We have two small vineyards planted at the front and the back of our property. We call the front “the Magic Hill” and the back “the Back Acher”. We had big hopes for The Back Acher this year as the vines were coming into production for the first time.
But Nature, capriciously, decided to send a flock of wild turkeys to pick nearly all of the grapes. They gobbled them up! So instead of 60 lugs, we have six as a result of the summer’s toils. And so goes farming.
Fortunately we have 670 litres of Magic Hill pinot noir safely bubbling through fermentation and we still have a few grapes to harvest at our party today.
Although the ground is a little wet the skies are clear and we are going ahead with the pick.
So how expensive were the grapes? Let’s be optimistic and say we got 100 kilos of chardonnay and pinot gris- I would say it cost $8000 to produce them. So $80,000 per tonne.
brokenstone.ca 
Sorry we can’t be helping out with harvest this weekend — but we’re looking forward to lots of updates this week!
Tim: Truly enjoyed reading all the postings!
Your mom told me about your winery when I ran into her a couple of weeks ago, but wasn’t sure of the name. I finally found it and am impressed in so many ways—-the bravery to have a vision, the tackling of such a daunting, challenging, (and risky) project, and especially the wonderful parallel you draw between nurturing a vinyard and nurturing a family. Our son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids live in Ottawa, so we occasionally pass nearby your location if we take the 401 route to Ottawa (we prefer the northern route): some day in the spring of 2013 we’ll scout out your “magic hill”!!
Frank Salem
Frank, great to hear from you. And such generous comments. It would be so nice to visit with you at the vineyard in the County this spring. I’m out there most weekends from May to mid July. Drop by any time!