Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

Harvest is really into full swing now. As you ride through town you’ll see tractors and trucks loaded with grape bins making deliveries to wineries and Welch’s. In the picture above you see a mechanical harvester picking grapes for today’s pressing.

The weather has cooperated all week making for long pleasant days of crushing and pressing. The Pinot Gris ripened several weeks early this year and has been available for sale since this past weekend. This week we pressed Niagara, Marquette, Seyval, Fredonia and Pinot Gris. The aromas of fresh grapes in the air are astounding! Be sure to stop by our Isle House sometime and enjoy a wine tasting and experience the aroma and the harvest happenings.

This will be our first full weekend of being open on Saturday and Sunday to come in and pick up you juice and supplies for home winemaking. In addition to the local juice we also have California and Australian juice pails available for sale. Order yours now so it is ready for pickup!

Dan Wolfe joined Presque Isle Wine Cellars in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying fresh grape juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Fall colors and grape aromas are in the air at Presque Isle Wine Cellars.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

This week in between grape pressings, we found time to install the replacement bladder in our wine press. This is a day long process that we usually only need to do once every few years. Unfortunately, the bladder didn’t come in until right before harvest started, not leaving us much of a window to replace it!

As the leaves are changing colors we are finally slowing down on pressing and crushing grapes fresh from the vineyards. In a few weeks, we will be pressing our Late harvest Vidal grapes for our customer favorite dessert wines: Eskimo Kisses and Hot Kisses. If you haven’t tried them yet- stop by our Isle House or order online!

If you do decide to visit us- take a few pictures and enter them into our fall photo contest for your chance to win a $50 Isle House gift certificate.

This week we look forward to the Italian Juice pails coming in for the winemakers who pre-ordered them (Pick up for Italian Juice pails is November 6th!).

Did you miss the pre-order deadline for Italian Juice pails? There may still be a very limited number of pails available- call us to inquire 814.725.1314.

Dan Wolfe joined PIWC in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from Wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying Fresh Grape Juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

Blending Our Pink Catawba Wine.

This past week we were pressing Catawba, Riesling, Concord and a variety of red wines that we crushed the week prior. We are continuing the fermentation of many of the wines, and then racking and filtering them.

In addition to all of that, we are busy working on new and interesting blends, along with making new batches of existing wines we sell and produce. All blends start out in the lab doing bench trials- this is where the winemaker combines chemistry and art in creating the perfect blend.

We are blending our Pink Catawba, our wine of the month, this week. Consider purchasing a bottle- with each bottle sold we donate a portion of the proceeds to help fund vital research being accomplished in the fight against Breast Cancer. Learn More.

Not only are we harvesting grapes, our peppers were also harvested for this coming years’ Hot Kisses- a dessert wine that has a kick to it, and is a favorite among our customers!

Purchase all our wine online or at our Isle House!

Dan Wolfe joined PIWC in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from Wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying Fresh Grape Juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

Harvest is still in full swing with grapes coming in from coast to coast, along with our own local grapes being harvested. The Chardonnay has gone through a full fermentation in oak barrels and is now going through Malolactic fermentation. We’ve been pressing and crushing Fredonia, Vignoles, Valvin Muscat, Pinot Noir, Cab Sauv, Steuben, Touriga and Chambourcin along with a few other I’m sure I forgot. Along with crushing and pressing, we are busy with fermentations, rackings and filtering of the wine after fermentation.

It’s a wonderful thing coming into work in the morning with the stars are still out; actually smelling the grape aroma in the air here in North East. I usually see at least three harvesters out in the vineyards with their lights on picking Concord Grapes before daylight.

This week we’ll be looking at getting Vidal and Catawba grapes in. Additionally this week, we’ll be having some of our wine distilled into neutral spirits to fortify our awesome tasting Touriga Port. Our port is made from 100% grapes, unlike some that are made with Grain Alcohol. Be sure to check out, learn more about, and purchase our Touriga Port on our online wine store.

Winemakers, we still have west coast, regional, and local juices and young wine available for order and pre-order! Click here to see what is still available. Our Italian Juice sale is also underway-order Italian Juice now.

Order Your Juices           Order Your Young Wine

Dan Wolfe joined PIWC in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from Wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying Fresh Grape Juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

This week the weather has cooperated 100%. The beautiful sunny days have been increasing the sugar in the grapes and dropping the acid.

This week we pressed Fredonia, Concord, Chardonnay, Vignoles and Gewurztraminer. The weekend has been really exciting with customers from the Wine festival coming down and asking lots of questions about the home wine making process. Additionally, we have been nonstop all weekend with home winemakers and commercial customers coming to buy fresh pressed juice from us to take back with them to make their own wine.

The convenience of being able to taste our wine, buy fresh juice, and buy all of your wine making supplies in one place makes us a great destination for folks up to hundreds of miles away. On top of that, we have a very knowledgeable staff to answer all of your questions- we encourage you to ask us any questions you have so that we can improve your wine making process. We not only enjoy sharing our knowledge, but we are always learning new ideas from our customers. We always love to hear your stories and processes of making wine!

Dan Wolfe joined PIWC in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from Wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying Fresh Grape Juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.