No more whining

It has been a horrible week here in wine country with cold, wet, miserable weather.  Thankfully I woke up today to find a clear blue sky and bright sunshine.  Now that’s more like it!

The grape harvest is full on!  Our “Grape Crusader” Chris Andrewes and I were chuckling on how much whining grape growers seem to do.  You bump into them mumbling about how long the harvest has been and how much longer they have to go etc.  Well as  fruit farmers, Chris and I think there is a whole lot of whining going on.  For Chris, it’s been “ground hog” day since about June 6 when his harvest started in earnest with sweet cherries.  He’s been at this for months and manages to keep a smile on his face.

It’s been a fabulous summer so the quality of the fruit hanging in the vineyards is fantastic.  Our Pinot Noir is harvested and doing its thing bubbling away.  Yesterday our Chardonnay was picked and today we picked all our Riesling.  Next week we’ll harvest our Cabernet Franc and with that the 2010 season will be put to bed for another year.

Fresh picked for Riesling Jelly!

I rushed out this morning with my jelly pans to harvest some Riesling grapes for my own kitchen.  I’m going to make some Riesling jelly to sell along side “the good wine” Riesling at the HandMade Market in November.  I have already made some Gewürztraminer jelly (a lovely pinkish colour) and hope to make some Cabernet Franc jelly as well.  Unfortunately, I was too slow off the mark and missed my chance to get some Chardonnay grapes.  I think it will be fun for people to have a number of different jellies to sample.  It will be interesting to see if the varietal characteristics are as evident in the jellies as they are in the wine.  If nothing else the jellies will be a happy addition to our “retail therapist” Amanda’s “Just Add Cheese” gift packs.

It’s going to be a busy weekend but there will be no whining from this corner.  With a forecast for sunny skies and mild temperatures, what more could we ask for?

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Patio Time

It’s hard to fathom that we’ve only just finished the month of May.  The summer-like temperatures this Spring have made it feel like we are in mid-summer.  I am certainly not complaining.  Give me this type of heat over the wet, cold and miserable weather we endured last summer.

The Good Earth Patio.

The Good Earth winery patio is now open and it is BEAUTIFUL!   The pizza oven is almost completed.  We had an unfortunate collapse of the masonry earlier this week — a source of great disappointment for our friend John or Gianni as I like to call him.  Gianni is the older brother of our great friend Roberto Fracchioni, Executive Chef at The Millcroft Inn & Spa and one of our most popular guest chefs.  Frac designed the new outdoor patio kitchen AND the pizza oven which we will be firing up shortly.  Stay tuned.

Chef Isa is in charge of the patio at The Good Earth and the reviews have been absolutely great!  Simple, delicious and absolutely top quality fare from “de la terre” bread, artisanal cheese, Niagara Food Specialties (Pingue to those in the know) charcuterie and of course fresh greens and herbs from The Good Earth.  I had to smile today as I heard our cheerful “tastebud temptress” Krista bring our simple green salad to a guest and proudly announce — “these greens are fresh from our garden and I seeded, weeded and picked these greens!”  It doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me…well perhaps the rhubarb crumble with our fresh rhubarb is a close second.  Judging from the response we are getting, our patio is going to be rockin’!!

Strawberries in May!

Speaking of goodies from the garden, I had my first strawberries today — so sweet and delicious and in May!  The Beamsville Strawberry Festival is always in mid-June on Father’s Day weekend.  More often than not, they are scrambling to source berries for the event.  I saw that our friends the Hildreth’s were out picking.  That means that the Hildreth Farm Market will be open.  It’s a great place to get the best of what is being grown in Ontario.  Dave and Kelly do such a great job!

This evening I went off to Flat Rock Cellars to celebrate the 5th anniversary of that fabulous winery.  If I didn’t know better I would have thought that it was an early July evening, hot and muggy, everyone in sun dresses, shorts, sporting glowing tans!  Ed kicked off the evening with the “sabreing” of his new sparkling (yet to be named).  Being the innovator that he is, he used an axe, not a sabre to whack off the crown cap (in keeping with the no cork mantra).  It was pretty impressive and lots of fun.  The sparkling is awesome and will be available mid-June…just in time for nuptial celebrations across Niagara!

Let’s hope this wonderful spring is the precursor of a fabulous sunny and hot summer.  The farms need it.  The vineyards need it and so do I.

See you on the patio!

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