How to Prune Grapevines

Soon to be sixty year old, Mike Van Natta, shows us how we need to prune grape vines. I like the comparison he uses when he says, “Pruning is like cutting hair.” I asked him if all varieties are trimmed the same. He said, “No. Depends upon the grape species. Some are vigorous, they require more pruning to prevent over cropping which would result in a poorer quality of wine. Norton is a vigorous plant.” The true name is Norton Cynthiana. This is one of the oldest cultivated American wine grapes.

Can you guess what the annoying noise in the back ground is? I have visited this vineyard for the past three years during netting, the harvest season and this past pruning season. Throughout each experience this metal on metal sound has greeted us as the wind blew. My very first visit to this vineyard picking these grapes, I thought, wow…this would make a great sound for the next scary movie. I love movies so my imagination took off. At a distance, I thought the noise was a farm of the squealing pigs, then closer, I had a movie play out in my head but I will not go into this now, maybe in a story I write in the future. At the end of the last row of Norton Grapes, the mystery was solved. Was an old rusty windmill your guess? That is exactly what haunts this vineyard.

The first week in October seems to be prime time for picking Norton Cynthiana in Iowa. This is where I have had the privilege of celebrating my birthday these past three years, during harvest season. I can’t think of anything better but a tradition of enjoying nature with friends and family, picking grapes that will soon be a full body red wine and serenaded by the local tarnished wind mill.

After picking grapes for the past three years, I looked at them from a different perspective. I have noticed that grapes are like people. They start out small like babies and grow. Their skins start out smooth. As they mature, they may have spots that look a bit like freckles, though most remain blemish- free. If not picked in a timely matter they may turn into a raisin like an elderly person’s wrinkled skin or may tear easily. At the end, if the grapes are still on the vines past the raisin transition they turn into a mummified state.

Now for the real work, loading the crusher /destemmer. This separates the stems from the grapes and crushes the grapes. We then move the red grapes into barrels and ferment with skins attached to abstract color, flavor and tannins. Their turn in the press comes after fermentation. White grapes go through the crusher/ destemmer but unlike red grapes they go through the press before the fermentation process. They do not need skin contact.

Free run is the juice that runs from the grapes poured into the press before actually pressing the grapes.

Mike Van Natta, tried his hand at homemade wine and growing grapes in Iowa during a time when vineyards were just talk in the state. His residency forced him to relocate and his career as a physician prospered. His love for science and his path in life circled allowing him an opportunity of planting a small vineyard and opening a winery and tasting room in his small town. His vineyard is three years old now and Nearwood Winery Tasting Room celebrated their first year in business the end of November, 2013.

Mike is the winemaker and his master pieces consist of dry red wines; Leo Millot, Storybook made from the Norton grape and Raceway red made from the De Chaunac grapes. His dry whites are Edelweiss and Thumbs up. Thumbs up is produced from the Seyval Blanc. Nearwood Winery’s sweet red wines are called Storybook Sweet which is made from the Cynthiana Norton and Tenspeed Sweet made from the De Chaunac. They carry an Edelweiss Semi-sweet. Their white sweets are Speedway Sweet produced from Seyval Blanc, Wayward Girl prepared from their Edelweiss and a blush named Rosie made from Frontenac Gris. Most of their wines have a unique story behind them. Eleven new varieties are in the tanks awaiting bottles for 2013 vintage.

The number of wineries in Iowa is always changing, as of 2011 the count was 104 and 1,200 acres in grapes.

On my journey back from the east coast last week I had the opportunity to stop at a few wineries, some small some large. Wineries are in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois, plus many other states.

This weekend I accompanied Mike at the “2014 Midwest Grape & Wine + Craft Brew Conference” in St. Charles, Missouri. This is where I learned, Indian has seventy-three wineries, Nebraska has twenty-eight and one hundred-ninety-seven wineries are in Ohio. This shows to me the west coast is not the only place growing grapes and after trying a variety of midwest wines they are not the only ones with great cultivars.