The Workers Behind the Scene

These are the men who are doing the work behind the scenes on our new winery. Chris made friends with the guys on the second day of the job by giving them each a bottle of our award winning Blush. The crew has been working extra hours and Saturdays and we are exremely impressed with the quality of their work as well. We hope to have floors tomorrow and I will make a new entry with updated pictures as soon as possible.

Big Ben Visits Cassel Vineyards of Hershey

Ben Roethlisberger stopped by Cassel Vineyards last weekend on his way home from a goose hunting trip on Cassel's Brookside Farm. The geese weren't flying so he called it a day after several hours and stopped by the house and winery to thank us and enjoy a taste of our Award Winning Blush Wine. His entourage enjoyed the Strawberry Wine and promised to come back the next time they were in the area. This picture shows how big "Big" Ben really is when measured up against a Cassel. Jody (Lifelong Steeler's Fan) could not resist having her picture taken beside her idol. Becky tried to made it home in time to have her picture taken with Ben. She was wearing her Miami University (Ben's Alma Matter) sweatshirt but he was gone before she arrived. You too can taste the wines that Ben and his hunting buddies drank when we re-open on June 2nd. Cheers!

Nice Weather = Progress

The nice weather this week has given Chad Weaver and his crew a chance to make a lot of progress on the completion of our new Cassel Vineyards Winery and tasting room. The weather has also been very helpful in preparing our wine for cold stabilization and fining this week. As soon as the new building is completed (and we pass PDA inspection) we will be able to begin bottling and production for the upcoming year. It will be great to be in our new building with some room to work. Currently we are shoe-horned into our old winery with stacks of bottles and stainless steel vats. The work will really begin for us when the outside of the vineyard is finally complete. The plans for the tasting bar are coming along very well and that is something else we are really looking forward to. Hopefully, we can open the tasting bar the first Sat. and June. Hope you can join us for a tour of the new building and a tasting of our new wines.

Update on Construction (Feb. 12)

Here are the latest pictures of the construction of our winery and tasting room. In the first picture you can see Becky standing in the tasting room while I am taking the picture from our production area. The second picture shows a side view so the new winery from the side looking out over the vineyard. The weather has turned a bit too cold to continue working on the exterior. In the next week as the weather moderates, the contractor plans to have the building under room and complete the walls. After the walls and roof are completed, they will then put in the drains, plumbing and pour the foundation. We are expecting most of the exterior work to be completed by the second week of March if we continue to have good weather. It will be great if we can stay on schedule and open by June 2nd. Keep up with the construction on our blog.

Foundation is Ready to Pour

Here is a picture of the outline of the new tasting room. The crew came out today to dig the holes for the post supports. You can see the outline of the building around the perimeter. We are hoping the the warm weather continues so that we can keep building. Thankfully it will all be inside work throughout the Spring. Feel free to stop by and inspect the progress. I will continue to update the blog as the building proceeds.

Before and After Pruning February 5th

The picture on the left is our Vidal Blanc before pruning this past weekend. The picture on the right is the same section at the end of the weekend. With the great weather we took advantage of the longer days and finished the first quarter block of our vineyard. We will begin our second block this week because it looks like the weather is going to remain good for at least 7 more days. Hopefully, we will also begin pouring concrete for the new building.

A Nice Day to Play in the Dirt

Today Chris and our neighbor Bill Bordner got to play in the dirt with their toys. After getting several dozen loads of fill to bring our pad up to grade, Bill leveled out the fill while Chris worked to pack it down in preparation for pouring the concrete. It looks like the weather will continue to cooperate so things should keep moving along. We are still counting on a grand opening at the beginning of June so if we are lucky things will continue to proceed smoothly. Stay tuned for more photos of the progress as we continue to make progress one day at a time.