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.

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/