Harvest starts SAT August 21 at 7 am
harvest time
We’ll be harvesting sangiovese and merlot on Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 7 am – 11 am. We will continue on Sunday 7-11 if there are too many grapes for Saturday.
If you have favorite prunners, bring them, otherwise we have extras for you.
Please bring your favorite hat, sunscreen, bug spray, and sturdy shoes. Come for the fun and camaraderie! Kids welcome.
Beware of the wasps, fireants, mosquitos, and be prepared for the heat.
Thanks for your continued interest in Salado Winery Company!
Prospective Grapegrower Classes
PROSPECTIVE WINEGROWER WORKSHOP FROM AgriLIFE EXTENSION
The Prospective Winegrower Workshop is a one-day educational program designed to provide an overview of the unique requirements and risks associated with the establishment and operation of a commercial vineyard in Texas. These workshops are offered through the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
FEE: $125, lunch is provided ($200 per couple)
REGISTER ONLINE: http://agrilifevents.tamu.edu
The Prospective Winegrower Workshop serves as a prerequisite for application to the Texas Viticulture Certificate Program, offered by Texas Tech University and Texas AgrilLife Extension.
2010 CALENDAR:
June 10th – Childress, TX – instructor: Dusty Timmons
July 19th – Stephenville, TX – instructor: Fran Pontasch
August 6th - Houston, TX - instructor: Fritz Westover
October 12th – Pittsburg, TX – instructor: Fran Pontasch
November 18th – Fredericksburg, TX – instructor: Penny Adams
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6th Annual Vineyard Blessing
- You Are Invited
6th Annual Vineyard Blessing
Sunday, May 16, 2-4 pm, 21724 Hill Road, I-35 Exit 279, Salado
Come help us bless our vineyard so we will have a good harvest this year! Witness the ceremony at 2:30 pm then enjoy the reception & food.
This event is not to be missed!
Friends & family are welcome. Children can enjoy being outdoors. Pets on leashes are also invited.
Casual Attire. Everything is on the grass, so we encourage you to wear sandals or sneakers, sun block, and perhaps bug spray. This event will be held rain or shine.
We’ve got a large tent to house the free food and cash wine bar. Following the blessing, the cake will be cut and served.
Grow Grapes & Sell them to Salado Winery
Have you been thinking about growing grapes? Want to sell your grapes to Salado Winery Company? Then it’s time to attend a grape grower workshop! Check out this extensive list:
February 18-20 – Texas Wine & Grape Grower Association – Annual Conference
Where: Dallas area.
Registration & information: http://www.txwines.org
February 24 – Advanced Pruning Workshop (High Plains)
Where: Reddy Vineyards, 2127 Tahoka Road (US HWY 380), Brownfield, Texas 79316
Time: 10:00 a.m. to Noon
Fee: None
Registration: email fawestover@ag.tamu.edu
February 26 – Advanced Pruning Workshop (Gulf Coast)
Where: Alta Mira Vineyards, Anderson, TX
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Fee: None
Registration: email fawestover@ag.tamu.edu
March 2 – 2010 Texas Pierce’s Disease Symposium
Where: Flat Creek Estate, 24912 Singleton Bend East, Marble Falls, TX
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Fee: $40 or $50 on site
Registration & information: http://agrilifevents.tamu.edu
March 8 – Prospective Wine Grower Workshop
Where: AgriLife Extension Office, 3033 Bear Creek Drive, Houston, TX 77084
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Fee: $125 or $200 per couple
Registration & information: http://agrilifevents.tamu.edu
March 9 – Vineyard Design & Development Workshop
Where: Grohmann Farms, 1101 Sedan Road, Weimar, TX 78962
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Fee: $50
Registration & information: http://agrilifevents.tamu.edu
March 12 – Grape Disease & Pest Management Workshop
Where: AgriLife Extension Office, 3033 Bear Creek Drive, Houston, TX 77084
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Fee: None
Registration: email fawestover@ag.tamu.edu
Other dates to save (more to come later):
April 30 – Newsom Grape Field Day, High Plains May 14 – Davies Grape Field Day, North Texas June 01 – Hill Country Grape Field Day, Hill Country
Vineyard Harvest in Killeen Daily Herald
harvest time
Go to Killeen Daily Herald, then to “Multimedia“, from there, choose “slideshows” then choose “grapes” or if that isn’t a choice, then look in the “archives” and it’s filed under September 2009, “grapes“.
There is a multimedia presentation by Steven Doll. He made the recordings and pictures on Saturday, August 22nd. If your speakers are on, you’ll hear me and Tyler discussing the vineyard. It’s a very pleasant 2 minute escape from the real world, so enjoy!
If you would like to order any of the pictures, go to https://www.kdhnews.com/forms/ordering/photo.aspx
Grape Pickers needed Saturday 7:30 am, AUG 22nd
It’s time to HARVEST the red grapes (merlot, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese)
Time: 7:30 AM – until finished (okay, whenever you roll out of bed, but I’LL be out there early BEFORE it gets too hot)
Date: Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
Location: 21724 Hill Road, Salado, just take I-35 exit 279, half mile up the hill from interstate
Bring: Sunscreen, bug spray, big hat, pruners (optional-we’ve got plenty to lend)
Dress comfortably. I recommend shoes and socks because I always manage to stand on an ant mound and don’t notice until it’s too late. It’s kind of late for chiggers and should be too dry for mosquitoes, but you might want bug spray.
Watch out for wasps, spiders, mockingbirds, ants. This year I haven’t seen a single snake in the vineyard, so no worries. 
Hope you can make it, if not we’ll have more chances next year!
Chardonnay picking starts Sunday
Happy Grape-Pickers!
Harvest season is almost here! This year we netted for birds & trapped 4 raccoons (and one bobcat by accident) and so we actually have some grapes to pick.
Time: 7:30 AM – until finished (okay, whenever you roll out of bed, but I’LL be out there early BEFORE it gets too hot)
Date: Sunday, August 9th, 2009
Location: 21724 Hill Road, Salado, just take I-35 exit 279, half mile up the hill from interstate
Bring: Sunscreen, bug spray, big hat, pruners (optional-we’ve got plenty to lend).
Dress comfortably. I recommend shoes and socks because I always manage to stand on an ant mound and don’t notice until it’s too late. It’s kind of late for chiggers and should be too dry for mosquitoes, but you might want bug spray.
Watch out for bees, spiders, mockingbirds, ants. This year I haven’t seen a single snake in the vineyard, so no worries.
Hope you can make it, if not we’ll have a few more chances in a week or two!
When’s Harvest?
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- sangiovese
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- cabernet
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- chardonnay
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- merlot
I took samples of the grapes this morning in order to attempt to project when the grapes will be ready to harvest. I wish that I could harvest them now, as the birds and raccoons keep trying to take some, but it appears that we’ve got some weeks to go. My method is to pick random grapes within a variety, mash them up in a baggie, then taste the juice and measure the sugar. The sugar is measured in degrees Brix and the goal is to get a number 24.0-26.0.
(If you’re reading this on the blog, you can click on the pictures to see close-ups. If you’re reading this on facebook, that feature probably will not work)
The cabernet sauvignon has the furthest to go, as you might notice in the picture, there are bright green seeds. The cab also tastes the most green. The flavor reminds me of the green apple jolly rancher candies I sucked on as a kid. Very tart! The Brix was 20.0 degrees, but these grapes need to loose the tartness. I think it might be 4 weeks before these cabernet grapes get soft and gentle flavors. No one wants a cabernet sauvignon that tastes sour!
The sangiovese are going to have to hang a while longer as well. Though they are a favorite of the local raccoons, their Brix is only 18.2. Their seeds are mixed, brown and beige with a little green. In the picture you might notice that all the skins are not very dark yet. The taste was like an apple. Starting to smooth out, but if the brix does not get higher, it will be tough to make much alcohol (2 degrees Brix typically produces 1% sugar). I think these grapes are probably once again destined to be a blush.
The chardonnay is closest to harvest with brown to dark brown seeds. The skins are starting to get a golden, almost transluscent look. The grapes had a very tropical flavor, specifically pineapple & mango. Chardonnay grown in a hot climate typically picks up a tropical flavor. Think Yellow Tail from Australia, not chardonnay from France. I think we might harvest these grapes on Saturday, August 8th. The brix is only 19.5, but the number is similar to last year and it shot up in August quickly last year. I had the irrigation water on yesterday, and if I don’t give the vines any water for the week before harvest, then I’ll be able to get the brix up.
Then there’s my merlot. I suspect this is the best grape for me to grow. The brix was 21.4 and I’ve got plenty of green in the seeds so I’ve got a few weeks to get that number up. Hopefully it will not be too hot, and more importantly, I hope the raccoons don’t discover this sweet treat!
Raccoons in the Vineyard
raccoon
She might look innocent, but this girl weighed 25-30 pounds and I suspect she gained that weight eating my sangiovese grapes! It took a few nights to figure out what else she might like to eat so we could lure her into our trap. She turned up her nose at crusty crackers (I guess those grapes are a lot sweeter) and she wasn’t suckered when I threw some extra grapes in the trap either. Finally I remembered Les Constable’s advice from Brushy Creek Vineyards. He suggests baiting the trap with a hard boiled egg. That was it–I found her Wednesday morning in the trap. She was so heavy, I could hardly carry her to the car. She was then entered into the Vineyard Witness Relocation Program. I took her to my home and released her there.
I’ve spotted 3 other raccoons so I tried the egg trick again on Wednesday night. Well her friends are smarter than me, and they figured out how to get the boiled eggs out, without setting off the trap! So here I am, 2 master’s degrees and these dang coons are outsmarting me.
So last night we tried a partially open can of smelly cat food. That worked! We found a small female raccoon this morning in one of the traps. Raccoon # 2, she too was moved under the Vinyeard Witness Relocation program and she was released in the same place as the first one. They’re probably buddies, so maybe they can hang out again and talk about the beautiful vineyard they once knew.
Meanwhile, we’ll be trying to trap the other 2 raccooons that we spotted and any others who move into the area. We’re trying to save enough grapes to make it to harvest in August. Hopefully we’ll round up all those devilish racccoons soon.
June’s-Saladoscape
By Rick Vanderpool, www.stateart.net
June’s-Salado-Pride
Originally uploaded by stateart1
This picture was taken by Rick Vanderpool. He says:
Very nice visiting your lovely vineyard as well… Plan to catch it when the grapes are ripe, if you don’t mine… Also coming back to sip some wine with you at some point… My Texas Wine project involves photographing all the wineries and vineyards that I can manage to visit between now and early September… If all goes well, by October (Texas Wine Month), my photos will become a Texas Wine montage as a poster and other image items (1000-pc jigsaw puzzles, note cards, prints, fabric, etc.), similar to my other Texas –themed collections you can view at www.stateart.net – click on Texas from the Pick A State menu and scroll down…
My Texas Wine images (so far) are on the flickr site below – OOGGYWAWA is the Texas Wine set (Zulu for ‘cheers’)… Check ‘em out when you have a chance… Would love to have a photo exhibit with you at some point… Just let me know what’s involved with doing that…
Thanks again for leading me to your vines and OOGGYWAWA,
Rick
Vanderpool, Rick
P.O. Box 1313 – Commerce, Texas 75429
Photos at www.flickr.com/photos/stateart1
stateart.net – windhappens.com – pitshappen.com
First Day of Pruning 2009
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- time to get to work
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- if only my brain wasn’t foggy like the sky
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- so much to do…
of course, it was pointed out to me that the mesquite has not wakened yet, so we’ll probably still have another frost…
Grape Growing in Bell County
http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/07/24/50987
http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/07/24/50986
Grape Growing in Bell County is featured in Temple Daily Telegram again!
Our vineyard in Country World News!
I was recently interviewed by Clay Coppedge, of Country World. See the article at http://www.countryworldnews.com/news/2008/3-March/0327Vineyard.php
A Sweet Deal: Central Texas vineyard making its mark
By CLAY COPPEDGE, Country World staff writer
March 27, 2008 – Not far from where legendary viticulturist Thomas Volney Munson discovered one of the grape varieties credited with saving the wine industry in 19th Century France, June Ritterbusch and her husband Sheldon Vickers have started their own vineyard in Bell County.
After planting over three-quarters of an acre in 2005, the couple harvested 1,000 pounds of Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot and Sangiovese grapes that first year. Last year, even with excessive rainfall, fungus problems, high humidity and a late-season snowfall, the Salado Vineyard produced about two tons of grapes.
“We had to deal with a drought two years ago and we had too much rain last year,” Ritterbusch said last week as she went about the annual task of pruning. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens this year.”
The couple sells their grapes to Texas wineries, including Brushy Creek and Red Caboose in Meridian. They have a store in Salado, Texas Wine Seller, that features Texas wines, wine accessories and books that detail Munson’s three-decade odyssey in Texas and elsewhere to find varieties resistant to a devastating parasite that almost wiped out the French wine industry.
Today the prime threat to U.S. grapes is Pierce disease, which is caused by the bacterium xyella fastidiosa and is carried by a leafhopper insect known as the glassy winged sharpshooter. Pierce disease is a primary threat to wine-grape production in Texas and other wine-grape producing states. Wine industry experts say that millions of dollars are lost each year to the disease.
“We haven’t seen it here yet,” she said. “I talked to growers in the Hill Country and they said they hadn’t had a problem with it. Sometimes I wonder if I should have planted some of the resistant varieties.”
Aside from the fungus problems last year, the biggest problems at the Salado Vineyard come from mockingbirds and raccoons. The animals can tell right away when the grapes change color. Speakers designed to annoy the birds out of the vineyard help, but mockingbirds, she said, are fearless.
“The mockingbirds eventually get brave and go on in,” she said. “Some of the other birds see the mockingbirds in the grapes and they decide they can go in there too. It’s a constant battle. We haven’t had problems with deer, maybe because the land right around here is a little too open for them.”
A report from Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association indicate there are about 3,700 acres of family-owned vineyards in the state. MFK LLC, a research source on the wine industry in the United States, reported in 2007 that the number of wineries in Texas increased from 40 in 2000, to 113 in 2005, with most of that growth coming from small wineries.
Ritterbusch said she and her husband hope to eventually expand the operation to include a winery, but they are taking it one step at a time. Despite the daring mockingbirds, sneaky raccoons, the vagaries of weather and the threat of Pierce disease, she enjoys working the vineyard.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s relaxing and rewarding.”
Texas is the fifth largest wine-producing state in the nation, according to the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. The 2007 report from MFK LLC estimates that the industry contributes $997.3 million to the state’s economy.
June Ritterbusch, owner and operator of Salado Vineyard, does some trimming to a few of the vines on the property. Ritterbusch and her husband, Sheldon Vickers, started the vineyard in 2005. The first year of harest, the vines produced 1,000 pounds of Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, and Sangiovese grapes. The grapes are sold to Texas wineries.
–Staff photo by Coppedge
Texas Vintage 2007 report
The following article was published in Wines and Vines magazine and can be found at http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&content=52162
Excerpt:
TEXAS
By Ed Hellman
Texas Cooperative Extension
- April freeze, summer rains caused widespread losses
- Acreage grew 5-15%; same predicted for 2008
Unfavorable weather had a major impact on the 2007 winegrape crop in Texas. Winter temperatures were uneventful, but frost on Apr. 7-8 killed or severely damaged shoots of early to mid-season bud break varieties in a broad area of West Texas and a small northern portion of the Hill Country in Central Texas. Crop loss estimates ranged from 50-60% in West Texas, while Hill Country losses from frost were minimal; sprinkler irrigation was successfully used to protect some acreage. In West Texas, a few varieties with later bud break escaped injury and produced full crops, including Mourvèdre, Roussanne, and to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon. Some varieties, including Grenache, Viognier, Zinfandel and Merlot, were surprisingly fruitful on secondaries, basal buds and even some latent buds, and produced nearly full crops.
Summer brought above average rainfall throughout the state, long periods of persistent rains in the Hill Country, and localized very heavy rainfall in portions of the Hill Country and the Gulf Coast. Abundant rain stimulated highly vigorous canopies, increased disease problems, and interfered with spray applications. Downy mildew was problematic in North Texas, the Hill Country and the Gulf Coast regions, resulting in partial defoliation where persistent rains precluded timely fungicide applications. Heavy rainfall before harvest caused berry splitting and subsequent rot, especially on white grape varieties in the Hill Country and Gulf Coast.
Rainfall, cooler temperatures, and cloudy weather led to harvest delays of as much as a month in all regions. Fruit quality ranged from fair to very good; quality was especially high for late season red varieties in West Texas.
The Texas wine industry continues its rapid growth, with more than 120 wineries now operating. Continued growth in 2008 and beyond is expected. Many established wineries have also increased production over the past few years, some very significantly. Grape acreage continues to lag behind demand, although new acres increased by 5-15% in 2007; plans are similar for 2008. Grape prices remain stable and strong in response to high demand.
