Celebrate July with our NEW Blackberry Express!!

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Independence Day is this Monday and to kick off the holiday right we are releasing our BRAND SPANKING NEW Blackberry Express!

We are so excited to get this in the bottle since you guys have been asking for it. We called in the troops this morning to help us bottle up 290 gallons of our first fruit wine and 3 hours later we sold our first bottle!

Blackberry Express is a sweet fruit wine that has the taste of fresh picked berries off the bush. Not only is this wine great for sipping, but it is also wonderful for cobblers, jellies, and wine slushies! Swing by and try a sample today and take some with you to help celebrate the 4th of July!! Be safe and have a happy holiday!!

Also, today is the last day to take advantage of our Groupon, so get it while the gettin’s good!!

Get your Groupon!

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Have you heard of Groupon? It’s the coupon sensation that has swept the country and for today only you can purchase a voucher for $10 that gets you $20 worth of award-winning Grinder’s Switch Winery wine!! So, click on over to Groupon and get one for yourself or a friend, but you must be 21 or older to redeem!

For those of you who are checking us out for the first time, WELCOME!! We are just so proud to see you here! We hope to see you down at the winery soon!

Introducing…Vinnie the Vineyard Dog

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We have a new addition here at the winery, Vinnie the Vineyard Dog. After the unfortunate loss of Sully, we have been in need of another dog to help us keep unwanted pests out of the vineyard. So we brought Vinnie home with us. Vinnie is a Great Pyrenees puppy with lots of personality. He’s only been here a few days but he already feels at home. Vinnie, Tank and MoMo all seem to be getting along just fine with the exception of the occasional debate over who is the head honcho around here.

He’s just about the cutest little puppy we have ever seen. So far, his favorite activities are following Tank around, begging at the dinner table, and helping Joey. Pretty soon, he will be spending lots of time in the vineyard chasing deer, opossums, and various  other critters, so if you see him while you are here give him a little belly rub and welcome him to the family!

Blues and Wine this Weekend!!

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Another Blues and Wine is coming up this Saturday!! The sensational Miranda Louise will be gracing us with her talents once again! The show starts at 6pm and goes until 9pm. Feel free to pack a picnic or you can purchase some award winning BBQ here! No outside alcohol though!  See you there!!

Summer Cooking Class coming up!!!

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On Sunday June 5th, we will be holding a cooking class here at the winery! Food blogger, Jodie Morgan, from EatinontheCheap.com will be preparing 4 fresh and easy summer recipes! The event is free!! Call today to reserve your spot!!

Catch us at Nashville Shores!

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This weekend is the annual Toast to Tennessee Wine Festival at Nashville Shores. We will be there along with many other Tennessee wineries sampling and selling our wine. The festival starts at 12pm and goes on until 6pm. This is a great opportunity for everyone to experience a fantastic selection of Tennessee wine all in one place! We hope to see you this weekend!

Bottling it all up…

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Bottling is a process that we do year round here at the winery. There is always wine in the tanks that is in different stages of readiness and bottling any wine that is ready is a priority. The problem with bottling is that it’s time-intensive and it takes a large number of people to do it efficiently. For the last several years we have been lucky enough to have lots of friends who are willing to come out in the early morning hours and help us get our products on the shelf, but it is not always easy for us to round up enough people to get a good bottling going. Plus, it can take hours to do a palette of wine.

That’s why when the Hamm’s of Keg Springs came up with an automated bottling truck we were excited. Gerald, Brian and Becky Hamm designed a little mini factory to fit into the back of a truck the size of a moving van so that the wineries in the area could take advantage of a streamlined, efficient system and save everyone a little time and frustration.

The Hamm's of Keg Springs

This unassuming truck houses a bottle sanitizer, bottle filler, labeler and heat shrinker for the capsules that go over the neck. Not to mention the moving track that feeds the bottles down a line to someone packing cases and taping them up.

Mobile Bottling Truck

Of course there are always a few kinks to work out in the beginning, but once this puppy gets rolling, the time it takes to bottle up a couple of tanks full of wine is drastically reduced. Leaving us free to do other things, like make more wine.

Bottles going in...

Bottles going in...

The whole process is pretty fun to watch and we are excited to have it available to us.

Filling up and getting labeled

Bottles going out.

Think Thin …

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It’s amazing what kind of growth a vineyard has after it rains for nearly 2 weeks straight. The vines, which were little more that woody stumps a few weeks ago, have really burst forth with vigor. Each vine has dozens of tiny clusters of will-be grapes. When we say dozens, we mean that some vines may have as many as 30 or 40 clusters on it. You would think that would be a good thing, but the truth is, it’s way too many. So it is our job to go though the entire vineyard and thin out each vine by hand. We get rid of the shoots that come up from the base of the vine and thin out some of the clusters on each vine so that each plant can concentrate on making a few really great clusters of grapes instead of dozens of mediocre ones.

Our younger vines, like the Chambourcin here, get a much more extreme thinning. We pull all of the clusters off so that the vines can concentrate their efforts on establishing  good root system. With a good root system, the vines are better equipped to withstand periods of dry weather in the future.

So you can see, thinner is better here in the vineyards.

Stan Hedges Benefit

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As many of you know, we recently lost one of our dear friends and one of our favorite Blues and Wine Musicians. Stan Hedges’ family has been in our thoughts and prayers and we have put together a benefit in his honor.  The benefit will be held here at the winery on May 22nd. Donations will be taken in order to help Stan’s family with their very difficult financial situation. If you would like to donate you can drop off your donation here at the winery or you can donate via Paypal from this site that we have set up. Thank you so much for your support and compassion.

http://stanhedgesbenefit.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter!

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Just a friendly note to let you all know that we will be CLOSED on Easter Sunday in order to spend time with our family. We hope you all have a safe and fun holiday!