Blog — The Ag District

Hello from The Little River Bakehouse! We have been very busy here producing pizzas for the masses and have had the busiest fall season yet. Going into winter I am going to be doing some research and development on new dishes and breads to bake in our brick oven. Even though the winter might slow things down a bit, we will continue to do pizza specials every weekend and have added soups back to the menu to help warm you up. Each soup is made with stocks that we make in house every week and is served with some of our fresh baked Sourdough.

Keaton Beus, Little River Bakehouse ManagerDecember 1, 2020Bakery

The End of the Harvest

Well, harvest is over. All the green leaves have fallen to the ground and the vineyard enters into its yearly slumber before another growing season. As dormancy takes hold of the vineyard, Freddi and I have already begun talking about the focus for the next growing season. We want to take as many elements of the vineyard into account as we possibly can, even down to the very ground that our vines grow in.

Jake Blodinger, Assistant WinemakerDecember 1, 2020Vineyard

Thanks to our Harvest Helpers

There is a sigh of relief that has filled the winery as the last of the Norton is barreled down. This marks the official end to harvest, and everyone has begun to relax. While the harvest crew works diligently to clean the winery post-harvest, Jenni and I have begun to discuss the next bottling in January. I now have two harvests under my belt here at Chrysalis and while I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, I want to give a very heartfelt and special thanks to our 2020 harvest crew. This year we were fortunate to find two incredibly passionate people to assist with harvest.

Jake Blodinger, Assistant WinemakerDecember 1, 2020Vineyard

We Love Cheese!

There is a growing love for cheese in America that is evident in more ways than one. Cheese & charcuterie boards are now a must for any gathering and of course that artistic touch must be shown off on social media for all to drool over. A recent statistic from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that Americans eat on average 38 lbs of cheese per year. This is nearly 10 more pounds of cheese when compared to 20 years ago when consumption was only 28 pounds per capita. That’s a lot of cheese!

Erin Saacke, Assistant CheesemakerOctober 30, 2020Creamery

Holiday Bread Orders from Little River Bakehouse

Greetings from The Little River Bakehouse. The month of October has been a crazy one - breaking new personal records every Saturday in pizza sales, so thank you to everyone that has been coming out. We will continue to do weekly specials that start every Friday, so just give us a call on Friday to find out what it is or follow us on Social media platforms.

Keaton Beus, Little River Bakehouse ManagerOctober 30, 2020Bakery

The End of the Harvest

I don’t think any harvest proves to be uneventful or routine. I discussed last month the effects of hail damage and how a few varietals were harvested a bit earlier. This month it’s been a war of attrition. The hurricanes pushed a little more rain our way than we expected. This combined with cooler temperatures has slowed the ripening of our red varietals.

Jake Blodinger, Assistant WinemakerOctober 30, 2020Vineyard

Turning Grapes into Wine

This harvest has been a strange one to say the least. While the whites arrived mostly on time, the reds experienced an unexpected delay. Thanks to hurricanes and unusual cold weather! The Tannat, Petit Verdot, Tinta Cao, and Nebbiolo have been crushed and reside in our open fermenters or “T-bins”.

Jake Blodinger, Assistant WinemakerOctober 30, 2020Vineyard

How Much Milk?

Did you know it takes around 10 POUNDS of milk to make just 1 pound of cheese?! To put this into perspective, a gallon of milk weighs 8.6 pounds, which means more than 1 gallon of milk is needed per pound of cheese. That's a lot of milk!

Erin Saacke, Assistant CheesemakerOctober 2, 2020Creamery

New Fall Menu at the Bakehouse

Greetings from The Little River Bakehouse, I'm pleased to announce that we will be switching over from our Summer menu to our new Fall menu this weekend. This will include favorites such as the Smoked Apple, Bacon and Little John Cheddar Pizza and a couple of new paninis as well. However, no need to worry about losing that Sausage, Mushroom Gouda pizza because we will be adding it to our regular menu! Of course we will continue to be using fresh and local produce, meats and cheeses as much as possible through the fall and winter.

Keaton Beus, Little River Bakehouse ManagerOctober 2, 2020Bakery

The Forces of Nature and our World-Class Vineyard Crew

I’m not sure who said that “the forces of nature are unpredictable,” but they were spot on. Just after a long day of walking the vineyard and admiring all the beautiful fruit, a hail storm attacked. For a solid 15 minutes or more, hail the size of large marbles sliced through all of Freddi’s hard work. It was incredibly heartbreaking to see beautiful clusters of Petit Manseng, Albariño, and Viognier shattered.

Jake Blodinger, Assistant WinemakerOctober 2, 2020Vineyard

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