Note: We are following the 2011 grape harvest through the writings of several Niagara insiders. This is the first post from William Roman at Rosewood Estate, who not only has grapes to worry about but also honey that he uses in the various meads that are made there.
By WILLIAM ROMAN, Operations Manager, Rosewood Estate Winery and Meadery
Harvest Report — Sept 6-9, 2011:
During this time of the year we are awfully busy at Rosewood Estates — not only are we checking our vineyards to plan our grape harvest and prepare the cellar to receive the ripened grapes, we are also busy collecting and processing delicious honey from our bee hives!
That is what this week was all about at Rosewood: honey!
Every year we wait until the Tuesday after Labour Day to harvest our last honey crop of the year (first crop — start of August). It’s a short one-week burst that is very intense due to the millions of bees that surround (and attack) us, as we collect the honey crop off the 7 different apiaries (bee-yards).
All the sites are located along the Niagara Escarpment, from Beamsville towards the Jordan Valley, producing a beautiful light and floral tasting “bench” honey.
We travel like a caravan in several trucks and collect the honey boxes as swiftly as possible, using smoke and a leaf-blower to remove the bee’s from the boxes, to ensure that the bee’s are not overly-shocked by our ‘honey heist’ and the safety of our crew.
Mother nature did not co-operate with us this year unfortunately, as it was very cool and wet both Tuesday (Sept. 6) and Wednesday (Sept. 7) — forcing us to collect half the crop on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday. After all the honey was collected, we began processing the boxes on Wednesday by “spinning” each honeycomb-frame to remove the honey.
We successfully finished processing the honey late Thursday evening and are happy with the crop.
The past month was quite challenging for the bee’s due to the numerous rain events that West-Niagara received — the nectar flow slowed down drastically and we had our doubts that there would be much, if any, honey produced.
Changing our gears to the grape harvest — we are monitoring our vineyards with a watchful eye, testing for sugar and acidity and ensuring there is no rot present in the vineyard blocks.
Our first variety that might be picked, as early as mid-late next week, will be Gewurztraminer off our Long Rows Vineyard (Twenty-Mile Bench-Jordan Valley area, as seen in the top photo of this post).
This Gewurztraminer is destined to be fermented with honey into what we call “Mead Blanc” — a pyment that is stainless steel fermented and aged.
The grapes are picked early, to preserve as much of the natural acidity as possible, to help balance the sweetness from the honey addition. If all goes well, we should have fermenting mead blanc by the end of next week.
We will then begin harvesting the remainder of the grapes around September 19th, starting with our estate Riesling and Chardonnay, followed by the Pinot Noir and Semillon.
If mother nature allows we will let the Merlot and Cabernet Franc hang on the vines longer, giving them time to develop richer character.
Harvest is always a busy time, and I will try my best to keep this blog up to date with what is going on in-and-around the vineyard & cellar at Rosewood.
As always, “It takes a lot of good beer to make good wine,” and by the looks of what mother nature has presented with us so far, this vintage may be difficult and we may need to bring a few extra cases of beer to make up for her uncertainty.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed and our glasses full for a successful grape harvest to everyone in Niagara.
Cheers,
Wills
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