4e Winery

Quality products, born of the prairie

12 Days to opening

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IMG_8194At long last 4e Winery is about to open it’s doors on July 12. It’s been a busy three years getting ready for this day and we are excited to share our wonderful farmstead with all of you. We have been working hard trying to get the grounds and buildings ready. We don’t know if we will make it with every project, so please pardon the dust as we continue to build and create a space for you to enjoy.

All our bottling supplies have arrived and we will be bottling up our initial offerings over the next week. We will be releasing our first five wines for tasting and sales. These include:

Apple Wine – a dry light food-friendly wine
Rhubarb – full of flavor, we will have two styles; one dry and one sweet
Blue Bliss – a refreshing blend of blueberries and lemon
Aronia Blush – a sweet aronia wine full of healthy antioxidants

IMG_8208Our future plans include a full complement of dry and sweet grape wines made from the wonderful cold-hardy hybrid grapes. We have some varieties in our vineyard and will be sourcing grapes from local growers. Due to the past two harsh winters, grape vines in our area have taken a beating – including our own 4e vines. They are bouncing back but we do not expect a crop this year. We will be obtaining grapes from growers in the tri-state region whose vines are well established and survived to produce a crop. While we would have loved to be able to open with these wines, mother nature has not been so kind. But bear with us as we grow. In the meantime, enjoy our prairie essence line of fruit wines.

IMG_8241We hope to see you on Sunday, July 12 for our opening day. We will be open on most weekends throughout the summer (Fri, 4p-7p; Sat, 11a-5:30p, Sun, noon-5p). Please make stop by, taste some wine and enjoy the farm.

Thanks for your support.

Dead or alive

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IMG_6064When the weather outside
reaches -20°F you can’t imagine anything can live. So the question of whether the vines are dead or alive starts to haunt me. I am happy to say the frontenac vines are making it just fine. I took some cuttings from the dormant vines to satisfy my curiosity and put my fears to rest. As you can see they are not only still alive, but nearly the entire interior of the canes are green and vibrant. This is a great sign that they will spring forth once the weather warms up in May.

Grape Vine Planting Day

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Grape Vine Planting Day

Saturday, May 24

IMG_2789Please join us for our second Grape Vine Planting day at 4e Winery. We are excited to be starting our new venture as a North Dakota vineyard and winery. Our winery is located just SE of the I-94 Casselton exit. It is the first farmstead that you see from the road. Turn east on the frontage road and take the first right. You can’t miss it. We will be planting 80 Frontenac vines and may need some help installing trellises. We appreciate all the help we can get. We will gather at 10:00 am to start the day. Lunch and of course wine will be provided.

When:  Saturday, May 24 starting at 10:00 am

Where:  4e Winery, 3766 156th Ave SE, Durbin, ND (Mapleton on some GPS)

RSVP:  gregcook@me.com or 701.936.9692

Rain or shine, the grapes need to go in. If the weather is too severe, we will plant on Sunday, May 25. The vineyard may be muddy, so please wear appropriate footwear and clothes.

Download the flyer here: 4ewinery-planting-2014

Pruning time

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Well, a week or so of nice weather has encouraged spring to spring. And that means it’s time to prune the vines. After a long drawn-out cold winter, I was concerned about the status of my now 1 year old vines. We had some snow, as you can see below, but it wasn’t very deep. Frost in this area was down to 8 feet or more under the ground in spots. Needless to say I was worried about the vines dying all the way to the ground.

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All of the snow is now gone and underneath all this brown are grasses and weeds just ready to burst forth.

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Even the buds on the tiny apple trees are starting to swell.

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But this is supposed to be about the vines. As I said, I was worried because the few I had been checking over the winter looked to be brown throughout the cane which means it had no life out at the tips. In the first year I let the vines grow as much as they want without pruning in order to establish a solid root system. Since I did not train these up straight last year, the canes from last year were not really that straight. The plan this year is to prune all the vines down close to the ground and grow a few canes trained up and select the best ones for establishing the trunks of the vines. I was so very pleasantly surprised to find nearly all the vines were alive and vibrant green. This is a great sign saying the vines are healthy and should push lots of growth this year. Now, come on sunshine!

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August Vineyard Update

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It has been about a month since my last update. I’m  happy to report that the weeds are being beaten back for the most part and the vines are growing very well. After flooding rains in June things have dried out considerably. In all of July we only received about 1/2 inch of rain. That’s fine as there is plenty of moisture under the soil. Just a few days ago we received another 1/3 of an inch just to moisten things up. So far the vines look strong and I’m hoping the moisture level slowly recedes down into the ground to encourage the roots to go deeper. I’ll keep my eye on them and give ’em some water if I see any signs of distress. Here are some updated photos of the vineyard and surrounding pasture.