KyMar Farm Winery and Distillery

We are making some modifiacations to the Still we have including adding a bypass for a column. Should be ready by late spring which is the same time I expect to have the Pad in place in the building. Once complete, time to file with the Feds, then on to the state.

With the building in place, we are very close to our fed application submission! Only about 6 months behind plan….

Progress continues….

Great trees

Annoying Pest

Vines just getting started

New Crusher

Site Prep

Who says she isnt a farm girl?

Had a great weekend!

Taught Marissa how to ride her Honda CR 100. She did great. You can just see the edge of the trellis system in the background of the picture of my fearless Riss.

We are still not meeting the time scales we set out at the begininng of the year for Kymar. However, we are close.

Our progress to date:

Around 200+ apple trees in the ground with partal production still a few years out.
We also have 500+ grape vines in the ground.

The supporting trellis system has been installed though we still have to pound the end post which are 6×6 and string the support wires. End post will get done before the snow flies but we will not string the wire until the spring.
Excavation for the barn has been completed. Contract for installation has been signed with Morton Buildings with an expected completion date of November.

The LLC has been formed and we have almost completed all of the Federal Forms for a Distillery permit. Havent really started wih the State forms yet.

Next week we buy a new grinder and press for this years apples. I will deliver before the weekend.

Our building permit has been submitted, and we have another 30 gallons of wine fermenting.

We have ordered an 80 gallon still from Hoga Company in Portugal. We expect delivery in November.

Until next time,

Ken

This weekend coming up we have cleanup in the orchard and around the vines. Lots of field to cut and corn to pick.

The apple trees look great other than still finding some sinking in the planting holes that drop the graft below the surface level. I’m fixing these as I find them.

The vines on the other hand are still struggling to make the wire. The late May freeze did significant damage and though I had hoped for full recovery, it didn’t happen.

Of the 200 trees we have planted in the last two years, we lost one. Of the 500 vines, we have lost around 10. Most have been victims of the weed whacker!

The trellis is up though we still have to anchor the end posts and string the wires.

The town planning office is OK with our plans and we are selecting our builder for the barn this week.

Next week, I’ll publish our construction plan.

I saw a Crane this past weekend. What an amazing bird of surprisingly large size. I didn’t know they were in the area of the state, but I’ve seen this same bird in the pond three or four times this summer.

What an awesome day on the hill…….. This is the property as seen from across the road. If you look close, you can see the trellis.

Updated Pics on the pic file…. added some from this weekend……. http://www.ky-mar.com/Kymar2008/1/slideshow.htm?1-true

Dave, Mary, Lori and I signed all of the Kymar Docs.

We selected a barn style, agreed on the layout and hav e a contractor working up a price.

Trees and grapes look pretty good. Trellis is going in first week of August.

Gave the first rides through the fields over the 4rth…. Dave’s birthday

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Today, we visited Jones Winery which is part of Jones Family Farm ( http://www.jonesfamilyfarms.com/content_winery.htm ) and one other winery that we did not really like (setup, tasting or wine).

Both Lori and I are visiting farm wineries whenever we get a few free minutes and will do a quick write up of the ones we like. I’m not going to mention the ones we don’t like as everyone should give all of these guys a chance and we all have different tastes.

What I can tell you is that Lori and I enjoy the Wineries where the person who is doing the pouring knows something about the products, the grower, the grapes or other fruit in the wine, etc. I like to know what grapes are in the wine or if the wine was aged in oak in SS. Jones Winery did not disappoint. In fact, they were charming, knowledgeable and spoke of the Jones family with obvious admiration. I was also impressed to discover that the winemaker is in fact a Jones rather than an outsider brought into one of the oldest and best know farms in the area.

The big surprise was what wine I liked. While I enjoy trying all kinds of wines, I tend to prefer the dry reds or dry whites. Other than the Apple Wine at Hopkins (also CT), I normally don’t like anyone’s fruit wines better than what we have made. Then along comes something I was sure I would not like…. Black Currant Bouquet. I never like these wines as they are almost always too sweet and in general not well balanced. This was different – First, the bouquet is amazing. I would describe this as sweet, but with enough acid and alcohol content to balance it out. It actually has just a touch of a bite on the tongue and none of the medicinal character that I normally perceive with elderberry, blueberry or black currant.

We also liked and bought the following:

Woodlands White – is an excellent Cayuga, very nice.
Harvest Time which is an apple/pear. I don’t like this as much as our apple, but it is good.
Ripton Red – one of the first Reds Lori has ever liked as she is a white wine only girl.

We will return in the fall when they move into their restored barn.

The second winery we visited didn’t have a friendly feel to it, I felt a bit rushed even though know one else was there and we didn’t really like any of the wines. Not much else to say about it really.

Things are looking pretty good for the apples planted last year and this spring. the trees we top worked on the roadside field last year are looking real good as well. The bt took care of our uninvited guests and we are continuing with our low on an as needed basis only spray program. The only downside to this weekend is the rain and hail and grape vines…. over 3.5 inches of rain in the last few days and a heck of a hail storm. About 20% of the trees that were planted this spring need a bit of work as well. They are now a bit deep and if left alone will rake root above the graft. We can take care of this over the fourth of July weekend.

The vines on the other hand are not happy at all. First we had the late may frost which devastated the Swenson red and the GR7 as I had cut them back to a few buds 6 inches above the ground. Then, just when they start pushing secondary buds as everything close to the ground was taken out by the frost, the hail comes along and literally knocks the new growth off. These grape vines are proving a bit more difficult than the apples I know and love. The Frontenac, Valiant, Edelweiss, and Marquette look well and should all make the wire this year.

We are going to try to get the trellis in around August.

New Barn for production in September.

Should hear from planning department for Summit if there are any issues in the next two weeks.