Learnin' About the Grape Squeezings

One of my Christmas presents to Kevin was enrolling him in the Adopt A Vine program at Chateau Faire le Pont winery. Kevin has an intense curiousity about the world and how things work and loves to learn. Combine this with his interest in wine and you have a present that was custom made for him.


With the Adopt A Vine program you get to take part in four sessions that go through the entire process of wine making; from pruning to blending to crush to bottling. Saturday was the first session so we drove out to Wenatchee to the winery to pick our vine. This first program was all about pruning grape vines. Everyone got to pick a vine from a choice of nine different varietals, put your name on it and prune it up for maximum fruit production. Kevin and I both chose syrah vines and happily and cluelessly clipped away at them.


The vines we were working on are strictly for show. The winery is located in a wonderful old brick building that used to be a train depot but is unfortunately surrounded by office park. The vines that produce the wine they make come from elsewhere in the state.

I decided that my vine needed a name so I have named her Matilda. Since the Australians are known for their syrah (or shiraz) it seemed only fitting.

There was a little trash talking between Kevin and I about whose vine was stronger, who pruned better, and which vine would produce the most fruit. My Matilda will totally kick his nameless vine's ass! Not that we are competitive or anything.