Thanksgiving

Taking a moment this thanksgiving to say thank-you to those that helped in the harvest and in various other capacities through the year.

Arrow Lakes Vineyard has grown and we would struggle without the assistance of family and friends. This year was particularly difficult as some of our usual family harvest hands were unable to assist due to timing, which was in itself unusual. We also had to harvest over several weeks with multiple deliveries to the winery. 

But we had neighbors, friends (from as far as Winnipeg, and another from just up the road, and yet another returning helper who had previously lent a hand over 10 years ago) and my brother to fill the gap.

 Wishing everyone a happy thanks giving!

Harvest 2023

We had a great year this year with great production and grape quality. We started harvest 1st week of September with whites and finished with reds on the 30th

The Foch came in at 21-22 brix, the Leon Millot at 22-23 brix - overall great numbers and quality that goes hand in hand with the warmest growing season weve ever had.

St. Croix was a stand out in experimental part of the vineyard comming in at 19.5 brix (usually 17-18 brix) and and 1.5-2 lb per foot of trellis and large juicy grapes (each grape 2× diameter of Marechal Foch) with absolutely no sign of fungus or rot in a year when pretty much all the others varieties showed some impact on these. If we had another 10 days in a normal season this would be a nice grape to grow.

St. Croix below.

Other than that some of brix on the reds came in as follows for harvest of Sept 30 (unless otherwise noted below). Note that we received 1.5 inches of rain on Sept 28 which swelled the grapes, splitting some and also had a very small impact on brix.

Marechal Foch 21.5 

Leon Millot 23 

Castel 25 (Sept 19)

Triompe 22

Lucy Kulhman 22

Marechal Joffre 21

Colmar Precose Noir 24

L'Acadie 22.5 (Sep 19)

Evangeline 19.5 (Sept 7)

Ravat 34 18 (Sept 19)

Petite Milo 22 (Sept 19)

Vandal Cliche 18 (Sept 19)

Foch below...