Vol. 7 No. 7-19 National Watermelon Month Dog Days of Summer 7 July 2019
Est. 13 April 1994
We have a cool (temperature wise), with a partly cloudy sky, morning over the vineyards of Glenora and along the shores of Seneca. The temperature is 64 degrees with the wind coming from the north northwest at 6 miles per hour. Lake Temperatures: Keuka - 77 degrees; Seneca - 72.9 degrees. We are approaching the time of year when the wind and wind direction will cause the lake temperatures (surface temperatures) to fluctuate by as much as 3-5 degrees daily.
In the vineyards: For all intent and purposes bloom is over and most of the flower caps have disappeared. In general, it appears that we have a good fruit set-meaning the individual berries on the clusters of grapes have pollinated and therefore will start to develop (into grapes). The vineyard team is on the lookout for downy mildew and potato leaf hoppers, next week it will be the grape berry month. They use several forecasting models which help tell us when certain diseases and insects will be a challenge. Using those models we can apply protective sprays accordingly. This is much different than what was done during the editor's early grape growing career when we would apply protective sprays every 7-14 days-just because (well there was more logic than that but we did not have the forecasting models we do today).
Some Sparkling wine news (history) from Winemaker Steve: Steve recently went to our sparkling wine cave to catalog its contents. While it appears there may have been some visitors there over the years Steve notes that there are 19 different sparkling wines there which cover a 21 year period. He also notes that there may be more to be discovered.
It has been and is another wedding weekend at Glenora. There was a wedding and reception yesterday; we have a wedding breakfast this morning, and a wedding later this afternoon. The restaurant, kitchen, and inn teams do a great job of keeping things flowing (as well as the wines).
The summer super busy season starts next weekend as all three wineries will be at the Finger Lakes Wine Festival in Watkins Glen. The Festival is a one night (Friday), two-day event (Saturday and Sunday) during which thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, will be attending the festival. It is a great event for u ($$$). It takes a lot of coordination and organization to take part in this festival. There is the planning, staffing (at least 50 people will be staffing our booths), set up-take down, wine movements, permits, trucks. lunches, and more. It seems that to a degree, almost everyone is involved in one way or another. Fortunately for Team Glenora, the Wine Festival does not conflict with our July Jazz concert this year-that has happened in the past.
This coming week Production Manager Tracey M will enter into the final phases of planning our 2019 harvest schedule as he determines the grape varieties that will be needed to maintain and increase our inventory without creating inventory excess or shortages. He will be looking at current inventories, sales projections, and also checking with our retail shop managers and regional managers to learn their needs. Once all of that is in place, there are the reports that will be coming in from the vineyards teams which will give us crop estimates. Once we have all of that information, we can then make our final harvest determinations-how many tons of each variety will be harvested. While it may seem early but by the end of this coming week, we will only be a month away from antiquated, infamous, NYS specific - August 15th grape price posting date.
This coming Tuesday we, Glenora, Knapp, and Chateau will be taking part in the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance's Riesling Road Show as it travels to Buffalo. On Tuesday evening the participating wineries will be hosting a trade and consumer tasting which will feature Finger Lakes Wine Alliance members Rieslings. The event provides an great opportunity for Buffalo area wine shops, restaurants, and consumers to learn about and taste the unique characteristics of Finger Lakes Rieslings. These Rieslings are truly unique in that there is no place else in the world where Riesling grapes are grown along the shores of glacier-carved lakes, which provide a unique terroir and a growing environment - and it is our/their backyard!
Chef Orlando reports that our first Taco Tuesday (TT as everything now has an acronym) was very successful. The Veraisons team has added yet another option whereby you can now order two TT (for a couple) and also get a bottle of limited supply wine-951 pesos ($50.00).
And a big thank you to the team members at Chateau, Knapp, Glenora and the Windmill who spent the 4th of July serving our guests-it is very much appreciated!!
Thought for the Week: Attitude-Perspective
"Life appears to be too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs."
