Reader Survey Results

Well over a year ago, I posted a few surveys on the sidebar of my blog.  I never called attention to them or mentioned them in any of my posts.  I just put them out there and figured that over time, people might notice and take them.  I indicated a poll closing date of 365 days from the date I posted them, but remember thinking in the back of my that I would never leave them up there that long...

Sure enough, here we are...well over 365 days from that posting date.  Time passed quickly (as it always does) and I noticed the other day that the polls have been closed.  Where did that year go?! So, thought I would share the results.  Very interesting for me to learn a little more about my readership, or at least whichever ones of you actually noticed the surveys and took the time to respond to a few of these questions sometime over the past year.  It would be interesting to know if this is really a true representation.

29% of you are only red wine drinkers while 65% of you drink both red and white wine. 

Let's hear it for the lushes--29% of you are daily wine drinkers who unwind your day with a glass of wine. 39% of you say you drink it a couple of days a week with dinner and 19% drink wine only in social settings. Only 3% of you never drink wine.  I am not positive, but I am thinking that 3% might be my underage readers.  I had also included an "other" category to this question, which accounted for 6% of you.  In hindsight, I am trying to think what sample I was trying to capture with an "other" category.  I can only assume that means that 6% of you polish off an entire bottle of wine a day!

30% of you are Minnesotans.  I am a bit surprised by this one!  18% of you are from the Midwest.  42% live in the United States (not in MN or the Midwest) and 9% of you are in another country.  I know of a few of you, but would love to know who my global readers are! 

A whopping 80% of you are dog owners!  Glad to know so many of you can empathize with my dog stories.

This was a fun exercise!  I will try to come up with some fresh survey questions and not wait a year to post the results. 

In other news,  Schram Vineyards is finally on Facebook!  It has been on my "to-do" list for, honestly, a couple of years.  My only hold-up being I wasn't sure what to call it.  Schram Vineyards is the name of our vineyard, but when we get the winery up and going, that will be branded under a new name, which is still up for grabs.  Although I believe we have finally narrowed it down to a few choices.  So, for now, you  can "like" Schram Vineyards on Facebook. I intend to use the Facebook page for quick updates, information and pictures that don't warrant an entire blog post.  And if my blog posts are any indication, I definitely won't be spamming your newsfeed. 

Lastly, did you really think we were done harvesting grapes? 

Think again. We have about 8-9 rows left of Frontenac Gris to harvest this weekend.  And THEN we will be done.  If you would like to help pick this weekend, email us at schramvineyards at gmail dot com.

Harvest!

To say that the last month has been chaotic at the Schram household would be an understatement.

Busy daytime jobs.

Our house got struck by lightning...

Which fried several electronics and appliances, including our electric dog fence...

Which in turn caused the dogs to be very naughty.

Axel started crawling,

then pulling up on everything...

then cruising everywhere.

We had a bout of a highly contagious stomach flu...

Which started with me on the morning of our very first harvest weekend...

When we had 10 overnight house guests in town from Wisconsin...

And even more grape pickers who came for the day.

Have I mentioned we have one bathroom?

Great timing, huh?

We have also had a potential opportunity pop-up which has taken up a lot our time.

It could be something that could benefit us both personally and from a business perspective.

And as luck would have it...

It is something that, despite everything else going on,

 we have needed to spend time and effort pursuing RIGHT NOW.

If we've seen you, we've talked about.

It could turn into nothing at all.

Or it could be HUGE.

But right now, my only point in bringing it up is to tell you that this something has occupied a lot of our time.

I'll post an update if I have one, but right now, still nothing to report.

Now, let's get down to business and let me give you an update on:

Our two full weekends of harvesting grapes!

Afraid you missed all the fun?

We have one more BIG weekend of grape picking to do THIS WEEKEND:

September 24th-25th

Two shifts:

8:30-11:30

1pm-4pm

And plenty of wine to go around!  Let us know if you are interested.

We had one lot of grapes that just wasn't quite ready for picking this past weekend, so we have to wait one more week.

Here are a few pics from the last few weekends.

Look at all those grapes!

Thank you grape pickers!!

We weren't planning on doing a grape stomp, but at the last minute, Aaron decided to throw a lug of grapes in the tub. 

It was worth it.

Afterall, it's not often that Aaron's grandma Millie, who just celebrated her 95th birthday, and her younger sister, Velda, get to stomp grapes together. 

And a few others joined the fun.  Although I have no idea whose feet these are.

And then they crushed and de-stemmed the grapes.

The next weekend was a bit chillier, but we had another good crew out helping to pick on Saturday morning.

I couldn't resist a few pictures of Aaron with his babies. 

Especially when one of them is wearing this...

SWOON!