Vineyard – Page 6 – Salado Winery Company & Salado Wine Seller

2013 Harvest starts July 20

Baby Grape goes to harvest on August 4th, 2012

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<dates are changed, please look here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You are officially invited to join us for Harvest 2013! We expect the schedule to be:

Saturday, July 20 & Sunday July 21==chardonnay

Saturday, July 27 & Sunday July 28==merlot

Saturday, August 3 & Sunday August 4==cabernet sauvignon

TBD during the week==sangiovese

We are usually at the vineyard from 7-11 and you’re welcome to come for as little or as long as you like. Come for the fun and camaraderie! Kids welcome.

If you have favorite pruners, bring them, otherwise we have extras for you. Please wear a hat, sunscreen, bug spray, and sturdy shoes. (I like to wear old sneakers and socks so that the pigweed doesn’t get me). Some folks like to wear light cotton gloves, but they are not necessary. Beware of the wasps, fireants, mosquitos, and be prepared for the heat. Watch out for the mean old mockingbirds who think they own the vineyard! I haven’t seen any snakes this year, but there’s always a first.

Also, Saturday afternoon and the days following harvest are the best times to visit the winery and see the wine making in action. We can always put extra hands to work, so if you don’t like to get up early in the morning, come by in the afternoon and be part of the bucket brigade.

The vineyard is at 21724 Hill Road, Salado, TX 76571. Feel free to send me an email to june @ saladowinery.com. If you are lost the morning of harvest, call/text us on cell phone, (254) 466-5813. More harvest updates will be available, and they are tentatively listed on our homepage under “vineyard” or on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SaladoWinery.

Vineyard Update

Green Cabernet Sauvignon-should be ripe and ready first weekend in August

The vineyard has been doing well, but I’m so afraid of jinxing everything now that we’re in the home stretch. It’s time to put on bird netting and increase raccoon patrols. I think we’ll start harvest in about 3 weeks and it will take place over a couple weekends. Let us know if you want to harvest with us!

Don’t pick the grapes yet!

Hey Dino! Don’t pick the grapes! It isn’t time yet. I know you’re almost 11 months old, and you’ve been waiting a long time for harvest because then it will be time for your birthday, but it’s TOO SOON! Those are cabernet sauvignon grapes and they still have to go through veraison–they have to turn RED first. I hope you’re not colorblind? You’re gonna taste them? TART, aren’t they? Those grapes won’t make good wine yet. They still need 6-7 more weeks of ripening Dino.

Dino, maybe you should get back in your pack and up on my back? We’ve got to get this vineyard ready for netting. Soon these grapes will turn red and then the birds will try to get them. Plus, look at all these weeds. We’ve got mowing and weeding to get done. So we need to get back to work!

Vineyard Blessing 2013

Sunday, May 5, 2:00 pm

Join us at 2 pm, Sunday, May 5 at our vineyard for the Blessing of the Vineyard. Presiding over the ceremony will be Rev. Bob Bliss of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Salado, TX. Following the blessing, at approximately 3pm, the group will travel to Salado Winery at 841 N. Main St., Salado, to bless the wine in production and enjoy a reception.

Friends & family are welcome. Children will enjoy the procession outdoors. Pets on leashes are also invited. Casual Attire. The vineyard is covered by grass, so we encourage you to wear sandals or sneakers, sun block, and perhaps bug spray. This event will be held rain or shine.

Salado Winery’s Vineyard

21724 Hill Road

Salado, TX 76571 I-35

Take exit 279, proceed east/south up hill and we’ll see you there! map

April in the Vineyard

Baby Grape in the Vineyard April 21, 2013

We have been very fortunate in our vineyard this spring. Many Texas vineyards have suffered from the late freezes during the last couple of weeks. Luckily, we are far enough south that we have dodged that woe for now. We’re sad for our friends though to the north and west who have lost a significant portion of their crop.

Here we are instead worried about the deer. In the beginning, the deer were no trouble, but recently they have been grazing a few vines here and there, so that will have to stop.

As far as the grapes go, the chardonnay is just barely starting to bloom, but mostly the fresh green shoots are growing right now. Getting the carbohydrate factories ready to absorb the sunlight in the leaves and then transfer those sugars to the grapes. Baby Grape and I have been working the last couple of days to make sure that the vines are secure to the trellising. We took a break in the evening primrose and snapped this picture.

I’m not CEO of Yahoo! but I do have an Office Nursery

Baby Grape takes a nap in his office-nursery!

Since there has been so much in the media about Marissa Mayer’s baby care, I thought I would share a picture of my baby sleeping in his “office-nursery” while I work.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! has been in the news quite a bit. She has been criticized for making all the work-at-home folks go back to the office. People try to claim that she is hurting moms who work from home while Ms Mayer gets to have a nursery in her office. Well I think the criticism is awfully silly. If a male CEO had a small personal gym installed in his office, everyone would say, “good for him!”. It’s sort of like VIP parking–it’s a perk folks! We wouldn’t say, Ms Mayer has to walk from the back of the parking lot just so she can suffer the same amount as all the other mothers who work for Yahoo! Ridiculous. Not only does the news media report that she paid for it, but I think CEO’s should get to do special things because THEY ARE IN CHARGE.

And I am the CEO of Salado Winery Company, but I’ll leave the VIP parking spot open for you!

Harvest 2012

Saturday & Sunday, July 14 &15, 7-11 am, chardonnay

Saturday, July 28, 7-11 am, merlot

Friday, August 3, 7-11 am, sangiovese piccolo

Saturday, August 4, 7-11 am, cabernet sauvignon

Sunday, August 5, 7-11 am, sangiovese

You are officially invited to join us for Harvest 2012! We expect that we’ll be there from 7-11 each of those days and you’re welcome to come for as little or as long as you like. Come for the fun and camaraderie! Kids welcome.

If you have favorite prunners, bring them, otherwise we have extras for you.

Please bring your favorite hat, sunscreen, bug spray, and sturdy shoes. (I like to wear old sneakers and socks so that the pigweed doesn’t get me). Some folks like to wear light cotton gloves, but they aren’t necessary. Beware of the wasps, fireants, mosquitos, and be prepared for the heat. Watch out for the mean old mockingbirds who think they own the vineyard! I haven’t seen any snakes this year, but there’s always a first.

Also, those dates and the days following harvest are the best times to visit the winery and see the wine making in action. We can always put extra hands to work, so if you don’t like to get up early in the morning, come by in the afternoon and be part of the bucket brigade.

The vineyard is at 21724 Hill Road, Salado. Feel free to call us for last minute updates. Thanks for your continued interest in Salado Winery Company!

Vineyard update–May 3, 2012

Baby Sangiovese grapes!

Bloom/Pollination/Fertilization is almost over in the vineyard. We thought you might like to see these little bitty grapes as they are formed now and will grow in size until about mid-June. After that veraison (fancy name for turning color) and ripening. Then before I know it, harvest and wine making…stay tuned!

Vineyard is looking good!

: could be a 20 lb cluster in a few months!

This picture was taken April 1st, 2012, and no fooling around, this may be the biggest cluster yet from our vineyard. The sangiovese has already reached stage 15 on the Eichorn-Lorenz stages in shoot development–and we haven’t even had Easter yet!

The crop looks very promising this year, but I’m trying hard not to count all the grapes too soon. All it takes is a short hail storm like last year, when the chardonnay grapes were obliterated. But for now, we’re having a beautiful spring here in Texas and the grapevines are certainly going crazy.

Time to Start Pruning!

Grab your pruners and get busy!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Today was the first day of pruning and when I arrived the first peek of green was awaiting me. The sangiovese is ready to burst forth and the chardonnay is only days behind. So put down your glass of wine, grab your pruners, and GET BUSY spring is here!