Chankaska Winery toasts the first harvest of the season
By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com Aug 31, 2021 Updated Nov 8, 2021
Staff at Chankaska Winery in Kasota popped open a bottle of white wine to celebrate their first batch of grapes this harvest season.
On Thursday, members of the winery took to the cellar production area for their annual toast to harvest. Approximately 1.3 tons of grapes were picked on the first day. Every ton can produce between 120-180 gallons of wine, but the first day’s pick is just a fraction of what Chankaska Winery expects to harvest this season. Approximately 35 tons will come from in state, out of 220 tons harvested nationally.
Winemaker John Taylor poured a bottle of white wine for his colleagues and the team clinked their glasses together for the toast. Then, they approached the stockpile of freshly picked green grapes and baptized them in the wine.
“We always do this on our first pick,” said General Manager Jane Schwickert. “We’ve done this since we’ve started, so for 10 years.”
The ritual is a way to both kick off the harvest and pray for a large bounty.
“The toast to harvest is offering the Roman God Dionysus an offering to make sure we have a bountiful, good quality harvest,” said Taylor. “We do it to make sure we have a safe harvest as well as a good and helpful harvest. At the end of the day, if you tempt fate, fate will bite you.”
While the extended drought has put stress on corn and soybean crops and the farmers that grow them, grapes are weathering the heat much better. Grape vines are resilient in drought and even prefer dry conditions, giving grape growers in Minnesota an early harvest.
“It’s been a great growing season for grapes. Grapes actually prefer drier weather to get to high quality,” said Taylor. “We’re trending a little earlier than we would normally, but all things considered equal, it’s a high quality year provided we get safe weather.”
During the harvest season, grape growers hope for dry conditions without excess heat. Grapes are also best picked before the frost, so the farmers are hoping to avoid an early freeze.
Once the grapes are picked, winemakers at Chankaska will begin separating the juice from the skins as well as extracting the color of the grape. Sugars are then fermented into alcohol and a container is chosen — either a wooden barrel or stainless steel cask. Winemakers then experiment with blending different batches of wine before picking their favorite blends.
“I’m really excited to be back harvesting again,” said Taylor. “It’s the two months that every winemaker, seller, and staff member looks forward to, even though it means longer hours, less time off. When the wines are made, we look forward to it. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”