The world has lost one of it’s best. Stan “The Man” Hedges passed away last night and we here at Grinder’s Switch Winery are mourning the loss of a great musician and an even greater friend. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to his family. May he rest in peace.
Bud Break has begun in the vineyards. Just about every vine on our 5 1/2 acres of vineyard is starting to poke their little green heads out. Of course, with the greening out of the vineyard comes the dangers of being a plant. Fighting diseases such as downy mildew and the dreaded black rot is one of our biggest battles.
Black Rot, downy mildew, and various other fungi are ubiquitous. It shows up at bud break and once it’s there it can’t be gotten rid of. Black Rot gets down into the grape cluster itself and kills the fruit leaving a fruitless harvest in it’s wake. Which is why we will be fighting that battle very soon.
In other news, the development of last year’s dry red harvest is rolling along quite nicely. We have 3 different varieties aging in American oak barrels. They will be hanging out in the coolest room in Hickman County for the next several months. We will keep you updated on their progress periodically.
In closing, we would like to mention that we have changed our hours. We are now open from 10am-6pm Mon-Sat and 12-5 on Sunday. Feel free to come out early and hang out on our decks and patios and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather.
For the last 2 years Grinder’s Switch Winery has been the happy host to the famous statue of Minnie Pearl, Centerville, Tennessee’s famous local. We have enjoyed every day that Minnie has been here visiting us, but the time came this past weekend that Minnie hit the road once again.
You can’t keep a girl like Minnie in one spot for too long. She lives to travel and make people happy. That’s why we wish her the all the best on her next new home. We can only hope that she brings the people of her new home as much happiness as she has brought us.
“Where is that new home?” you ask. Well, Minnie wouldn’t say. She said it was a surprise and she didn’t want to ruin it by telling us.
So long, Minnie. It has been a pleasure. Tell all those folks at your new place that we said, “Howdeee!”
Spring is a really busy time for us here at the winery, and we thought that some of you might like to see what goes on behind the scenes of winemaking. So we will be giving you a glimpse into the life here at the winery as our grapes make their journey to the bottle.
For the last couple of weeks, the vines have been getting their first haircut of the season. Pruning keeps the vines healthy and productive, not to mention it keeps the chaos of vines in check. Without pruning, the vines would be everywhere and the quality of the grapes would suffer.
As you would expect, pruning 4 acres of vines leaves a lot of debris to clean up and get rid of and the most efficient way to get rid of the enormous mess is to have our selves a bonfire. So Joey and Mick set to work yesterday to clean up the vineyards and get ready for the new growing season.
The only thing missing was the marshmallows.
This is your friendly reminder that the time changes this weekend. You will be “springing forward” on Sunday. To help you remember, we are running a Spring Forward Special! From Friday to Sunday, you will receive 10% off your purchase of four bottles of wine or more plus a free Grinder’s Switch Winery wine bag.
Don’t forget! See you this weekend!
The warm weather here at the winery has been a welcome relief to all of the snow and cold weather of the last few months. Of course with the warm weather comes a whole new season of growing grapes and making wine. Pruning has started in the vineyards and will keep the boys occupied for the next few days. It’s hard work keeping those vines happy!
We are also getting our festival schedule worked out for this season. The first one you will find us at is Rivers and Spires in Clarksville, TN on April 14th-16th. And of course, we will also be at The Toast to Tennessee on May 14th. We will be lining up a few more throughout the year. So keep checking back!
We have also put all of the finishing touches on the Blues and Wine music series out here at the winery. The kick-off will be Saturday May 21st with Stan “The Man” Hedges, Chicago Charlie and the Mighty Rib Bones. The show will start about 6pm and go until 9pm. Feel free to pack a picnic and bring some chairs! We will also have food available for purchase at each event! You can check out the Blues and Wine Schedule for a complete list of this seasons shows.
A couple other notes:
We can now ship wine to California! North Carolina and Georgia are coming soon.
Daylight Savings time is March 13th and we will be changing to our summer hours then. Mon.-Sat. 12pm-6pm and Sun. 12-5
Have a great day and we hope to see at the winery soon!!
From Stan and Sandy Hedges. If you can help, please email them at this address: hedges_stan@msn.com
Friends,
As most of you know; our friend Butch Imoberstag is terminally ill with Cancer, and as of today is barely hanging on.
Butch’s family is having a very rough time and they need our help.
We have organized a benefit for Butch and his family, and hope that all of you will attend!
Benefit
Sunday Feb. 20th at 2:00 pm
O.H. Bernard Community Center
Entertainment: Most of the entertainment will be acoustic, for a reason. We want people to be able to visit and listen.
Joan Jacobs & Daniel Bey
James Nihan (famous singer songwriter)
Stan The Man & Chicago Charlie with The Mighty Rib-Bones Acoustic and electric
Miranda Louise –Great Blues Artist, Singer
Alice Martin
Dylan Hedges (my son, who is a great singer songwriter)
We hope to hear back from: Among others
Summer Boyd
David Dansby
Woody Woodruff
Damon Wherry
Edna Mcgirt
The Forresters
The Grinders Switch Skillet Lickers
We also need help! We need to delegate several tasks that need to be tackled. For instance we need Posters distributed around the county, We need someone to organize a Bake Sale, a Cake Walk, A silent Auction (filled), a bank account for the proceeds for Vicky Imoberstag (Butch’s Wife), etc…
If you have any ideas to raise money for Butch and family please let us know, we are new to this!
We aslo need drinks for the crowd. coffee, bottled water, soft drinks, ice. The community center has refrigerators.
We need nice items to auction: Art, Electronics, Crafts, etc…
I have organized the musical entertainment for the day, the venue, have had Brad run an article in the paper, and I’m still working on more entertainment and the time slots.
If you want to help, or have items you would like to donate for auction please call me at 729-9812 or email me back on this address.
All that want to help will need to meet me at the Bernard Center at least by noon on Sun., before the show.
Please help us spread the news, so we can help this wonderful family that means so much to all of us!
Stan and Sandy Hedges 931-729-9812
2011 Valentine Wine Trail Contest starts January 22, 2011 and ends on February 14, 2011. Stop by any of the 4 wineries on the wine trail to pick up your post card. Take the card to all participating wineries, have them initial their logo and after all the logos have been initialed, leave at the last winery visited for the drawing. Winners will be notified the week of February 14, 2011.
Participating Wineries:
Grinder’s Switch Winery
1st Prize – 8 Bottles of wine plus 8 gift items. (2Bottles and 2 gift items from each Winery)
2nd Prize – 4 Bottles of wine plus 4 gift items. (1 Bottle and 1 gift from each Winery)
3rd Prize – 4 Bottles of Wine. (1 Bottle from each Winery)
4th Prize – 4 Bottles of Wine. (1Bottle from each Winery)
Instructions:
*Pick up an entry card at either of the four wineries.
*Participants must be at least 21 years of age to enter Drawing.
*No Purchase necessary to enter.
*Only one entry per household.
*Each Winery signature must be obtained personally by each participant. You are NOT ALLOWED to get a card signed for a friend.
*Obtain signatures from each Winery on ONE CARD between 1/22/2011 and 2/14/2011. Leave the Completed card at on of the wineries no later than 2/14/2011. Late enteries will not be entered into the drawing.
A New Year is upon us and we hope that you all have much to celebrate and look forward to!
We have plenty of wine to help you ring in the new year here at Grinder’s Switch Winery. We are open until 6PM on New Year’s Eve, but we are closed New Year’s Day.
We hope to see you at the winery soon and we wish you and yours a healthy, wealthy, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
It seems that TDOT has finished up work on Hwy 50. You shouldn’t see any more Road Closed signs. Come on down for some last minute shopping!