The 2006 harvest was terrific, just like that of 2005! We had a rather wet spring that required extreme attention to spraying and a reasonable dry period during the summer which was great for development of the clusters. With the dry months along with a very careful spray cycle there was little chance for bunch rot to develop. The berries and clusters were extremely large prompting us to reduce the crop load on the vines a few times but, even with the thinning, we had the largest crop ever.

In 2006 I made a test sample of a new wine blend consisting of Vidal, a French American hybrid, Seyval, Chardonnay and a little Chancellor for color. This was be bottled semi-sweet retaining a lot of fruit character. I fermented it with a yeast designated to retain the fruit characteristics and ran a cool fermentation also to retain the fresh fruit attributes. In honor of a sweet and wonderful woman I was with, I named it Mary's Kiss.

I am also making 15 gallons of Chambourcin, a very nice dry red wine with and exceptional cherry characteristic and another blend of Vidal, Chambourcin, and Chardonnay.

Wine, vineyard management and winemaking is by big desire and love. I worked at Slate Quarry Winery and am active as vineyard manager in Nazareth, PA. The vineyard is now named Wild Hare Vineyard. The work requires much dedication, careful planning, and many hours of work during the growing season but the challenge and complexity are fulfilling.

I view the time I spent as an educational challenge since I am constantly learning more about viticulture and enology and as a love of growing and nature. Its quite a mix of science, knowledge, chemistry, horticulture, entomology, and a good bit of plain insight.

These days it is not unusual for a professional to acquire a totally different occupation such as this. The needs for people who have a lot of knowledge and ability to learn to make a fine wine are high. In this winery where I worked, the owner and master winemaker is a retired professor from Lehigh University. Now he wears jeans and was often found on a tractor in the vineyard. The winery of today is a scientific endeavor, with a lot of chemistry and other sciences mingled together.

Here I am in the vineyard in the spring of 2002.

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