816-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 21, 1989
Gathering The Grapes Of Gap
BY LISA RISSER
GAP (Lancaster Co.) Talk
grapes to most people and they
would speak of Thompson, con
cord, and red flame. But to Richard
and Cheryl Caplan, grapes encom
pass a world that includes vidal,
seyval, chambourain, chancellor,
vignole, chardonney, and pinot
gris.
These are the grapes they grow;
grapes that will end up in a red,
white, or rose wine.
Owners of Twin Rivers Winery,
still a fledgling business, the
Caplans have been dabbling in
winemaking on a small scale for
several years. Richard began while
the couple lived in Series County
several years ago. Much of his cur
rent knowledge comes from exper
imenting with raising various
grape varieties and making wines.
They made the move to Lancas
ter County about five years ago
with the intent to grow wine
grapes. They purchased a 40-acre
former dairy farm that was perfect
for their needs. Two streams bed
ded in deep ravines run through the
hilly property and create a cold-air
drainage, which protects the tender
grapes in the spring. The hills help
provide good drainage.
For the past few years, the cou
ple slowly has been increasing the
acreage in grapes. Currently 14 out
of 22 tillable acres are in grapes
with 10 producing this year and an
additional two acres will be pro
ducing next year. The other acres
are rented out to a neighboring far
mer who has it planted in soy
beans, a nitrogen-placing crop.
“We went to grape growers and
winery meetings to decide what
grapes to plant,” related Cheryl.
“Some varieties arc more difficult
to grow in Pennsylvania. We
started with what was currently in
demand by wineries and were rea
sonably safe and would survive
winter.”
They started with a couple var
ieties and have slowly expanded
into others in successive years.
The first grape harvests were sold
to area wineries, which would pay
any where from $350 to $450 per
ton for a French hybrid grape.
“We’d been selling grapes for
two years when we decided to try
and make wine,” Richard said.
“(With wine making) you can
plant 10 acres, get a crop, and retail
ig -yt .ryi
Caplan, who holds up an example of bee damage, estimates
that about five tons of grapes were lost this year due to
pests, which happen to like the most valuable grapes best
of all.
be processed into wine.
Winemaker Owen Smith prepares to clean out a storage
tank where wine, made later In the day, will ferment for
months.
wine at $125,000 (per crop).”
Richard’s eyes light up and his
words quicken as he describes the
soon-to-be-completed winery.
“We’ll have a tasting room with a
spiral staircase that leads to
another wine tasting room. And
the entry will have stained glass
windows we salvaged from a tom
down church,” he described.
“There’ll be viewing rooms to see
the winery and the bottling room,
and you can see the level of wine in
the tanks.”
The winery, housed in the reno
vated shell of a bank bam, also will
feature a barrel room for wine stor
age, a warehouse, a sales area, and
a porch overlooking the vineyards.
Richard also is very excited
about the wine-storage tanks.
“We’re the first winery on the East
Coast to use these tanks,” he
explained. “They’re molded of
some plastic-type material just for
the wine industry. They’re just as
effective as stainless steel tanks
but one third of the cost. You can
actually see the wine level in the
tanks.”
Cheryl, who just earned her law
degree, has been doing much of the
work in the vineyards. She helps
(Turn to Pag* B 18)
See your nearest
I\EW HOLLAND
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and
Dependable Service:
PENNSYLVANIA
Annvilla, PA
BHM Farm
Equipment, Inc.
RDI, Rte. 934
717-867-2211
Beavertown, PA
BAR Farm
Equipment, Inc.
RD 1, Box 217 A
717-658-7024
Belleville, PA
Ivan J Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa.
717-935-2948
Canton, PA
Hess Farm Equipment
717-673-5143
Carlfate, PA
R&W Equipment Co.
35 East Willow Street
717-243-2686
Chambaraburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc.
RD 1
717-263-4103
Concordvllle, PA
Wenner Ford Tractor,
Inc
Rt 202 South
215-399-9615
Davldsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
RD 2, Dover, PA
717-292-1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc
Rt 283 - Rheem's Exit
717-367-1319
Gettysburg, PA
Ymgling Implements,
Inc.
3291 Taneytown Rd
717-359-4848
Greencaatle, PA
Meyers
Implement's Inc.
400 N Antrim Way
P.O Box 97
717-597-2176
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros.
R.D 3. Box 13
717-896-3414
Hamburg, PA
Shartlesville
Farm Service
RD 1, Box 1392
215-488-1025
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Main Street
215-273-3131
215-273-3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D Clark
& Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Hughaavllla, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Inc.
103 Cemetery Street
717-584-2106
Lancaster, PA
Lancaster Ford
Tractor, Inc.
1655 Rohrerstown Rd
717-569-7063
Loysville, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
New Holland, PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110
717-354-4191
Oley, PA
CJ Wonsidler Bros
RD 2
215-987-6257
Pitman, PA
Schreffler Equipment
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakertown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD. 1
215-536-1935
Quarryvllle, PA
C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Streel
717-786-2895
Rlngtown, PA
Rmgtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717-889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder, Inc
RD 3
717-386-5945
West Grove, PA
S G Lewis & Son, Inc
R D 2, Box 66
215-869-2214
MARYLAND
Churchville, MD
Walter G Coale, Inc
2849-53
Churchville Rd.
301-838-6470
Frederick, MD
Ceresville
Ford New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662-4197
Outside MD,
600-331-9122
Hagerstown, MD
Antietam Ford Tractor
301-791-1200
NEW JERSEY
Bridgeton, N.J.
Leslie G Fogg, Inc
Canton & Stow Creek
Landing Rd
609-451-2727
609-935-5145
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon & Sons
201-689-1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &•
East Avenue
609-769-0308