Wine County
Nicole Tavenner
Wine Country
Nicole Tavenner
Spotted Bear Vineyard
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Berl Tiskus
Nicole Tavenner
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
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Deftly moving his fingers among the red-veined leaves, Ken Pitt clipped small clusters of dusty purple Marquette grapes, checked for green ones and then placed them in a five-gallon bucket.
It was a beautiful sunny Friday, a good day to be outside. Picking grapes is a back-breaker, whether the picker is bending over clipping clusters or rolling the nets that protect the fruit from birds as Eileen Pitt, Ken’s wife, was doing.
Eileen loves coming to the vineyard during the summer. She rids the vine of suckers, making sure the vines are growing grapes, not more leaves.
Like most things this year, the grapes are ripening two weeks early — but it looks like a good crop.
The Pitts operate Spotted Bear Vineyard on Finley Point, where they grow wine grapes. They also have a lavender garden.
“We have incredible dirt,” Ken said.
They bought the vineyard from Dudley and Annie Paige.
“Dudley taught me everything I know,” Ken said.
Three types of grapevines search for a post, pole or wire to twine around at the Pitts’ vineyard — Marquette, L’Acadia Blanc and Leon Millot.
“Marquette grapes are a northern hybrid,” Ken said. “They can stand cold temperatures and resist disease.”
The Marquettes’ parent stock are pinot noir.
Another is Leon Millot, “ a very, very old French hybrid,” Ken explained.
In the grape “nursery” are the young grapes, planted just this year and growing lustily. They are L’Acadia Blanc, a hardy grape from Nova Scotia. It takes three years for grapevines to begin to produce fruit.
“They’re comparatively new,” Ken said, “This is the first year L’Acadia Blanc could be in the United States.”
The Pitts harvest the grapes by hand. At peak capacity, they grow three tons of grapes. They sell their grapes to D. Berardinis Winery in Polson. Dana Berardinis, winemaker and sole proprietor, comes by her winemaking ability honestly since her great grandfather was a winemaker from Italy.
She combines her winery with an art galley, since she’s an artist working in large-scale oil paintings and intaglio etchings. Berardinis is headquartered in the old bookstore building next to the Vine and Tap on Main Street in Polson.
“It’s a small-batch winery,” Berardinis said, explaining that she makes 55 gallons at a time.
She’s been making wine for nine years and started the winery two years ago.
She produces about 2,000 bottles per year but is hoping to double that with the Marquette crop being grown around Flathead Lake.
Using local fruit she picks, Berardinis makes cherry, plum and pear wine, too.
