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.

Other Customers from the Farmer's Market

I just read a delightful blog today from a unique blogger who write for Central PA Parenting Magazine. Plain Jane did a very nice write-up on her experience at the Farmer's Market of Hershey last week. I wanted to share it with readers because it really sums up why we participate in the market and what we hope to accomplish. Hope you enjoy it.
http://www.centralpennparent.com/category/Community/Blogs/PlainJane(Blogginitmomstyle).aspx
I wanted to post some pictures and explanations about how much our grapes and grape vines are changing with the seasonal changes but there will be time for that next week.

Don't forget about the wine pairing dinner at Dafnos on August 8 from 6- 8:00. More information is available on Dafno's website.
http://dafnos.com/

Hot Times at the Hershey Farmer's Market

The official temperature today at the Hershey Farmer's Market was 100 degrees. Our white sangria and crisp white wines were a big hit as shoppers looked for a refreshing way to cool down and relax to escape the heat. With our stand next to the Lindendale Goat Cheese stand we are perfectly situated to provide a hot weather drink and next door you can find a wonderful cheese to pair with our crisp white wines. The market is doing well and next week we will again have a butcher providing fresh meats to our customers.
Also, starting next week we will be begin taking reservations for our Cassel Vineyards/Hershey Farmer's Market wine pairing dinner at Dafnos on August 8th. If you are interested stop by our table and sign up for tickets because they will go fast. Meanwhile, stay cool and relax.

Taking Care of our Help

Thanks for all the help!! It has truly been amazing that we have had so much help the past 8 weeks. Here are some pictures of the kids, their friends and the work that they have accomplished in the vineyard the last couple of months. If anyone says that young kids today don't want to work anymore, they have not met the young kids who are helping us every morning to prune, leaf pull, shoot thin and cluster thin our 5 acres of vines. With all the rain it was a lot of work to keep all the growth in check. Thanks to the last two weeks of dry, hot weather the vines have begun to slow their growth and we have actually gotten them under control. Here are our helpers and their jobs. Quentin is pulling excess leaves from the Cabernet Franc vines to improve air flow.

Cole is clipping off the excess clusters because the 4th year vines have produced 3 times more grapes than they can possibly ripen into quality fruit.

Blake aka "muck man" thins shoots in the fruiting zone to improve air flow and decrease the shading in the fruit zone.

Elliot looks through the canopy on the low wire where he is thinning the clusters.

Lee works to tuck the shoots under the upper catch wires, hedges the rogue shoots and shortens any of the long terminal shoots.

Avery pulls leaves in the fruit zone on the south side to improve light penetration.
Josh also pulls the leaves on the north side to improve light penetration and air flow.

Thank goodness we have such hard workers or our vineyard would be out of control. Thanks for all the hard work!!!

Taste of Hummelstown 1 Year Anniversary

It has been one year since we opened our doors to the community at the Taste of Hummelstown. We enjoyed our first year and hope that everyone who has tried our wine continues to stop by and offer their stories and encouragement. We heard from many people last night and I wanted to make sure that I included the recipe from our Red Sangria that we served last year because several people asked us for it.

Red Sangria

1 Bottle "Cassel Vineyards of Hershey" Strawberry Wine

1 Bottle " Cassel Vineyards of Hershey" Concord Wine

1/4 can of frozen lemonade concentrate

2 Tbs. of frozen orange juice concentrate

1/2 bag of frozen mixed fruit (optional)

ice cubes

Last night we offered samples of our White Sangria so if you are looking for that recipe as well, it is in the preceding blog post.

Once again, thank you for a wonderful first year of business. It is so much fun to live and work in a community like Hummelstown where everyone is so supportive.