Large Flying Objects

Cranes and mosquitoes. Who would've guessed that the skies would be filled with both at the end of October? Cranes, yes. Mosquitoes.... huh?

It's the weekend of the Crane Watch at the Haehnle Bird Sanctuary about 5 miles to the north of us. We love partnering with them every year -- introducing wine tasting to bird watchers and crane watching to wine tasters. Because of the popularity of the event, it has now grown to 2 days.

People meet at the Sanctuary at 4 pm on either day, Saturday or Sunday. First they drive around the area in caravans to watch the cranes feeding in newly cut corn fields. Yesterday they were able to spot our local celebrity, the Whooping Crane, on Wooster Road, about a mile or so directly north of us. He showed up last year with a group of Sandhills migrating from Florida and has decided to make Michigan his home. (photo above)

Next they return to the Sanctuary to watch the cranes fly in just before dusk.

We stay open late both days and encourage the crane watchers to visit us before or after the event.

The weather this weekend has been absolutely lovely. Crisp air and gorgeous fall colors. The only downfall this year has been the mosquitoes. They flourished after the heavy rains we had in mid-September (Raspberry Festival/Hurricane Ike weekend). We've had another generation since then and they're almost unbearable. Yesterday we welcomed quite a few crane watchers who came back early -- they couldn't stand the mosquitoes any longer.

It's always something, isn't it?




Photo of Sandhill Crane and Whooping Crane by Tom Hodgson

Setting Up Dexter

It's another year (it's amazing how fast the time flies) and time again to open the tasting room inside the Dexter Cider Mill. The tasting room is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays as long as the Cider Mill is open -- generally late August through early to mid-November.

This morning, my Dad, Angelo, and I loaded up the pick-up and my car with two cases of each of our wines and headed east to the mill.

I missed the smells. The Dexter Cider Mill is one of the nicest smelling places on earth. Apples, fresh donuts, oak, historic building. Ummmm.

We set up the store, placing the bottles of wine in the old apple crates on the walls. I'll be there on Friday to open it to the public for the first time this season.

(Almost) The End of the Harvest Season

The 2007 harvest season began early and is just about over... finally.

We started about two weeks early. The warm weather this summer and fall sped up the ripening of the grapes. And the warm weather kept on coming. We really didn't have a heavy frost until late October. And the last of the grapes -- for ice wine, of course -- were harvested about 10 days ago.

Harvesting is a crazy time of the year for us. Because farming and wine making are two separate (but connected) operations, each has its own chores related to the harvest. Once the grapes are picked (or picked UP, as in many instances), it gets very busy in the cellar. During the peak of the harvest season, there are many, many batches of wine fermenting at the same time.

Currently we're down to two batches that are fermenting -- both ice wines. In addition to our usual Vidal Blanc ice wine, we're also making a very small batch of Chambourcin ice wine this year.

2007 harvest photos:
Top - Holly stirring yeast into a container of grapes
Middle - Angelo and Michael moving a tote filled with juice
Lower - Unloading a truck we rented to pick up grapes from the SW side of the state