Leap Second Time Adjustment Day-minus 3

June 27, 2010

It is a partly cloudy morning over the vineyards of Glenora and along the shores of Seneca. Our temperature is 62 degrees and the wind is out of the south southwest at 2 miles per hour. The weather guru is predicting a warm/hot day!!

In the vineyards-The Vineyard Teams continue one of their "more of the same weeks" - application of protective sprays, some fertilization, suckering and shoot positioning. Our friends at Cornell Cooperative Extension tell us that we are 12 days ahead (degrees days) of a "normal growing season" and 16 days ahead of where we were last year at this time. If this weather pattern continues it is going to be an early harvest. So far it has been a very good grape growing year (knock on wood) with warm temperatures and adequate rainfall.

In the cellar-another bottling week with the Knapp Team bottling Vidal and Vignoles, both from the 2009 vintage. At Glenora it was another of one of those "First Ever Events" as on Monday we started filling Astra-Pouches with our Trestle Creek Riesling. While the Astra Pouch has been used by wineries in a few other wine producing regions we, Glenora, are the first winery in the United States to package wine in this container. For those not familiar with package think of a "Bag in the Box" without the box. The package is definitely "Green" and will help us reduce out carbon foot-print. And on top of all of that the package is very user friendly-easy to carry, easy to chill, and easy to dispose of. It is great for the refrigerator (takes up little space), chills quickly and is great to take on picnics or to concerts. This past week Ed and Christine, along with Dave Moynihan of Astra Pouch made presentations to our distributor's sales teams!!  To quote Ed  "in all my years of presenting, at sales meetings, this was the first time I saw a really fun excitement in the sales reps eyes, Great questions, and a Fun Time" The wine (Astra Pouch) will be available in wine shops on July 1.

Sad news-we learned of the passing of Bill Wagner on Saturday. Lots can, will and should be said about Bill and his family's contributions to the Finger Lakes Wine Industry. From a personal perspective the editor can remember visiting Bill, along with my partner Ed Dalrymple in 1976. At the time we were considering opening Glenora while Bill had already made the decision to start Wagner/ Lots of conversation and lots of ideas shared-we moved ahead. During our first crush in 1977 we ran short of tanks, when Bill found about this he loaned us some of his. And in return in early 1978 we returned the tanks and helped set them and others inside Bill's new winery. One can only hope that as our industry continues to grow that those who were pioneers in the early years are not forgotten-Bill was certainly one of them.

Another busy week the Inn-the carpeting project was finished, another wedding and this one had a unique twist in that the bride and groom had the framing under the awning on the terrace draped with a white covering, it is called organza and it is/was beautiful.

Congratulations go out to Alex Miller as he is now an alumnus of Dundee Central School. Alex has been part of the Glenora Team for over three years, at first doing a few odd jobs and most recently attempting to emulate the actions and activities of the President of Glenora as well being a real asset to the retail team.

Lot of on the road activities this week-along with Ed and Christine making presentations to the Empire group, they traveled about the state introducing the new package to our retailers. Barb C and her festival team were at the Rochester Harbor Festival on Friday and Saturday. And this upcoming week and weekend will be exciting (read busy) for Team Glenora-weddings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday-the Festival Team will be at the IRL Race Weekend at Watkins Glen International presenting Glenora's finest.

The Knapp Team and the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail are hosting the Greyhound event this weekend. As well they also put on their annual Chicken BBQ with the proceeds going to support the American Cancer Society. In addition to the 128 chickens that were BBQ'd Chef John and his team served over 100 lunches in the Vineyard restaurant. Late breaking news from Knapp-Bonnie , the wandering peahen, has been caught and returned the Knapp Aviary-we now have  4 peafowl, 11 chickens, 11 running ducks, and 10 baby geese.

Thought for the week:   Conscience/Beliefs  -  Be careful to not cut your conscience and beliefs to fit this year's fashion.

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