At Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero, Vermont, we harvest all of our grapes by hand. We held our first annual community harvest in 2020, and it’s now an annual tradition!
Thank you to all our harvesters for coming out to the vineyard and harvesting with us. It’s a magical part of our experience growing grapes in Vermont!
The grape varieties are different to pick. Some of the vineyard’s oldest grapes are pruned and kept closer to the ground for harvesting. Newer varietals are planted and grown for their cold hardiness. These vines are able to grow on cordons up high which makes it nice for picking.
Harvesters work their way through Lousie Swenson grapes (photo by: Cara Lane)
Each grape is harvested with the grape cluster that it grew with. A Vermont analogy: the ‘plunk plunk plunk’ of sap dripping in a maple bucket during the spring, or the crackle of the hearth during the winter, or the hum of the cicada in the summer, is like the plop of the grape clusters into the bucket during the fall.
One of the things that makes Snow Farm Vineyard so special is the grapes. All of our wines are made with grapes we grow here in South Hero, part of the Champlain Islands. The farm is diverse and new grapes are being planted where some of our favorites aren’t doing as well, including Pinot Noir and Riesling.
Alex holds up a nice cluster of Leon Millot.
Leon Millot (pictured above) is a classic grape from Snow Farm. These grapes are from some of the oldest vines in the vineyard. The wine yielded is cedar sharp and slightly smoky but often overpowered by more of a pepper blueberry. This wine pairs very well with pasta dishes.
Our community harvesters helped bring in our harvest, learned about different grape varieties and how they are grown, got some exercise, met new people, and found a fun way to be outside during the beautiful fall in Vermont.
Master Vintner Patrick Barrelet was onsite to help harvesters and educate folks about the winemaking process. Community harvesters were provided a light lunch and goodie bag for coming out and harvesting with us. For more information about harvesting contact Patrick.
When you visit or shop online, enjoy 20% off a case of wine!
