What is the best way to describe spring grape pruning?  With a graphic.

For those people unfamiliar with horticulture, it may come as a surprise that TONS of grapes result from a vine that has essentially no growth from the previous year in the early spring of the year. Over the next few week we will be removing the spent canes from last year and any evidence of excess growth from the previous year. We will allow only one cane per spur each with two buds. (An emergency cane will be allowed to grow, however.)

First we will go though the rows with hedge trimmers removing long cumbersome growth from 2011. Then we will selectively prune the healthiest cane growing closest to the training wire down to two buds. Then following that a person armed with loppers will remove excess dead wood so that no new canes can possibly emerge. With painstaking effort we will move from the drawing at the bottom right to the drawing at the top left!

Tom Roberts, widely known jazz pianist, and Suzanne Ortner, German born clarinetist performed outdoors in the Nectar Garden at Greendance - THE WINERY AT SANDHILL providing mesmerizing arrangements that resounded through the vineyard and orchards.

Many new wines will be here very soon, and we are especially excited to introduce our Sparkling Gooseberry wine. We have medal winners too, in both the Keystone Competition and the Fingerlakes Wine Competition. One of the very finest of these is our new Riesling.