Tag Archive for: harvest

2013 Harvest starts July 20

Baby Grape goes to harvest on August 4th, 2012

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.

Don’t pick the grapes yet!

hey DinoHey 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 eating green cabernet grapes

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!

 

Belton Blanc DuBois

Last week we made 220 gallons of white wine.  The grapes are Blanc DuBois and they were grown in a vineyard in Belton near the Lampasas River.  This was the first time we started a white wine here at Salado Winery, so it took a little trial and error to perfect our technique of processing the grapes.  We’re running a chiller to keep the juice cool as it ferments into wine.  I’m hoping we can get this white wine ready quickly, but we shall see!

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!

Harvest 2011

Happy Grape-Pickers!

Wednesday, August 3 through Sunday August 7, 7-11 am

We’ll be harvesting merlot & cabernet sauvignon on Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, August 3-6, 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.  Well, maybe not the mosquitos this year.  But watch out for the mean old mockingbirds who think they own the vineyard!

The vineyard is at 21724 Hill Road, Salado.  Thanks for your continued interest in Salado Winery Company!

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!

Vineyard Harvest in Killeen Daily Herald

harvest time

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

harvest time!

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!

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?

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!