We Spotted our First Spotted Lanternfly in our Vineyard

An article came out in the Hartford Courant on September 7 about the spotted lanternfly and I was going to blog about it and then we saw our first spotted lanternfly in our vineyard.

We've been hearing from customers that come into our winery that they have had spotted lanternfly where they live in Connecticut. One person from Norwich said that she catches the spotted lanternflies with a vacuum cleaner and then uses soapy water to kill them. We had another customer recently whose daughter got married in New Haven. Their wedding venue had spotted lanternfly and one landed on the bride's gown!
The spotted lanternfly is native to China and East Asia. The first occurence of the spotted lanternfly was in Pennsylvannia in 2014. The preferred host of the spotted lanternfly is the tree of heaven where the insect feeds on the sap of the tree of heaven. In the United States, they feed on the sap of more than 70 plant species, especially grape vines. Since the spotted lanternfly is not native to the United States, there is no known predator but wasps such as the yellow jacket like to eat the spotted lanternflies. Praying mantis will also feed on them and birds will occasionally eat them although they don’t taste great to birds.
A few days have passed since I started writing this blogpost. We have been busy in the vineyard racing to get our nets unfurled over all of our rows of grapes. We are finally seeing the end of this task. Today, while working in the vineyard. my husband spotted a jumping spider feeding on a spotted lanternfly. He called me over to take a look and we both took pictures, while trying not to disturb the spider. Here are pictures of what we saw:

It turns out that the jumping spider is a very good thing to have in the vineyard. Almost 10 years ago, in 2017, I blogged about a close encounter that I had with a jumping spider. The jumping spider, has four pairs of eyes, chelicerae, or "jaws", which in the case of the jumping spider contains venom. The venom is injected into it's prey and once immobilized, the spider feasts on the insides of it's prey. I believe that we were witnessing this jumping spider feeding on it's prey. While we really wanted to take a video, we let the spider feast in the privacy and comfort of the grape canopy!
References:
1. Stephen Underwood and Kaitlyn Keegan, "Spotted lanternflies are cause for concern for CT vineyard owners. Here’s how they’re fighting back", Hartford Courant, September 7, 2026.

2005 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis

A few nights ago, our friends invited us for dinner at their home. When we got there, our friend poured us this glass of red wine and asked if we noticed any flaws in the wine. He mentioned that he opened and decanted the wine an hour prior to our arrival and since the cork crumbled, he had to use a funnel and filter to pour us a taste of this wine. Neither my husband nor I noticed any flaws, I did feel, however, that the mid-palate seeemed to drop out and then finish with a punch of tannins. Once our friend heard that we didn't think that there were any flaws, he told us that we were tasting a 2005 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis. It was the first time that my husband and I have tasted a wine made by Warren Winiarski! Warren Winiarski gained notoriety (in a great way) when his 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon was the winner in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Our friend made a meal of stuffed eggplant, tzatziki and Greek salad to pair with the wine. The Greek food was an inspired pairing with the Artemis. As the evening progressed the wine opened up and the aroma from the Artemis was like a perfume and the wine became smooth from beginning to end.
We had a wonderful evening. I thought about the role of wine in a gathering and to me, it's really about how a dinner can be transformed into a magical evening that can create a lasting memory!

Vintage 2026: Harvest Might be Just Around the Corner

We have been busy urfurling our nets over our grapes to protect them from the birds. So far, since we noticed the Auxerrois softening, we have managed to net just about half of the vineyard with another half to go. Fortunately, this will be the Chenin blanc, which for some reason is the last to reach veraison.
Here are our red varieties:

When we took one of the dark purple berries from the Cabernet sauvignon, the Brix was already at 16!
It's time to update the Annual Cycle of Growth chart:

So far, veraison seems to be similar to what it was in 2025. In a typical year, the first grape variety that we harvest is the Auxerrois followed by the Chardonnay. We believe that this will hold true this year.
Today is a rain day but the weather looks good tomorrow, so it will be back in the vineyard to unfurl more nets!

Vintage 2026: Veraison

We generally know when our grapes begin to ripen, but this year it seemed to be a little late until we went to the vineyard 3 days ago and found that our Auxerrois was beginning to enter veraison, which is the first stages of ripening. Auxerrois is a white variety so signs of ripening include softness to the touch and a change in color from dark green to a chartreuse green. In a typical year, the Auxerrois ripens first. This year, we saw signs of bird pecking on our Auxerrois, which is a sure sign of sugar accumulation and a signal to us to get the nets in place to protect the grapes from the birds!

While we were netting the Auxerrois, we noticed that the few Cabernet Sauvignon vines that are in the Auxerrois were changing color. For a red variety like Cabernet Sauvignon, that is the visual sign of veraison. So, we went to check on our red grapes and the Cabernet Sauvignon as well as the Barbera were just beginning to change color.

The grapes are giving us our marching orders! Get the nets in place!