1st Annual Great Grape Pick-a-rama

Our first harvest was held this past weekend. Who needs a grape harvester when you've got 35-40 friends and family members that are looking to enjoy a beautiful day overlooking Seneca Lake (free beer and food helps too)? Thanks to all of you that participated.

My cousin, Sarah, and Uncle Mike having a good time in the vineyard.

My mom, Carol, put in a good 5 or 6 hours of steady pickin'.

Thomas instructs the guys from NYC in proper grape pickin' technique.

Lisa Navone (far right) hanging out w/ the a group of McKenzies. From left: Erin, Aja, Jenny, Colin, and Lucie.

Brian, Bill, Thomas, and Pierce McKenzie (L to R) loading up the fruits of our labor.

Still is ready to ship

The folks at Bavarian Holstein have completed the fabrication of our custom still design and it will be shipping in the next week or so. We anticipate arrival of the still during the week of October 20.

Aspiring vineyard manager

My little girl, Lucie (left), and my wife, Jenny (right), stopped by to check out this year's crop. Lucie was happy with the Brix reading, as you can see.

Roof trusses went up today...check out the video

Still in production

We received the first photos of our still yesterday. Everything is right on schedule to ship later this month. Below, you'll see pictures of the helmet, pot still, and sections of the rectification column. The still is being manufactured by Arnold Holstein GmbH in Markdorf, Germany. We'll post more photos as they become available.

Building taking shape

Lots of visible progress at the site this week, as our exterior walls are going up. We now have a sense for how the building will look on the property and the bottom picture gives you an idea of the great views we'll have from the tasting room floor upstairs. We'll post more next week.

Second string construction crew

A second construction crew has been working hard at the future site of the distillery - but don't worry, they won't be involved w/ the building of the facility. Under the tutelage of my uncle, Mike Matera, Thomas and I have been working on few side projects.

We began with the construction of a lean-to off of our shed. It will offer some shelter for our tractor and some day, our Highland cattle. Pictured below, our tractor in its new spot and distillery dog, Sadie, getting a little shade.

We started a more ambitious undertaking last week - the construction of our malt kiln. We plan to malt our own grains and have been discussing an outbuilding for drying and smoking our malt for some time now. As far as we know, we will be only the second micro-distillery in the U.S. to be malting their own grains.

As you can see, we are begining to make some progress with the shell of our building. When complete, we hope to be able to dry/smoke several hundred pounds of malt at one time. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Pictured below are my Uncle Mike and Master Distiller, Thomas, inside the framed malt kiln.