Naming of the Vines

I made a decision yesterday regarding the silly little vines I have growing.  I think some refer to classification as Taxonomy.   Either way, this is what I came up with (I'll do my best to refer to all vines as such from here on out):

Cabernet Sauvignon vines

Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008 (St. Louis, Missouri vine)
Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2010 (Chicago, IL vine) - planted as a cutting in a pot this late winter/early spring 2010.
Cabernet Sauvignon 02-2010 (Chicago, IL vine) - same
Cabernet Sauvignon 03-2010 (Chicago, IL vine) - same
Cabernet Sauvignon 04-2010 (Chicago, IL vine) - same

Syrah vines

Syrah 01-2009 (Chicago, IL vine) - planted in September 2009
Syrah 02-2009 (Chicago, IL vine) - planted in September 2009
Syrah 03-2009 (St. Louis, MO vine) - located at family home in St. Louis, Missouri

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I hope to be able to do the same for the Cabernet Franc, La Crescent, and Frontenac vines, but time will tell if I have success in getting them to grow.  Also, I have been quite remiss by misspelling the La Crescent grape vines (been wrongly spelling it as 'Le Crescent').  I am embarrassed I didn't catch that earlier, I need a Copy Editor, I guess.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to report the following:

Cabernet Franc 01-2010 (Chicago, IL vine)
Cabernet Franc 02-2010
Cabernet Franc 03-2010
Cabernet Franc 04-2010

Frontenac 01-2010 (Glen Ellyn, IL vine)
Frontenac 02-2010

La Crescent 01-2010 (Glen Ellyn, IL vine)
La Crescent 02-2010
La Crescent 03-2010 (Grayslake, IL vine)

Last night I had occasion to look at Syrah 01-2009 and it came up with another 3 leaves or so.  I meant to take a yardstick out to measure how tall it is at the current.  Best guess would put the young vine at nearly 14 inches tall already.  As I walked away and went back into the apartment I couldn't help but be grateful that I have been documenting this with the lens because I immediately go back to that photo nearly 2 months ago in early April 2010 when I noticed bud break.  

And, on another incredible update, a friend offered to play host to the final La Crescent grape vine that was purchased from Double A Vineyards in Fredonia, NY.  This last La Crescent is already in the soil and resides in Grayslake, Illinois (Lake County Illinois).  It will receive plenty of southern facing sunlight and I hear the drainage will be exceptional.  It might turn out to be the best grower of the batch.  I am thrilled, this will be La Crescent 03-2010, if it gets established.



60 degrees this morning.  Yesterday, actually, nearing 7:15PM, it was just like a typical autumn day in the Midwest.   The sunlight was pristine, as were the skies.  Shame I wasn't out enough.  Bloody current job!!!!

Since we are doing maps, here is one of Glen Ellyn, IL, as well.



That's all for now!  Have a grand weekend.

Mid-80's for highs/ 60's for lows .........forecasted for the next 3 days in Chicagoland

1 of (2) Frontenac grape vines planted this morning in Glen Ellyn, IL.

With temperatures the way they are forecasted, there will be PLENTY of prime growing going on this week.

A bit more information regarding the LeCrescent and Frontenac grape vines. This week I came upon an excellent website/resource for learning more about this entire endeavor: http://www.winemakingradio.com/

The website is excellent. I have only listened to a few programs thus far, but I am looking forward to cracking open the archives as the months advance. Today, however, I did happen to click on one of the archived podcasts and the particular podcast I chose consisted of an interview with two of the professors at the University of Minnesota Grape Breeding and Enology Project, Professor James Luby and Professor Anna Katharine Mansfield. Professor Mansfield seems to have moved on and is currently an Assistant Professor of Enology at Cornell University in Geneva, New York. And what did they touch on during the conversation? Frontenac grapes and LeCrescent grapes. Serendipity? I can't guess best, to be honest.

Tonight's wine is Yellow Tail Pinot Noir. The price was $5.99. By this time the readers realize that I endeavor to find virtue in the more accessibly priced wines of the world. Yellow Tail, in my opinion, is nearing the ubiquity of some of the larger brewers in the beer industry. I don't mind Yellow Tail at all, believe me. I doubt that Bin 36 offers Yellow Tail on its wine list. It is getting to the level of what Carlo Rossi has become in my mind. Drinking Rossi was always more about quantity. I remember even grabbing the larger bottles of Yellow Tail in recent years because the price was right for a folk musician like myself. Tonight's bottle is simply a 750ml.

So far, the glass of Pinot Noir is going down nicely. Again, I don't have a palette for identifying notes just yet. I am not protesting in the least. Initially, I actually thought the wine was 'hollow in the mid-palette', as Gary Vaynerchuk would suggest. But I soon realized that I needed a few more rounds of intake to get better acquainted with the wine.

And, again, I can't say enough good about Double A Vineyards in Fredonia, NY. The grape vines are wonderful that they sent me. Support them, buy from them. Good people.

the vines have arrived!!!!!!! LeCrescent and Frontenac vines

The LeCrescent and Frontenac vines arrived 2 days ago. I need to get them in the ground, but, either way, this fella is pretty thrilled. So far I am very impressed with the product and customer service that Double A Vineyards provides the client. Real swell company to work with, from what I gather thus far.

The vines within this bag will be drawing from the 'terroir' constituent of the soils of Glen Ellyn, IL. A close friend has been generous enough to offer a nice sized segment of their backyard to allow for planting these cold-hardy vines. I am terribly grateful, they are as well. More to come.... Until then, these are the photos of how the vines were packaged.

Double A Vineyards (Fredonia, NY)
website: www.rakgrape.com

Note: With the purchase, the company also sent along a beautiful catalog displaying the products that they sell and grow on their land. It is very much an information-soaked document. This, I am beginning to compare to my purchase of Cabernet Franc cuttings in late Feb 2010. That grower didn't send much at all in the way of info.

And finally, last night's bottle of choice was a Bogle Petite Sirah. My reasoning was two-fold:

Reason A: The price was right. ($11.99)

Reason B: A friend recommended the vino because it is becoming one of their current favorites.

Bogle Vineyards (Click on the hyperlinked name and that'll get you there.)

Bud Break!!!!!! Cabernet Sauvignon bud break!!!!

What we have here folks is bud break on my 3rd Cabernet Sauvignon cutting this spring.  Time to dance everyone!  Grab a partner, turn the music up, put on your shoes (or, for Woody Woodpecker fans, take your shoes off for the Sock Hop!), throw on your best dancing clothes.  Time to celebrate another success for this amateur gardener.  I am feeling pretty good about this.  The leaves are remarkable as they are shaped as simply smaller versions of what will come to be very large leaves on the formed vine.

As a matter of fact, I think listening to the song 'Going the Distance' by Cake will be a great way to begin the dance party.  This vineyard is going the distance.  Not too sure about going for speed. We want this to be an endurance effort.  Distance running for this vineyard and these vines.

Very, Very encouraging news.  Also, I received a catalogue from Double A Vineyards out of Fredonia, NY.  Excellent information in that little book.  The folks at Double A have been in the business for 20 years. 

Yesterday I shared a bottle of Pinot Noir with my roommate.  I tried to take some cheezy photos for use as a banner for this blog.  See the photos just beneath.  Totally not done well as there are two glasses of Pinot Noir and two cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon on the hardwood floor.  The Pinot was a Gallo selection. I purposely tried it because recently I came upon an interview featuring Kai Ryssdal from NPR's Marketplace and Joseph Gallo. Follow the link to listen to the interview:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/11/16/growing_up_in_the_wine_industry/