A few weeks ago we took a tour of the Wyandotte Winery, with their great host/owner Valerie. We had such a good time we made a trip down to Lancaster to tour their vineyard, which they have named Rockside.
Valerie started us out in their tasting room giving us an overview of what we were to see and do, as well as a couple of tastings. Once outside she gave us great insight into the working of the winery, including an interesting tidbit about how to tell by the seeds if the grapes are ripe.
While not quite ready for picking, they looked great on the vine and were delicious to eat right off the vine.
Normally I am too busy taking photos to note the details that a tour guide gives us, but on this day not only was I taking photos, I was carrying my small plate with my wine glass, and tasting the wine – no wonder I have no clue what type of grapes these are – but Valerie knows.
You can see in her approach to her vineyard just how passionate she is about having a quality product.
Some of the grapes had meshing over them. Apparently they had a recent ‘attack’ of birds eating all the grapes, and this is how they keep them safe.
Even with the meshing, the grapes stand out against the green leaves.
Another row – another tasting 🙂
These rows had some sort of issue, so rather than let them disease the rest of the vineyard, they were removed and new ones are now growing in their place.
Lancaster is in a hilly area, and the neighbors barn along with the hillsides make a pleasant surrounding for the vineyard.
Valerie’s assistant Taylor was on her first day on the job – she did great!
In one area they are now growing lavender.
Another view of the farm next door, along with some of the vineyards.
Bad grapes, bad bad grapes – out with the bad so the good stay good.
It was interesting the various shapes of the leaves for each type of grape – they were all slightly different.
From the side the vineyards appear very thick, forming perfect north south rows, which is essential to good grape growing.
They even have their own mini weather station.
In one of the row were these massive mushroom – nothing whatsoever to do with grapes, but still very cool.
We had a great time wander the vineyard, drinking wine and being entertained (again) by Valerie. I highly recommend paying them a visit for either a fun tour, or just a relaxing afternoon on their patio with a glass of wine.
Cheers!
RDZ Photography 