“May the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rain fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”
Greetings Friends!
As we approach our first harvest of our vines at Shamrock Hills Vineyard and Winery, I feel it’s important to offer an Irish blessing for a good first harvest. Grape farming is tricky and may be one of the reasons Mike handles it so well is that he can be more patient than me. I like to follow a schedule and Mother Nature doesn’t always give us a schedule to follow.
Over the next month, we hope to harvest 3 of our 6 varietals—St. Vincent, Crimson Cabernet and Zynthiana. St. Vincent will most likely be the first grape we harvest as it’s the furthest along in the ripening stage. Following will be Crimson Cabernet, and finally Zynthiana. The challenge is to keep the varmints out of the grapes until we are able to get them to harvest.
In the meantime, we are gearing up for fall at the winery and ranch. We have a full season of weddings at the Ranch starting in September and our 2nd annual Irish Festival October 4th and 5th. Tickets will be going on sale soon! We have 2 days of music planned each with different Irish artists from around the KC area. Day 1 we will have our friend Eddie Delahunt here along with the Stolen Apples, the O’Riada-Manning School of Dance, and the Canterberries. Day 2 we will have St. Andrew Bag Pipers and dancers, And So it Goes, the Bisquit Boys, and Kian Byrne from the Elders with a few of his friends. We have fun games for families and kids’; food and alcohol tents will be set up at the amphitheater. A great way to spend a fall weekend! Tickets are $20 per day for anyone 12 and over, 12 and under get in free! If you pre-purchase the 2-day pass to get in both days, it’s only $30!
Finally, if you have been pondering the thought of joining our wine club, my question to you is “Why wouldn’t you?” First, it’s FREE to join—your discount applies to anything you purchase at our tasting room and kicks in at your first release pick up. You get to 2 releases a year and we celebrate YOU, our amazing customers, at each pickup party! The next release party we are hosting is on September 21st . This one is going to be extra special as we are shutting the winery down to the public that day. Only wine club members and their guests will be allowed into the winery. We will have food, wine tastings of each of the 6 wines we are releasing for the fall and live music so you can come enjoy fun, fellowship, and friendship (hopefully on our patios if the weather cooperates). For this event, you can stay the entirety of the party or you can come and taste, then buy and go. New Members must be signed up by the Thursday before in order to participate.
As fall approaches you can see we aren’t slowing down! So pull out your favorite Shamrock Hills Wine and sit on your deck or patio and enjoy the coming of the cooler weather as you read this addition of Wining in the Hills.
Mike and Denise Riley