Pruning Crew making Progress

Here is a picture of the hard working young men who have helped turn the vineyard into a beautifully manicured work of art. Quentin and Dominic have been helping the last several weekends along with Cole, Lee, Elliot, Colton and Avery. The kids get a lot of fresh air and enjoy helping and making a little spending cash. Now that the sun is shining and the weather is getting warmer we are working extra overtime to get the vines finished before the buds break and we have to start worrying about weed control and other issues. The time spent now to get the vines in ship-shape will pay big dividends in the fall when we are ready to harvest and make wine. Practicing good viticulture and training the vines early is really paying off in the quality of our wines.

A Beautiful Sight - Vines Pruned and Tied

The beautiful weather has allowed us to work in the vines and prepare the vineyard for the upcoming growing season. Compare these pictures of the neat clean rows with all the vines trimmed and taped to the wires to the ones that were posted early in the year. The vines look so nice and now we are ready for the warm Spring temperatures. I will post some pictures of all the help that we have gotten over the last several days in the upcoming photos. Keep checking on our progress.

Easter Wine Conference in Lancaster

Cassel Vineyards of Hershey entered its Niagara wine in the Pennsylvania Wine Association wine show and competition held this past week in Lancaster, PA. Our wine won another Bronze medal making it the 3d award winning wine already this year. The Niagara joins the Blush (Bronze 2012, Silver 2011) and the Vidal Blanc (Bronze 2012) in our portfolio of award winning wines! We are proud of the wines we make and serve and invite you to come and try all of our offerings.

First Look at Interior of Winery

Yesterday they finished pouring the concrete floor in the interior of the winery and tasting room. At this point it is just one big room with four walls. This picture is taken from the side patio facing the vineyard. It shows the tasting room at the far end and the area directly in front is the production area. There will be a partition wall dividing the two areas and we hope to erect the walls and finish some of the wiring this weekend. Progress is moving along quickly and will continue to show big changes over the next several months. However, with spring pruning and preparation for bottling in full swing we are gearing up for a lot of long evenings in the vineyard and winery. In the end it will all be worth the work.