1. Tug Hill Vineyards
4051 Yancey Rd
Lowville, NY 13367
President: Susan Maring Vineyard Manager: Michael Maring Winemaker: Craig Hosbach
Marketing & Sales: Richard Cole Events Coordinator: Theresa Sammon
2. History of the
Establishment:
The Vineyards were established in 2007. Mike and Sure previously owned North
Country Landscaping, and after selling the business, decided to start a vineyard
and winery. I overheard Mike telling Craig, they were sitting at a bar having a few
drinks, and chit chatting with the land owner, and that’s how the deal came about!
At first, they ordered juice in to produce wine, until their vines were mature enough
for production. They grow several varieties of hybrid grapes, including Marquette,
La Crescent, Brianna, Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, King of the North, Swenson
Red, Edelweiss, and Prairie Star.
3. What Tug Hill Does!:
Tug Hill is an estate winery and a vineyard. They grow and harvest their own
grapes for producing their own wines to sell in their tasting room. They also offer
brunch on Sundays, and dinners for special occasions, like weddings or showers.
They are developing a “Taste and Tour” program for this summer, something new!
4. Wine Making Days Vineyard Days
On days that I was working in the processing
building, I was working with Craig. On days that
we were bottling, I got to work with the whole
crew (Craig, Sue, Dale, Mark, Mike B, &
Theresa).
On days that I worked in the vineyard, I worked
with Sue a lot in the beginning. Towards the end, I
was working with Mike B, Dale, and Craig. Mike
showed me how to do a bud count, and how to
evaluate them. I worked with Pinot by my side
most pruning days too.
5. A rough sketch of
the bottling line.
Bottling days were
crazy busy so I didn’t
get a picture ……
10. Vs
- Bottling wine was probably my
least favorite thing, and the thing
it seems like I did the most of.
The process is the same, and
there’s not much you can learn
from it after you do it a few times.
Although, bottling sparkling wine
was really interesting! It was a
totally different process, and we
got to use dry ice!
- Learning all the pruning
techniques was pretty interesting,
but I think my favorite thing to do
was help make wine! If I were
better at chemistry, I think I would
have retained more, but when I
helped adjust wine, I feel like that’s
the area I learned the most in. I
thought it was cool to see how wine
can be manipulated and things
added and removed to make the
best quality wine.
12. My internship really helped me gain a significant amount of
hands on experience. I don’t think I would have been able to
learn so much just jumping into things, like I originally had
“planned”. I was going to learn by the seat of my pants, and I’m
thankful Tug Hill allowed me to intern there, and learn by
example. I can’t wait to get started in my own vineyard
someday!
