Summer Turns to Fall Harvest in Our Vineyard
This is what the clusters of red wine grapes looked like last June. Through the summer more leaves grow and so do the grapes.
This is what a cluster of ripe, red wine grapes looks like in October when it’s ready to be hand-picked along with the thousands of other clusters like it in our vineyard
Each variety is picked separately unless the winemaker wants to make a “Field Blend” wine.
When the grapes, picked that day, are in a yellow, black, or orange crate – each crate holds about 35 pounds of grapes – the tractor, with an open trailer attached, is driven through the vineyard. People walk behind the trailer to pick up the crates and stack them on the trailer.
The load of the grapes in the crates is taken to the winery press deck. To make a white wine the clusters of grapes are crushed / destemmed, immediately pressed and pumped into a barrel. There the primary fermentation begins.
The grapes that will make a red wine are crushed and immediately fermented, in barrels ‘on their skins.’
When that fermentation is partially finished, the resulting slurry of grapes is ‘pressed’ to extract only the juice leaving the seeds and skins of the grapes in the press. That juice is then pumped into a barrel to continue to ferment into alcohol/wine.
Being, by our choice, a limited-production winery and open seasonally, we can then age our wines before offering them for tasting and sale.
Did you ever wonder what happens with the wines, in the winery cellar in the winter?
Being a limited production winery and open only 2-4 days 6 months of the year, we can age our wines before offering them for tasting and sale.
One tank of 2019 Riesling is resting for six more months before it will be bottled. It will be released as a Reserve Riesling. So part of this vintage has been ‘reserved’ to see how, with more time, it will develop. Now it has mild notes of lime with a crisp, clean finish.
Learn More About Making Wine When You Talk With Our Professional Staff
While you’re at the Frontenac Point tasting room, you can learn about the various methods of winemaking as well as walk in our vineyard. Tours are available when one of the owners is in the tasting room. Tour or not, you’ll learn about wine-growing and making wine while talking with our professional staff.
Picnic from the Covered Deck
You can bring a picnic, add a glass of Frontenac Point wine and enjoy the view from our covered deck. But due to limited space if people are waiting to be on the deck, your time may be limited to one hour.
Jazz and Boots
We adopted our 13th and 14th vineyard dogs, Jazz and Boots, from Paws of Valor Animal Rescue in Tennessee in 2017. They were together for more than five years growing up in Detroit. Their story is full of love and tragedy.
