Learning About The Grape Industry

Students from the River Ridge Horticulture class recently took a field trip to Rocky Waters Vineyard and Winery to explore the science of viticulture. Students had the opportunity to harvest grapes by hand and learn about the grape vines, which can have roots up to 90 feet deep.

After experiencing how harvesting was done in the "old days" they got to see how the grape combine worked, a vast improvement over doing it by hand! They then walked through the process of destemming and juicing the grapes and seeing the bottling operation. They used a brix refractometer to read the sugar content and s...