Harvest with Henry Part 1

Part 1: Ange from iYellow Wine Club takes Le Gourmet TV down to Niagara for the Harvest with Henry event at Henry of Pelham Family Estates.

Ange: Hey guys! We’re here at Henry of Pelham today for their annual harvesting event and we are super excited. It’s a beautiful September day and we have a full day lined up ahead. Pax: Definitely, we’re going to be picking out in the vineyards today. I can’t wait. We’re also going to have an amazing lunch this afternoon and we have a vertical tasting lined up. We’re going to try some of their premium Baffled Wars. Ange: So we have a full day. We’d really want you guys to come along with us so let’s get to the vineyards. Male1: Welcome everybody out to Henry of Pelham. Thanks for taking the day, help work, right, on a Monday to come down here and help us bring in the harvest. Oh well why are we standing here? Just because it’s on really fast, I thought I’d stop by, this is the family cemetery, this area here and these are the stones that we’re able to cobble together but Henry Smith settled to this piece of land. He was our great-great-great grand father. They came over into Canada during the American Revolution and settled to this land and that’s his wife Catherine who whose named the person on a wine after, that’s his brother James, we didn’t name wine after him. His mother is also named Catherine as well. Male2: The actual mechanics of picking really aren’t that complicated. It doesn’t take a big explanation. You just use the cutters, go to the stem of the cluster, cut it and throw it in the orange boxes. Generally when you pick you work in teams of two on either side because it’s hard to get all the grapes from one side of the plants. So you generally work from, in pairs, on both sides of the plant so that you’ll get everything. We’re doing Red grapes Baco, Red grapes because they are a lot easier to seed. White grapes are much more difficult to pick just because you hardly see them with the leaves but these are, Bacos are really dark Red grapes so it’s easy to see. Be careful, these things are sharp, they’ll snip the end of your fingers off if you’re not careful or your partner’s fingers. You guys need the attention of each other because they are super sharp. I cut myself a lot of times with these things. The benefit of handpicking is you have the opportunity to do so some sorting. So if you see some rot or mildew on the grapes, you can sort those out. It’s more or less important depending on the year and the variety and the case of this year, there’s almost no rots so the grapes don’t require really, we just pluck the Baco. It doesn’t really require any sorting but if you see a bunch that’s rotten, just either you don’t pick it or you throw it on the ground. These are about 24 ½ bricks right now so it’s very, very, very sweet. If you feel the taste of grapes, it’s interesting. It actually kind of works out think the tasting you’re doing later today is Baco. So it actually is interesting to taste the grapes and then the way that translates to the wine is always very interesting. Male1: This is the first year where we’re going to be making a new tier of Baco which is part of the Regional Blend and these rows here are what we’re going in there to the reserve or to this wine depending on the final quality of the juice once the winery’s out. Female: So we have to do a good job? Male1: Do a good job! Just handpick it. Male2: Don’t leave any behind. Male1: So, why don’t we get going? Male2: Start going. Male1: Yes. Ange: Hey guys! So we’re here in the vineyard, picking some Baco wire grapes and eating them as we go along. It’s been an amazing morning. It is super hot out for the end of September feels like an August day, about 27 degrees. Pax: Especially with your black shirt on that here on the sun. Ange: I’m attracting the sun. But it’s going really well and we’ve got to pick this whole row here so we better get to work. But it’s going pretty good. Pax: Yes, definitely, we’re learning as we go. Starting off to picking one at a time and realizing you’re going to pick a few more at the time it kind of make some head way on it but. Ange: We’re getting paid by the kilo. Pax: By the kilo, I wish and I almost cut my finger off so be careful when you’re pruning. [Music Playing]