Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Grapevines By the Numbers

People ask us all the time, what are we growing, what will we make, how much will we have, are we insane, etc. All valid questions. Here is a breakdown off all that we have planted over the course of 2008-2009 and what our plans are going forward. I could give you a description of each of these grapes, all released by the University of Minnesota, but their website does a much better job. http://www.grapes.umn.edu/wine.html

Marquette (Red)--1,250 vines planted
Frontenac Gris (White)--260
Prairie Star (White)--125
Sabrevois (Red)--44
Frontenac (Red)--36
LeCrescent (White)- 30
Brianna (White)--6
Misc. others-25
_____________
Almost 1800 grapevines planted





Each vine will produce about 5 bottles of wine.
The majority of these vines were planted in Spring 2009, which means...
They should be completely ready for harvest and winemaking by Fall 2011.

If all goes well...
In 2010, we plan to double our crop and...
In 2011, we should triple our current crop.

With the ULTIMATE goal down the road being...
Producing about an average of 30,000 bottles of wine or 2500 cases.

Thank you to all those who have offered (unsolicited) to be "volunteer wine tasters." If we make it to 30,000 bottles in production, we're really hoping it won't be a non-profit "volunteer" thing...but still a rewarding and blissful experience overall.