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                                                        See our 2012 Retail Grape & Juice List                                                       Download Retail Order Form                                                       See our 2012 Commercial List                                                                         Fresh Chilean Juice 2013                                                       Join our Grape & Juice Mailing List  Keep up with the Harvest on our Harvest Blog and Facebook page!  WINEMAKER’S HARVEST 2012 MESSAGE – Lower Yields but an Exceptional Vintage A perfect mix of hot, sunny weather this summer and low crop load has winemakers extremely excited for the potentially exceptional quality wine this vintage could produce. This is not a year you want to miss out on making your very own award winning wine made from some of the best juice in the region provided by Presque Isle Wine Cellars. Kris Kane, PIWC Winemaker 8.17.12 OUR PRODUCT The key to making great wine is starting with great grapes. We purchase our fruit only from the best local and regional growers and our winemaker and staff are actively involved in year-round partnership with our grower community to maintain the highest quality standards in viticulture and grape handling and processing.  We believe in establishing strong relationships with our growers and insist on a commitment to quality practices from all growers with whom we continue to do business. We stand by our growers who maintain that commitment and move on from those who don't. This approach provides a consistent supply of quality fruit for our customers and for us and a consistent and reliable market for our growers. We are proud that many of our growers have been with us for years. Get to know our growers by checking out our Meet Our Growers page throughout the year for interviews and information on our featured growers. PIWC has been selling high quality grapes and juices to home winemakers and commercial wineries since 1964. We were one of the first, if not the first, in our region to do so. With the exception of those from the West Coast, these grapes & juices are the same ones we use in our commercial winery operation to produce our popular and award winning wines. We offer a wide variety of Red and White, Native Labrusca, French Hybrid, and Vinifera grapes and juices. See our 2012 Grape & Juice List and our Varietal Notes for information and tips on the varieties we carry. ALL of our grapes are hand-picked for customer convenience and to maintain quality and consistency. Our juices are lightly pressed, settled, sulfited and chilled to retard premature fermentation. We provide sugar, total acidity (T/A) and pH readings on all juices. We do not alter grapes or juices for sugar or acidity but will be more than happy to give our advice on what corrections, if any, you should make. We would delight in the opportunity to serve you and assist with your winemaking needs. Your success is our success. We want your wine making experience to be enjoyable and satisfying. We stand behind the quality of the grapes and juices we sell. Though juices are settled and then racked before being sold, there will always be some sediment from which the wine, after fermentation will need to be racked. Sometimes a customer, especially on small orders, will get more sediment than is acceptable. When reasonable, we will make up the difference either by providing additional juice or giving a refund for the amount shorted. If you are dissatisfied or have a problem with our product please notify us. Please do not discard grapes or juice/wine before notifying us. Almost all wine problems can be rectified somehow and we will work with you to figure out a solution. ‘Young Wine’: To get both the character and color of a traditional red wine it is necessary to ferment the grapes in contact with the skins but without most of the stems. Various enzymes, tannins and other enhancers can be of benefit but usually work best when done in conjunction with skin fermentation. This requires access to crushing and stemming, fermentation vessel, and pressing equipment which can be expensive. We believe that justice cannot done to the European vinÃfera reds and many hybrid reds, especially Noiret, without traditional on-the-skins fermentation so we have discontinued them as juices but have them available as fresh grapes and ‘Young Wines’. Young Wine is an alternative that gives customers a chance to make traditional red wine with skin fermented color without having to purchase the grapes and the equipment necessary to process them. We crush and ferment the grapes ‘on-the skins’ before pressing to produce our young wines. Buying young wine is like buying fresh juice but with the benefit of the extra color, professional traditional processing, etc., built in. Young Wine is also useful as a color enhancer for your blends or lighter red juices. Prices are higher and, since it is fermented, we must include the required tax on wine. We offer our customers several of our red hybrids and red vinifera varieties as young wine. Time of availability varies depending on when we start the process and get it pressed. Inquire about availability and make your reservation early. See our 2012 Young Wine list. Fresh Chilean Juice: PIWC is excited to announce this new product beginning in Spring 2012. Fresh from the Chilean harvest we are offering quality juice in many varieties from the Curico Valley in Central Chile.  This gives our winemaking customers a chance to enjoy TWO harvests a year and make great wine from grapes grown in one of the finest viticultural regions of the world. Learn more!  HARVEST PLANNING & CHAOS MANAGEMENT Each summer we begin the intricate process of assessing the harvest and estimating our needs for each variety for our customers and for our own wine production. Our Winemaker carefully follows growing conditions, weather pattern forecasts, and vineyard development throughout late summer and stays in close coordination with our growers to estimate varietal availability and ripening schedules. Check out our Facebook page and Harvest Blog to keep up with the harvest news as it develops. We schedule our grape purchases based on past history and expected demand conditions and refine them according to reserved quantities and may not have extra beyond the reserved quantity. We try to keep some extra on hand, but are not always able. Therefore we strongly advise that you reserve and confirm your Grape, Juice, and Young Wine orders in advance.  With this being a prognostication and farming based endeavor subject to the whims of the gods only one thing is certain – uncertainty. We are very experienced at predicting, planning, and managing the harvest but conditions can change quickly, expected yields can change, fruit quality can unexpectedly degrade, farmers can go on walkabout, trucks and equipment can break down, and ripening and delivery schedules can change. The best and only way to manage this uncertainty is through good communication from and with our customers. Our customers need to communicate their order requests as soon as possible and check-in with us to confirm their orders and pick-up dates and times before they come. Our customers need to let us know if they have to cancel or reschedule a pick-up date so we can work out alternate arrangements with them and adjust our planning. We need to keep our customers informed when things change on our end, sometimes on short notice. To do this we need to have good contact info. It is essential that customers provide us multiple ways to contact them on short notice – current e-mail address that is checked frequently, phone numbers, cell numbers, etc. (See our Privacy Policy)  ORDERING INFORMATION Orders are accepted by e-mailing us or by phone, fax or mail. Download the 2012 Grapes & Juice Order Form. Orders are accepted, assigned an order number, and prioritized in the order received so we recommend you get your order in early. Walk-in orders are welcome but can only be fulfilled on an availability basis.  Please include BOTH your desired quantities and desired pick-up date(s) with your orders. Please also be sure to include your phone number and current e-mail address so we can inform you of changes or if we can't fill your order. PIWC will provide you an order confirmation with your order number when your reservation is confirmed. You may check on your order status by calling at (814) 725-1314 or e-mailing us. Please include your order number with your inquiries. Because this is a fresh and perishable product and to assure quality, we are not able to ship fresh grapes or juice by common carrier. All Grape and Juice orders must be picked up at the winery. Prices: See our 2012 Grapes & Juice Pricelist and Order Form. Prices shown are for retail customers. Commercial customers please call us for a 2012 Commercial Grape & Juice list.  Quantity discounts are available on a per variety basis for grapes and juice orders picked up at one time. See the pricelist for details.  Prices shown do not include containers. We carry a variety of containers should you need to purchase them.  We provide a crusher-stemmer and press for your on-site use free of charge if you purchase grapes from us; otherwise they may be rented for $15.00 per hour. Final Order Confirmation: A confirmed order is a confirmed reservation, not an absolute guarantee of fulfillment (See Chaos Management above). We try mightily to ensure adequate supply to meet all reserved quantities, but are not always able to do this. Due to circumstances beyond our control OCCASIONALLY a confirmed reservation cannot be filled. As your pickup date approaches we request that you contact us to re-confirm your reservation. Please notify us if you need to cancel or change your pickup date so we can try to modify your order and adjust our reserved quantities. No-show orders will be cancelled and showing up on a date other than the scheduled pick-up date may result in our not being able to fill your order.   Particularly if driving a long distance, please call or e-mail to confirm your reservation before leaving. Please include your order number with your inquiries. If we cannot fill your order as reserved, we will work with you to make alternate arrangements if possible. This has been exceedingly rare in our 47 years of operation, but even with a final order confirmation it is still possible for circumstances to arise where we cannot fill the order (See Chaos Management Above). If your order falls into this unhappy select statistical outlier group, please know we aplologize profusely and rest assured we do not take it lightly. Customer service is a core value of our company and we will do what we can to right the situation. We will attempt to communicate any changes to you enroute and keep you informed and will do whatever we reasonably can to make suitable alternate arrangements. Payment:  is due upon pickup; cash, check, MC/VISA, or Discover are all acceptable forms of payment.  WINEMAKING EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES PIWC has a comprehensive inventory of winemaking supplies and equipment to go with your grapes and juice. Click here to see a basic checklist. You can browse our online catalog and place orders online, by phone, or at our sales desk. You can save time on pick-up day by placing your equipment orders ahead of time so we can have them waiting for you. Our online shop now has a will-call option available. Note that grape and juice orders do not include containers. Customers will need to supply their own containers. We carry and sell several container options. Check our catalog.  PICK-UP INFORMATION Because Grapes, Juice, and Young Wine are fresh and perishable products and to assure quality, we are not able to ship fresh grapes or juice or young wine by common carrier. All orders must be picked up at the winery unless other special arrangements have been made. Fortunately, the winery is a very pleasant place to visit and it is a lot of fun getting together with fellow winemakers on pick-up day with the crisp fall air, sharp autumn light filtering through the trees, the beautiful fall colors, the soothing sounds of the creek and waterfalls, and the smell of grapes infusing the air..or it might be raining, but it’s still fun. Our Isle House facility and beautiful grounds and waterfalls await. You can relax before or after your journey and enjoy some great wine and food at the Isle House or have a picnic by the creek. When you arrive, come to the Winemaking Supply and Equipment counter (in the original winery building) to pay for your order and get a pick-up ticket. If you have pre-ordered supplies and equipment, you can pick it up at this time or you can add equipment to your grape and juice order if needed. Once you have your pick-up ticket take your place in the pour queue and present your pick-up ticket to our staff for fulfillment.  SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS Inquire about other varieties in which you may be interested.  We would be happy to search and often may know of some availability. We sometimes get access to obscure batches. For large retail orders, if they are a full truckload, we sometimes can make arrangements for delivery. If we deliver juice with our vehicle and staff, we will have (if needed) an on-board transfer pump & hose.  We will take precautions such as proper sulfiting to insure quality upon delivery. If fresh grapes are delivered, they may come in our bins which would require the receiver to transfer immediately unless other arrangements are made in advance. Our driver will happily help in unloading/transfer. In the recent past, we have delivered to NH, MA, VT, WV, OH and all over PA. Inquire for current delivery pricing. Occasionally if there is space on a delivery load bound for a commercial customer who is near you, we can make arrangements to include your retail order for pick-up at the commercial customer’s location. Inquire if interested and for current delivery pricing.  EXTENDED HOURS DURING PRESSING SEASON E-Mail: grapesandjuice@piwine (814) 725-1314 (800) 488-7492 Order Line (814) 725-2092 fax        |
