out and we carved up a beautiful pork roast smothered in homemade sauerkraut and topped with fresh ground horseradish.  The roast tasted great with the Chambourcin we picked in 2010.  When we were done, the grapes were picked, the food was gone and everyone had experienced one of the best days they could remember.  That's the funny thing about our harvest parties, its work but it always seems like we shouldn't be able to have such a good time doing our work.  To everyone who helped and made the picking so much fun, we want to thank you.  Next week we will pick our final varietal of the season.  Hopefully it will be as successful as it was this weekend.

Hummelstown Scarecrow

We finished our Hummelstown scarecrow today and placed it on the square with 23 other scarecrows.  Our entry is a zombie called the Carnivorous Connoisseur.  We tried to add a little humor to our depiction of wine snobbery.  People always ask questions about which wines will go best with which foods.  Our zombie has the same problem.  On his tray is a plate full of severed fingers, a hand, an eyeball and a brain and he is trying to decide if he should have a glass of red Chambourcin or white Vidal Blanc Semi-sweet with this delicious meal.  Personally, I think both wines would pair well but my experience does not include human flesh so I'll let our customers decide.
If  you get a chance to vote in Hummelstown, we are encouraging all our customer to fill their ballot our for the Carnivorous Connoisseur. 

Two More Generations (#3 & #4)

  This picture shows my father Cleon and mother Dottie with my sister Tina and brother Chris.  Myself along with my sister Lydee make up the 4th generation of Cassels who have worked the family farm.  My dad and mom have worked the fields and raised us to appreciated all the opportunities that a life on 200 acres of land has to offer.  As children we could hunt, play, fish and work all Summer while eating some of the best food anyone could ever hope for.  We always had a huge bountiful garden and raised, horses, ponies, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, peacocks and guinea hens on the farm.  All of these things combined to make our lives very special.  Now, we have the opportunity to pass the life we grew to love and enjoy on to our children through the winery at Cassel Vineyards.  If you stop by to visit we can still show you the fields and farms where we grew up.  Chances are you will see our kids working in the fields, riding the horses, or playing with their cousins just like we did, and our parents did before us. 
    That's the thing about a family farm, it continues to cycle back around as long as the circle remains unbroken.  Unfortunately for many of the farms and families in this area, the sale of the family's farmland breaks this cycle.  Less opportunities remain for the next generation, and the circle becomes a road ending j\in a cul-de-sac.

Crush and Press in the Cool of the Night

After picking the grapes in the cool evening/night, the work is only half complete.  Above are the night shots of Chris, Luke, Colton and I working to crush the grapes and de-stem then.  From their the crush goes through the 2" flexible pipe into our 300 gallon press.  Luke is directing the must onto the rice hulls which Chris is sprinkling throughout the crush.  The hulls act as capillaries to allow the compressed grape skins to release all of their juice.  For those of you who have not witnessed the press, the grape juice is forced out through the mesh strainer as the crushed grapes are gently, evenly pressed using an expandable rubber bladder.  When the press is full, the stainless-steel lid is lowered into place and everything is secured.  The water hose is hooked up and the pump pushes water into the bladder which squeezes the grapes from the inside out.  Each press takes the better part of an hour as the bladder inflates and then continues to exert pressure on the skins for 30-45 minutes.  In the end our patience is rewarded with gallons and gallons of high quality Vidal Blanc juice. 
This year's harvest has been extremely bountiful with 300 gallons of Chardonnay, 500 gallons of Vidal Blanc and 650 gallons of Concord juice.  We still have to harvest the Chambourcin over Columbus Day weekend and then the Cabernet Franc sometime later in October.  The weather has been perfect and the juice is fermenting into next years wine.  If you want to come out and lend a hand, our next picking date will be Sat. October 6th starting at noon.  We will finish our picking of the Chambourcin that evening with a big harvest dinner of roasted pork, sauerkraut and dumplings washed down with fresh grape juice and wine. 

Night Harvest of Vidal Blanc

We worked all evening, took a break for dinner of slow roasted roast beef and parsley potatoes, then went back with our headlamps into the vines to finish up.  The weather was spectacular and everyone who joined our Night Frolic in the Vines had a great experience.  The Vidal Blanc are yielding exceptionally well.  We have pressed 4.5 tons and it has yielded nearly 500 gallons of exceptional quality juice.  If you have tasted our wines you know that the farmland produces great quality wines.  Now we know that a summer with great weather also produces huge quantities of excellent fruit.  We want to thank everyone who helped us with the picking and eating.   As you know here at Cassel Vineyards we take our work and fun seriously.  If you missed out we will have two more opportunities to pick in the month of October so watch our Facebook page for details.

One Generation to the Next

  Cassels Brookside Stables was begun by Christian Cassel in 1906 and passed down to his son R. Earl Cassel.  Both of their pictures were seen in last weeks post as I explained their love of the farm and family.  Today's post shows pictures of the the next generation of Cassels.  The top photo shows Grandpa Chris taking the oldest of Earl and Sylvia's boys Dick and Doug out for a ride.  The gravel lane they are standing on, is presently the paved driveway entry into the farm.  The picture in the middle shows Earl and Sylvia's son Cleon and his cousins Rose Ann and Phil Swarr astride their trusty mount Silver.  The Final picture shows the whole Cassel family including Dick, Doug, Kay and Cleon with cousins Jimmy, Gail and Phil.  This generation would be the next in line to inherit the farm and family and it's daily operations.  As Dick, Doug, Cleon and Kay grew up they each participated in the farm work in different ways.  Cleon assumed the role as general manager because he continued to live and work on the farm and at Lower Dauphin High School.  Eventually, he married Dorothy Hess and he and Dottie had 4 more children.  That is another story for another day.

A Brief History of Cassel Vineyards

Here are some pictures of our Great Grandpa Christian Cassel and his wife Stella (Swope) Cassel.   Grandpa was the one who bought and founded the farm at the turn of the century.  Back in 1906 he began Cassel's Brookside Farms of Hershey.  He had a love for his farming and his family.  Because of his passion for the land, Grandpa Chris was a master farmer and raised all types of livestock.  He sold Chester White Hogs, Turkeys and Golden Guernsey Milk Cattle and farmed the 200 acre farm.  He was recognized all over the county as one of the most knowledgeable farmers and received a Master Farmer award.  Working with his son R. Earl, he passed down his knowledge from one generation to the next.  Here at Cassel Vineyards, our farm is entering it's 5th generation of Cassels who live on and love the land.  In the next several entries, I will introduce you to several other members of the Cassel family.

Cassel Vineyards Sponsors Golf Tournament Hole #3

In our first sponsorship role, Cassel Vineyards of Hershey agreed to sponsor a hole at the Lower Dauphin Alumni Golf tournament at Manada Golf Course.  Our sponsored hole was the 3d hole which was a par 3 at 196 yards.  We enjoyed some beautiful weather and a great group of players, coaches and fans.  The winning team was from Penn National Race Course at Hollywood Casino in Grantville.  The team posted a score of 14 under par and had a great time.  Instead of a trophy the team got a bottle of Cassel Vineyards Blush Wine.  After the 18 holes of golf everyone enjoyed a wonderful pulled pork dinner roasted by the Whiston brothers.  It was a great day beginning to end.  A wonderful way to start our sponsorship.  Thanks for the opportunity. 

Vidal Blanc

  We are preparing to harvest our Vidal Blanc grapes next weekend.  All the numbers look right and the grapes are tasting sweeter than they have ever tasted in the past 3 years.  This fall has dried out dramatically and it is translating into much higher sugar content in the grapes.  These higher sugar numbers could mean higher alcohol if that were the route we chose.  However, alcohol in white wines tend to upset their balance so one needs to exercise extreme caution.  Our Vidal Blanc has the potential to produce a wine with an alcohol content of 13% or more if it were fermented to 0% residual sugar.  However, last year proved that drinkers in Central Pa liked our Vidal with a Semi-sweet finish.  As a result, we plan to replicate our Vidal with enough residual sugar to balance out the fruit and melon tastes which our vineyard seems to produce so well.  If you want to pick these grapes with us, we will begin picking next weekend if the weather continues to cooperate.

Final Press of Concord

  Last night as the weather took a turn towards Fall, we made our final press of Concord juice.  The grapes were sitting in crush tubs while the pectic enzymes removed the colors and tannins from the skins.  After waiting the correct length of time, we bucket the must into the press and force the remaining juice from the skins and seeds.  This year's harvest produced 600 gallons of delicious juice.  The bountiful harvest has us thinking very optimistic thoughts about the rest of the 2012 harvest.  We still have Vidal Blanc, Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc yet to pick and if the weather continues to cooperate, it looks like the juice is going to be exceptionally abundant and of very high quality.  We can only hope that conditions remain favorable and we get our harvest in before any long stretches of adverse weather strike.

Sunday Triple Header

Today we worked through a double header at Cassel Vineyards.  First on the ticket was Greg and  Chris and Clint starting the press at 8:00AM and extracting 375 gallons of juice from the Concord we picked yesterday. Next Jody, Anne, Elliot, Avery, Colton, Lee, Hunter, Dominic,Quentin and a whole host of other laborers who I can't begin to thank enough finished the last 3 1/2 rows of Concord picking.  The grapes yielded incredibly well this year so they had quite a picking job and they stuck at it all until 5:30 when everything (5 tons) was picked.  A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped out both yesterday and today.

Finally, from 1:30 - 8:00 tonight our wine was featured at the Dauphin County Jazz and Wine Festival where 5,000 guests enjoyed samples and bought their favorite bottles of wine from 12 area vineyards in Hershey, Harrisburg and surrounding areas.  The music was great and we heard so many wonderful compliments about our wines it made our night extra special.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by and tried our wine and support our efforts through purchasing our product.  We wouldn't and couldn't do it without you.  It's time to go to sleep now so that we can get up and work our real jobs this week.  See you next week at the winery.

Picking Concord Again

     From the field to the crush pad, we had so much help today picking the Concord it was magnificent.  That is, until the strong storms came across the valley.  The weather was nice up until lunchtime today.  After lunch, the skies began to darken and we had to call it a day at 2:00.  Of course the weather passed quickly and by 3:30 we were able to get back into the field.  Unfortunately our friend had scattered to the wind and we were left with just a few helpers.  We worked until 6:00 and finished with 2 and 1/2 rows of grapes to pick tomorrow.  We plan to begin picking tomorrow in the morning and hope to finish by 2:00.  We are hoping that a few worker will be able to make it out to help tomorrow.  It will be another long day with both Concord harvest and the Jazz festival in Harrisburg.  This is the time of the year when we feel like we are always on the go.  Thanks to everyone who has and is helping us out.  We really appreciate it.

Picking Concord Grapes Sept. 8, 2012

    Well, it was one year ago today that we were sent home from school as a result of flash flooding caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.  We had no idea that those two storms were going to cause the worst flooding in this area since Hurricane Agnes in 1972.  The vineyard received about 12 inches of rain last year and it caused many of our Concord grapes to absorb so much water that they split open.  What could have been a disaster, actually turned out happily for us because school was canceled and we had the opportunity to pick our grapes before they rotted.  It was a very memorable occasion as we worked together in the rain and tropical humidity to bring in a huge crop of Concord grapes and make some of the best wine we have ever made.  This year we are not looking at quite the same urgency but it is interesting to note that it is the same weekend that we are going to pick the Concord grapes.  All the numbers are showing that the results from this year's wine are stacking up to provide us with an even better vintage than last year.
     Last year we used words like challenging and okay when we were asked how the wine making was going at the vineyard.  This year without 12" of rain and widespread flooding we are much more optimistic.  If you are available this weekend, stop by and taste the sweetness in this year's grapes.  They are going to make some excellent wines. 

Cassel Vineyards Upcoming Jazz Weekend

    The upcoming weekend involves a lot of Wine and Jazz for Cassel Vineyards of Hershey.   
  
      Friday, Sept. 7th will see the return of Cassel Vineyards Jazz in the Vines as we bring back Dave Knott Jazz Trio for the First Fridays of Fall Jazz Concert series.  Come and see us on Friday from 6-8:00 PM and enjoy our wine and live jazz on the back patio.  (October 5th will be our next First Friday of Fall Jazz Concert)

     Saturday, Sept. 8 and Sunday Sept. 9th we will be at the Hershey/Harrisburg Wine Trail's Jazz and Wine at Fort Hunter Park in Harrisburg.
http://www.hersheyharrisburgwinecountry.com/signature-events/jazz-wine-festival/

    Come and enjoy our wines and music all weekend.

Another Way to Enjoy Cassel Vineyards Wine

    As you can see our wine is not just for wine snobs.  We visited some of our friends in Allentown for the Annual Family Cycling weekend.  After the Saturday ride, we enjoyed our traditional Sparkle hour complete with Cassel Vineyard Wines and cheese from Keswick Creamery.  Everyone enjoyed the combination of wine and cheese some of us more than others.  In this picture, Kreg enjoys the last sip of a bottle of Cassel Vineyards Niagara.  Good to the last drop!  Our hostess Anne was just glad she got the last glass before Kreg finished the bottle.  We are glad you both enjoyed the wine and look forward to sharing another bottle next year.