Wine Update

There was a very interesting article yesterday in the Watertown Daily Times about growing grapes in the north country, which is not an easy task. The U of Minnesota developed the vines that are used here which can withstand the harsh winters. Wine making is growing in popularity here as it is in many places. Some farmers whose land has gone fallow are not converting to growing grapes. There are several small vintners in the north country, who do don't grow enough grapes on their own, so they are either importing or buying from other local farmers. Interesting fact from the Watertown Daily Times, 01/16/05: It takes 4 years for a vine to mature enough to produce grapes for wine. One vine produces about 1 gallon, which results in 5 bottles of wine. The article mentioned one man having 400 vines on an acre but he wasn't a vintner, just a grower and selling the grapes. But if he were a also making wine, let's do the math: maybe about $15 a bottle, $75 a vine, $30,000 an acre ... minus expenses, of course, and time and labor. Still, it could be a nice side income. Here are my recent wine samplings ... Copolla Rosso - a resounding "YES!" Copolla Bianco - Excellent. Yellowtail - Nice logo and bottle. Quality wine that just didn't do it for me. My kids liked the yellow cork. Swedish Hill Red - Beautiful Christmas label, excellent after the holidays price. That was about it. After reading the WDT article I'm going to go try out some of the north country options. Stay tuned.