It’s pruning season at Twigg Winery.

Time to tame the tresses, so to speak.

A cookout?

No. A new idea … watch the video and see our newest invention.

“What’s anthracnose?” you ask. Anthracnose of grape is caused by the fungus Elsinoe ampelina. The fungus overwinters in the vineyards and in spring, prevents new shoots from thriving. So little things (like the new vine burner!) mean a lot.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Stop by and see us soon!

Starting Wednesday, May 1, Twigg Winery will be open Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Spring rains and spring thaws bring not only May flowers but mud!  Mud is normal.  Mud is everywhere.  Mud is on Meter RD (so you may want to wait until after visiting us to wash your car).  Now that I have given the mud warning allow me to say that we are experiencing a shortage of limestone for roads and driveways in our area.  Due to all of the new gas and oil exploration it is becoming increasingly difficult to have “materials” delivered for road surfaces.  It seems that our friends at these exploration sites are purchasing huge quantities of limestone for new entry roads. 

In this arial photo of a new Carroll County, Ohio gas well pad you can see an area of roughly 2-3 acres has been covered in limestone.  Although, not far from Twigg Winery, these well pads seem to get priority over my driveway when it comes to deliveries of limestone!  

I am not complaining.  This new industry in our area has done much for the people that live here.  I am thankful for the new faces I see in town, as well as here at our business.  I am also thankful for the mud that keeps us humble and thankful for spring, just around the corner, and the promise of a new season of growth as a vigneron, a vintner, a farmer. 

“Go find what your passionate about and revel in it, even if it’s mud!”

Brent

I just returned from the Ohio Grape and Wine Conference, a two day seminar for wine makers.  What a great way to network with other Ohio wineries, and as a wise man once said, ” the best way to get a good idea is to steal one.”  I am guilty of theft and hope to implement several of these “stolen ideas” in the future.  We had informational sessions from a wine producer from Nova Scotia with great insights into the world of Fruit wine.  In addition we learned much from several “The Ohio State University” Researchers.  In particular I was delighted with the presentation by Patrick Pierquet, a former grape breeder who had a hand in developing both the Frontenac and Edelweiss grapes, both reside in the Twigg vineyard.  Patrick now works at the OSU Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.  Christie Eckstein of the Ohio Grape Industries program spoke at length about efforts to promote Ohio wines.  She also mentioned that Ohio has had to change its wine promotional slogan because a deviant State Wine group to the North (michigan wine producers) has Trademarked the Ohio wine producers slogan and we can no longer use it, thus we have a new one “This is Ohio Wine”.   

www.tasteohiowines.com     

We also heard from Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Division of Liquor Control, Ohio EPA and many more.  I was honored to serve as a moderator for the enology session on Tuesday morning for such a distinguished group. 

After the January-February hiatus I look forward to seeing all of the wonderful patrons from this past season as well as those yet to make the journey, and look forward to 2013 with the greatest optimism.  Full steam ahead!

Brent Baker

Live Twigg Cam from Dec. 26!  Finally, some snow.  Open this Friday and Saturday Dec. 28-29 2-8 pm weather permitting ( Winter on Meter Rd. requires bravery and patience).  Thank you, to all the wonderful friends we have made this year at the winery.  We’re looking forward to 2013, and can’t wait to bottle the wine from this year’s exceptional harvest.  As such, we will be bottling, labeling and quite possibly doing lots of sampling over the next two months.  Therefore, if you need wine please call ahead as we will not be keeping our usual business hours until March.  For small group reservations or to make purchases  feel free to call and make arrangements.

The new vineyard in the near distance shows encouraging signs of thrifty growth, even without the benefit of irrigation in the drought of 2012.   The evident stretching of new growth toward the sun tells us that the new vines are slowly working their way toward  being mature vines capable of handling a full crop.  Slow, steady, growth!  An increase in trunk diameter,  a lengthening of bearing wood, an increase in root mass, all enable a grape vine to withstand the rigors of bearing fruit.    Evidence to this fact, our 14 year old Baco vines, brutes in their own right never once showed signs of dought stress this summer.  A success of nature.

We are a very small, family run winery, with a long history of working the land and learning from nature, the lessons that experience can teach.    Occassionally,  a client will come into the tasting room and express a desire for The Twigg Winery to invest in larger signs, pave the road, do more advertising, or radio ads,  tv ads,  flyers in the mail, a person dressed like a giant wine bottle walking the streets of Canton.   I have heard many suggestions since opening for business in November of 2011. 

Instead of frivolous advertising, we continue to rely primarily on word of mouth, and invest in quality.   For this years vintage we have adopted some oak cooperage into our fermentation regime.  Guess what, want good barrels go buy them from a cooperage that uses “slow growth” tight grain Quercus petraea or Quercus robur oak.  Slow growth being the key to quality.  Yesterday, I processed enough Chardonel grapes to fill our new barrels.

Rather see one than be one. uhh, a bunghole that is!

The heady aroma of medium toast oak emanating from the “just filled” barrels was enough to make me reflect on how much I enjoy and respect the profession of fostering a grape vine into fruition and further, into a bottle for the enjoyment of those who are aware of our establishment.

As we approach an important crossroads for  our Country’s future this fall remember that we didn’t come this far overnight,  it’s the struggle of the individual that makes our great land unique, and without freedom we all fall down.

“Americans:  making something out of nothing since 1776″   –Me 2012-

“Man… hath by nature a power…. to preserve his property – that is, his life, liberty, and estate – against the     injuries and attempts of other men.”–John Locke   1632-1704

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you help,”  “There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.    If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen. –An American President  2012

We always appreciate compliments at the winery,  and when someone asks, who built this?   I proudly reply, “I did!”

Your Humble servant,

Brent Baker

      Just in case you have never been to Twigg winery I will give a brief description of our layout.  Situated high on  a hill overlooking a long narrow valley our vineyard is at about 1220-1250′ above sea level.  Our first planting of grapes in 1998 consisted of  Chardonnay, Riesling, Baco Noir, Cabernet Franc, and Traminette.  The winter of 98′-’99 turned out to be an extremely cold one, thus we lost all but the Baco and Traminette vines.  Since we have been planting many new and old varieties of vinifera and labrusca grapes, and now have approximately three acres of vines of various ages.  Below you will find pics of this years fruit taken August 8 with respective brix levels listed to the side.  Brix, a measure of soluble solids, represents the percent sugar in the grapes and is measured with a device called a refractometer.  This device uses a prism to “refract” light through a sample of the juice from a given variety of grape.  Samples are taken by placing individual grapes in a ziploc bag, I collect around 30-40, then mash them up and place a drop of the composite on the refractometer and check the brix.  A fun way to spend your time!

Dornfelder

      In addition to the above mentioned vines,  I also checked the brix on our 2 year old baby vines (having left a few clusters here and there) with results as follows:                              Edelweiss……..20°  brix,  Chardonel………14.5° brix,  Frontenac………. 16.5° brix. 

Assuming these varieties continue to ripen at the current rate, and that we attempt to harvest at 22-23° brix,  harvest will start very soon.  Normally, I would be excited to be seeing  numbers this high early in the season.  However, with peach season in full swing, and Mollie’s Delicious apples ready to harvest, it promises to be a busy August and September. 

I continue to have grape expectations,

Brent

          For those readers that may not know, the SWCD is an organization whose goals include the following as listed on their website: 

   -SWCDs provide assistance to urban and agricultural land users, specializing in soil erosion prevention and water management. SWCDs work with farmers through a voluntary cooperative agreement. Services include survey and design of grassed waterways, erosion control structures, surface and subsurface drainage, farm ponds, windbreaks, and livestock waste management facilities.  A very helpful organization indeed.  After delivering a brief history of the farm, and the area in general, we headed out to the vineyard to see and discuss wine grapes. 

 Although, the drought continues here in Eastern Ohio, our vineyard continues to thrive despite the dry conditions.  Due to the visit from our recent guests however, the thought did cross my mind that if it doesn’t rain soon, there may not be any water left to conserve.

-Brent

             Two days later, after some proofreading, congress approved the document authored largely by Thomas Jefferson (in nine days) known as the Declaration of Independence,  official date July 4, 1776.

Have a safe and happy July 4th.

Brent

           Last evening, as I was making a turn in the vineyard, preparing to mow the creeping red fescue growing between another long row of Noiret hybrid grapes, a cataclysmic event took place.  My old faithful tractor, a friend of the family for over a decade,  blew up!  It didn’t explode per se, however a highly pressurized hydraulic component sprung a leak that drained the reservoir leaving the tractor incapacitated.  Seeing that I was not going to be able to finish my chores for the evening I retired to the house with a grim fealing that the old boy might just be on life support ………beep………….beep………..beep.  So, what to do next, scour the internet for a hydraulic filter housing and seal kit to fit a 1956 Minneapolis Moline 335 with live pto, high compression engine, 2 speed torque amplifier and cigarette lighter, chrome headlamps comfort ride seat and power steering?  Or………..consider looking for a more modern vineyard cruiser with EPA tier 4 compliant emission rating, paint and plastic cupholder.   Now enter thoughts of the long drive to the vets office to euthanize a loved one in pain.  Could I really do it?  Subject the 335 to a public health care death panel.  Sorry, MM 335 serial number 10A 3343352 we can’t afford to replace your worn parts, here’s an oxycodeine to take on the way to the scrap yard, “ But kind sir my heart still beats strongly revvvvv, revvvvv see. ”  Yes, but your old fashioned and you don’t have a catalytic converter, your exhaust is releasing carbon manoxide and that hydraulic leak contaminated 43 acres of soil that must now go to a landfill.  I can envision the poor little tractor, inhaling the pain killer through it’s air cleaner and drifting off to a better place and time, back when it was still loved. 

The Everly Brothers were crooning, “All I have to do is Dream” on the AM radio of the single rear axle B model Mack tractor trailor as it pulled into the stylishly decorated equipment dealership in Minerva, Ohio.  The driver carefully folded down the ramps on his trailor, and with great admiration for the gleeming “Prairie Gold” paint turned the key of the new 335 tractor, and drove it past the line of used equipment.  The little tractor respectfully tipped his muffler to the MM comfortractor parked in the used row.  He had heard about his predecessors of which the Comfortractor, a 1938 model, was a grandfather of style in it’s own right.  The first farm tractor to sport a cab, it was capable of road speeds and delivered many well to do farmers to church Sunday mornings even when other cars couldn’t make it because of bad weather.  The driver, having parked the 335 in the row of new equipment, pulled out of the lot, this time The Diamonds were playing The Stroll.   

Fast Forward→

Time went by and soon MM, the world’s finest machinery, was being upstaged and undercut,  soldout and diluted.  I could fathom the reasons why but they would be too numerous to mention.  Several mergers took place and the company struggled, but the promo people at Moline did come back for a while.  Why?  Style. 

Take this ad for example.  That’s right Eva Gabor advertising for MM in the 70′s.  When was the last time you saw         Gisele Bundchen using seductive inuendo to woo unsuspecting vineyard owners into spending their hard earned dollars on a new tractor.  Not today!  Gisele’s publicist would never allow such a thing even if she had been in Green Acres.

But as is the case with many succesful businesses, eventually, many succumb.  These days the Corporation known as Minneapolis Moline is just a ghost.  It still haunts many farms with the sound of it’s high compression, low rpm engines and old farmers long since retired to the porch or the nursing home still here the echo in their ears of spring mornings spent plowing from the seat of a young, healthy, strong, vibrant machine with a complexion of prairie gold.

Is style dead?  Could be………………… Today I brought a demo tractor home from a nearby dealership.  Does it have style?       I am not sure.  It does have a blue plastic hood, an emissions compliant engine, four wheels and flasher lights and a fully functioning hydraulic system.  The engine is made by Shibaura, Japanese I think.  Possibly assembled in Italy.  The tires appear to be made in India.

The dealer was kind enough to let me demo the machine for a while, ” a really good tractor he said.”   I’m wondering if it will last until 2076.  After all, the MM335 that I currently have, lasted 64 years.  Hmmmm.

Will the antique tractor, assuming it were to have the necessary transplant, lend itself to more interesting wine as an end result?  Will the new no frills tractor perform more efficiently in the vineyard? 

Ahh the trials and tribulations of growing grapes.

Digressingly,

Brent

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology

Of the multitudes, whom descended upon The Village of Augusta, last Friday evening, hundreds and possibly even thousands were delighted to see the Greek God of Wine make an appearance in the annual Strawberry Festival parade.  Although, some were disappointed in Dionysus for tossing out candy to the children, rather than giving wine samples to the throngs of people, a good time was still had by all.  Everyone said it was the largest crowd they could remember in all  the years of the festival,  a great thing considering that the proceeds go to our local volunteer fire department.