This page will also highlight news and events, hosted by third parties, that are of interest to grape growers and wine makers.

If you've got something news worthy the NBGGA should know about, please contact us.

NBGGA Members On Facebook

We've just added a new feature to our web site. To our left you'll see a list of NBGGA members with Facebook pages. Dunhams Run Estate Winery, on the sunny shores of the lower Saint John River valley, has a Facebook page with interesting updates and images.

Updated December 1, 2011

An Update from NBGGA President David Craw

It’s about time we had an update now that the harvest is almost over! I say almost; what with this strange but welcomed warmer than seasonal weather we are harvesting again some of our Frontenac this week and still have some Gris staying on for longer even yet.

Tony and I have been busy with several issues and opening our new NBGGA bank account was probably the most time consuming not to mention frustrating for Tony, but after six months, it has happened and we now have an account open in Saint John.

One of my first appearances representing the NBGGA was held at the Algonquin Hotel in Saint Andrews where I was invited to mingle with all the Ministers of Agriculture both Federal and Provincial for a few hours. It was here that I was introduce d to the Minister of Agriculture Mike Olscamp, his deputy Jean-Marc Dupuis and those of the communications branch whom I am at work with getting some vineyard pictures for the Ministries slide show representing agriculture in NB.

On July the 19^th we had an interesting discussion over the telephone with Richard Donald at Agripoint in Nova Scotia with reference to Nova Scotia varieties and research being done by Shaun Miles who generally focuses on tree fruit but has done some work on identifying Gene types in grapes and breeding them together. One experiment in particular is the L’Acadie and Muscat cross. This method of sequencing genes to find attributes and then planting the crosses, short cuts a lot of time in the planting phase. Our member Nelson Ball is going to look into this program in more detail and report back to us in the spring. In the meantime I think I will go and get a copy of “Genetics for Dummies.”

Shortly thereafter we all got an invite to the wine tour in Nova Scotia but I haven’t heard if anyone attended.

July 20^th saw Roger Tremblay, Pat Toner, and Kyle MacKinley at Tony’s vineyard plotting out the Marquette’s for the fertility trials. By mid October they had harvested this patch and were at Motts Landing weighing clusters, testing sugars and acids. The results will be published when we get them.

On July 27^th we had a tailgate party at Allen Hudson’s Richibucto River Vineyard and Winery. I should probably say “award winning winery” as shortly thereafter, four of his wines won Bronze at the Canadian Wine Awards. Congratulations Alan! It was informative and fun to get together with everyone who attended. After the tour of the vineyard we gathered for a BBQ.

On August 09th I met with a representative of the province to discuss making NB Wines more visible. I believe the wine tours map that was produced last year was a great beginning as a lot of people have been exposed to it. Thank you: Linda and Janet.

September 8^th saw the Crop Development team from Agriculture at Motts Landing for a tour and discussions. Tony and I took this opportunity to open discussions on several topics of interest to the grape growers and fruit wine makers. At the end it was agreed that we would meet again in the winter to discuss the issues in more detail. We are hoping to organize another tailgate in December to get more ideas from the entire group.

I attended “Grapefest” at the Corn Hill Nursery on October 1^st and gave a talk on the effects of vineyard management on wine making. It was well attended despite the rainy day. I set up a table and handed out wine tour maps and sold several copies of the Northern Winework: Growing Grapes and Making Wine in Cold Climates book, donated to the NBGGA by Alan Breault

The Minister of Agriculture and MLA Ross Wetmore of the Gagetown riding in which I reside stopped by for a quick orientation of the vineyard and winery. This too was just another opportunity to let the Minister know that we want to open discussions with several branches of the Government this winter. They had such a good time they both agreed to come out and help at harvest; so we saw them again October 21 when we harvested our Sabrevois and Radisson. We had Richard Flynn a local artist creating a pastel of the harvest and Wayne Friars a local violin maker playing good old east coast tunes to the happy harvesters. We broke for wine and cheese mid day and then fed them all dinner afterwards.

At the beginning of November both Tony and I met with a representative of the “Gripple” which we all use in the vineyard. We have been told how to get a little better price on these. Tony is in the know!

From this meeting Tony came up with the idea of purchasing things we all need cooperatively and we will be working on this idea so possibly we will be able to benefit from this, if not in price, at least transportation. More to follow!

Members, Don and Carol Peller have planted another acre and have prepped & drained yet another for next year at P&K Vineyards, Grand Lake. Also from the most recent photos you can all see that Tony at Dunham’s Wharf Vineyard is now under construction adding a lovely winery to his eight acre vineyard. I have also been contacted by an individual up in Woodstock who has planted one acre of eating grapes. The concept continues to grow!

Cheers

David

Canadian Living Magazine Recognizes New Brunswick Wine Map

If you happen to see the current issue of Canadian Living magazine, then be sure to look for the mention of our New Brunswick Wine map. Thanks to a NBGGA member for pointing this out.

It was a very good construction week: frost wall built, fixed the pumper truck (which was plugged with one day old concrete and steel wires as a result of pouring some piers elsewhere), poured the footings, drain tile and crushed rock installed in drain (for the crush pad), and now a few days of fill and levelling for insulation. Installation of pex pipe, drains and plumbing continues.

The images below show the ongoing work (courtesy of Dunham's Run Vineyard).

Work on a brand new winery building is underway at Dunhams Run Vineyard. Approximately 4000 feet of geothermal piping has been laid to a depth of 8 feet which will provide much of the heating/cooling needs of the winery building.

Richibucto River 2010 Frontenac Rose
Richibucto River 2010 Marechal Foch
Richibucto River 2010 Reserve Marechal Foch
Richibucto River 2010 River Mist

Click here to see the Richibucto River Wine Estate web site.

Detailed results and analysis of the Wine Access 2011 Canadian Wine Awards will appear in the December 2011/January 2012 issue of Wine Access. This is consistently one of our best-selling issues!

Results will also appear in the 2012 Canadian Wine Annual, on newsstands in May 2012. This is the definitive guide to Canada's wine country, seen by more than 40,000 consumers and wine tourists. The Wine Access 2012 Canadian Wine Annual can be pre-ordered in early spring 2012 so that you can receive your copies right away.

Motts Landing Vineyard (image courtesy of Roger Tremblay DAAF/MAAP)

The Benefits of Tissue Analysis for Agriculture

The New Brunswick Department of Agriculture has some information on the benefits of tissue sampling. Read more here.

Presidents Update April 18, 2011

The AGM of the Grape Growers was held at the Agriculture Hall in Moncton and was well attended however there were some faces that were missed. Paul Beaudreau opened the meeting and after the minutes of the previous year’s AGM were read and the agenda for this meeting approved, we launched right into the elections. Within ten minutes Tony Rickett was elected in as the new VP and I was moved into the position of President. There were no volunteers or nominations for the position of secretary/treasurer so it was decided that we would look into hiring a person to do this work. To pay for this, a motion was passed to increase the membership to $50.00 per year.

This is a good opportunity to thank both Paul and Tony for their tireless and selfless work on our behalf, let alone to commend them on their tenacity for hanging onto their particular jobs for over ten years. We have seen a lot of changes and experienced many an event thanks to their dedication. I would be remiss not to mention and thank Rose and Francine, their respective wives, for without them we would have missed many a thing. Thank You.

Pat Toner of the M. of Agriculture who is in charge of soil and plant fertilization presented us with a power point show relating soil and its minerals to plant uptake, by studying the results of  petiole analysis  on eight different sites. We will be applying for funding so that Pat and his assistant Kyle will be able to do a fertility trial on one of our most commonly grown varieties, the Marquette, at Tony Ricketts vineyard located near Dunham’s Wharf.

We will also be requesting that a representative from the NBGGA be present during the review process for this year’s funding through the Agriculture Futures Program. Hopefully we will also be able to have a help session organized for those interested in making application for funding and hence take some of the mystery out of the process. Peter Salonius has agreed to be the representative should the Ministry agree to the idea.

As to the question of wine standards to which I was to look into last year, very little has come out of it but I recommend reading from the following two websites to get two different approaches to this matter. Hopefully this will generate more discussions on this subject.

http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/industry/sectors/wine/making-wine.htm#P19_413

http://www.winesofnovascotia.ca/images/pdfs/Nova_Scotia_Wine_Standards.pdf

It was also agreed that we would have several “tailgate meetings” which would be informal get togethers at various members’ vineyards/wineries to discuss issues pertinent to the day. The first one will be announced soon and will be during the week and hopefully with a guest speaker. Hopefully we will see those of you who weren’t able to attend the AGM.

Lastly the 2010 Harvest summary was as we all expected. We all had the best growing season and harvest that we have experienced top date.

Well I must get out there and prune: so here’s to another successful year!

Cheers

David Craw
President