Cassel Vineyards travels to Florida

Easter 2011 finds the family in Florida enjoying the sun and fun. We are having such a great time with Becky's family. The weather is beautiful and we brought a couple of bottles of wine to enjoy by the pool as the kids swim. Hopefully we will get some nice weather in PA when we return in May. We plan to have several special events including tastings of our 2010 vintages on the deck at the Warwick, Dinner at Dafnos and a tasting at Pavone's in Hummelstown. The fun will continue as we enjoy our wine and friendships throughout the Spring and Summer. Looking forward to seeing everyone and making new friends in the months to come.

Tasting on the Deck at the Warwick Hotel

Cassel Vineyards of Hershey on the Deck at the Warwick Hotel on May 13, 5:00 -?

As we approach the end of March, we are working longer days both in the vineyard and in the winery. Here the sun sets on the two rows of Chambourcin which have been pruned and tied to the top-wire of our high-wire trellis. The first time through, we were able to prune out any excess canes and determine which canes were going to be this year's fruiting canes. With the warmth of Spring the sap will begin to flow and we will be able to place the canes on the wires without the fear of damaging them. We had 2 weeks of warming weather and then the weather snapped back to below freezing and the canes have tightened up again. Hopefully next week we can get back to the vines and finish our work in the vineyard so that we can turn our attention to bottling in preparation for our uncorking celebrations in May and June. Hope you can make it out to try our new wines.

Release Dates for 2010 Vintage

I just wanted to make everyone aware of the special dates that we have planned for the upcoming season. Cassel Vineyards of Hershey is planning to open for sales duing the month of June. The release date for our 2010 White and Fruit wines is Thursday, June 2 at the Hershey Farmer's Market from 3-6 pm. We will also be opening at our retail winery at 53 Shetland Drive on Saturday, June 4th from 1-4 pm. All Summer these and our remaining 2009 Reds will be on sale. Then, in July... We will release our 2010 Red Wines for the Taste of Hummelstown on the Square. The Taste of Hummelstown will be held on Monday, July 18th and we look forward to seeing everyone there. It is very exciting to have these events scheduled and to look forward to seeing our friends from last year return for another year of wine and fun.

Rolling out the 2010 Vintage

March 12, 2011 finds us in the winery bottling our first vintage of 2010. Here Greg Etnoyer, Craig, Kevin Reigel, Chris, and Jody show off the fruits of our year's labor. We bottled 75 gallons of Strawberry which we all agreed smelled and tasted like it was just picked from our strawberry patch yesterday.
I can't think of a more enjoyable way to preserve and enjoy the work that we have all put into our endeavor the last year. To have it all in a bottle and taste the flavors, savoring the days spent in the vineyard, the friendships shared and affirmed, and the delightful sunshine that pours out of every bottle is nothing short of a miracle.
In the next several weeks we will continue to bottle our fruit wines including the new Peach and Honey wine. At the same time we will finish up our pruning in the vineyard as we begin to bottle our white wines (Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc and Niagara) and our new Blush. Sometime later in the Summer, in time for the Taste of Hummelstown on Monday, June 18th, we will finally bottle our reds (Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc).
Our wines will be available to the public the first week of June when we begin selling from the Hershey Farmer's Market on June 2nd and from the Cassel Vineyards Winery on Sat. June 4th. We hope to see you so that you can share in the fruits of our labors.

Let the pruning begin!

With February comes hope for spring around the corner and pruning. A beautiful evening in the vines. . .

Pruning in the Vineyard

Because several people have requested that we give them a call when we begin pruning our vines. Chris and I thought that we should put a video out to prepare them for the work that they may encounter. The weather is cold and appropriate dress is necessary and the work is tedius. Watch the video before you decide to volunteer so that you know what the work is like. If working in the vineyard is not for you that's okay, we still need plenty of volunteers to drink our wine when the pruning is done and the grapes are picked. Thank-you for your interest.