If it is a cliché that wine is made in the vineyard, it is a cliché that we live by. Twenty vintages have shown us that whatever beneficial actions are taken tending the vines will show up later as better tasting wines. Our whole goal is to sell wines that are a joy to drink. Here is the approach we take to attain that goal: Harvest is usually starting in early October in northern Michigan. Our grapes are all harvested into one half-ton cherry tanks. The grapes arrive at the winery within two hours of being picked and are usually at 40-50 degrees. Most grapes are crushed and pressed in our membrane press. It is capable of pressing 10 -11 tons of fruit in a 2.5 hour press cycle. The juice is settled overnight and then pumped off the heavy juice settlings into barrels or stainless steel tanks.
Selected yeast and malolactic cultures are added to the juice, and it ferments over a 10-20 day period depending on temperature and juice variety. Wines in barrels are left on the lees (spent yeast cells) and are stirred periodically. Wines in stainless tanks are pumped off the lees into other stainless tanks.
Winter plays its part in our winemaking. All wines produced from grapes deposit potassium bitartrate crystals when they are chilled. In northern Michigan that means turning off the heat for a couple of months and letting Mother Nature do her part. It is also a great time for the Good Harbor winemaking team to go skiing or find a warm ocean that needs another diver. Spring time finds us warming the cellar up a bit and filtering the wines off the lees and tartrate crystals. Fresh fruity wines can start to be bottled. Wines needing oak aging will remain to be bottled later in the summer. When the temperature gets warm enough to support additional fermentations we will bottle our sparkling wine cuvees to referment in the bottle and lie en tirage for 18-24 months.
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GOOD HARBOR VINEYARDS
34 S. Manitou Trail • Lake Leelanau 49653 • 231-256-7165
e-mail: winery@goodharbor.com • web: www.goodharbor.com