Bud Phenology

This morning my husband came across an article called "The morphological evolution of bud break". In this article, there are some very good photos of the grape bud at various stages prior to budbreak. This year, when we are closely monitoring our buds, it is very interesting to see an illustration that corroborates what we are seeing!

• Stage 00 (a): In all cultivars, a conic shape, rounded at the base, with the brown bud scales strictly closed, characterizes the complex system of the ‘dormant bud’.
• Stage 01 (b): At the end of the rest period, a swelling of the bud and the consequent appearance of a white wool tip is the first morphological change.
• Stage 03 (c): A swelling of the bud then causes the bud scales opening as a consequence, the bud enclosed by the white wool is observed.
• Stage 05 (d): The bud appears enclosed by brown wool and is characterised by a complete opening of the bud scales.
• Stage 07 (e): This stage, the so-called “greentip” bud stage, is generally considered as the indicator of ‘budbreak’: the green leaf tips break through the brown wool and are just visible.
• Stage 09 (f): The last phase of bud development is complete bud opening, during which the new leaves are clearly visible.

We have noticed that our Auxerrois and our Chardonnay buds are still very tightly closed and our Chenin Blanc is the most advanced.
References:
1. L. Andreini, R. Viti, and G. Scalabrelli, ""The morphological evolution of bud break in Vitis vinifera L.", Vitis, 48 (4), 153–158 (2009).

Spring Bud Deacclimation and Cold Weather

We have been having a very cold week with temperatures dipping into the low 30's. One of the critical times for vine damage is during the spring deacclimation phase, when the grapevine is rapidly transitioning from a cold-hardy to a cold-tender stage based on the air temperature. By budbreak and shoot growth, only a few degrees below 32 ^oF may be lethal to grapevine tissue.
The bud however, has developed certain survival strategies:

• During cold acclimation, the cells in the bud dehydrate and develop freeze resistant compounds such as sugars, amino acids and proteins.
• The overwintering bud is only weakly connected to the vascular system of the vine, protecting it from rehydration.
• A hard, almost varnish-like scale covers the bud making it impervious to exterior moisture.
• Dense, woolly hairs found on the outer surface of all of the interior bud scales keeps the bud tissues dry over the winter.
• It is a complex bud made up of primary, secondary and tertiary buds. If the primary bud is damaged, the secondary bud or the tertiary bud may grow.

Since we haven't had bud break yet, we may be safe. Crossing fingers since the weather forecasters are calling for a hard freeze tonight.
References:
1. A really informative online article on cold and the grape vine can be found here:
Understanding and Preventing Freeze Damage in Vineyards
~ Workshop Proceedings ~
December 5-6, 2007 University of Missouri-Columbia

April Activities in the Vineyard: Pencil Rod Removal

In an effort to remove approximately 6,000 dead vines, we thought that it would be easier to remove the pencil rods first and then remove the dead vines so, April finds us in the vineyard, removing pencil rods that were holding up our vines. Removing pencil rods is infinitely easier than putting in pencil rods, we can go down the middle of 2 rows and remove approximately 400 rods in 45 minutes. That's the easy part, the difficult part was that during the first hour that we did this, we got some horrible blisters on our hands. (I'll spare you the visual). My friend mentioned that there are specific Bandaids made for blisters and they actually work. So, after 2 days, we have done about 2/3rds of the vineyard. Every other day, we are busy bundling the pencil rods in an effort to save them for use in 2016 when we replant the vineyard. This reminded me of the first time we bundled pencil rods and I blogged about it in May 2013 calling the blogpost: Pencil Rods and The $64 Tomato.
I guess this time around, we are more efficient, I think:

When we are working down the vineyard rows, we occasionally check on the plants and they are still dormant, but putting on a little heft. It's amazing that this year, we are still getting low temperatures that are approaching the mid 30's, in other words, it is still cold.

Vecchia Modena Cleto Chiarli e Figli

On our recent visit with Steve Clifton of Palmina Wines, we tasted his sparkling Barbera which Steve mentioned is his nod to the sparkling Lambruscos of Italy. After tasting Steve's sparking Barbera and coming home to the East Coast, my husband was on a quest to find Lambrusco. Lambrusco is a light wine made in the frizzante style and it is meant to be drunk young. My husband found this Vecchia Modena Cleto Chiarli e Figli to try and we drank it with our friend, pairing it with an assortment of lavash "pizzas". It was rosé in color, had a good amount of bubbles which foamed, apparently a hallmark of Lambrusco, and was very dry. Interestingly, this red wine should be served chilled.
In June 2012, Katherine Cole interviewed Anselmo and Beatrice Pellini Chiarli. Cleto Chiarli established the winery in the 1860 and Anselmo is the 4th generation to be in the business. Anselmo explained that Lambrusco is one of the oldest Italian wines and is made from various indigenous grapes, grown in the area for thousands of years.
In 2010, Lettie Teague wrote about Riunite Was Nice, but There's More to Lambrusco in the Wall Street Journal. Lambrusco has actually been around since the time of the Romans and found traction in the United States when Italy exported Riunite and the slogan "Riunite on Ice, that's Nice", became famous. Lettie Teague wrote about a Lambrusco tasting she conducted with her friend, Mike Avella from Modena. He liked the Lini 910 Metodo Classico Rosso. Mike opined that Lambrusco should not be complex, it should be lively with a wonderful floral bouquet, have great foam and dance on your palate. And, costing between $16-18, will see a lot of quaffation from us this summer.

Sunlight into Wine by Richard Smart

One of the highly recommended books for a newbie Viticulturalist is this book written by Richard Smart and Mike Robinson originally published in 1991, nearly 25 years ago, called Sunlight into Wine. It is manageable reading, full of photographs and spiral bound, which makes this book easy to lay on a table (little things can be a huge plus). One of the questions that this book answers is "Does a vine need to be struggling to make good wine?" The answer is right up front: Research in New Zealand has shown that dense, shaded canopies reduces wine quality.
This idea must have been very revolutionary back in 1991. The concept of canopy management and it's benefits is explained. Canopy management includes:

• Winter pruning
• Shoot thinning or desuckering
• Summer pruning
• Shoot devigoration
• Shoot positioning
• Leaf removal
• Trellis system

Without proper canopy management, vineyards can succumb to excessive shoot vigor. High vigor creates a vicious cycle which was explained and illustrated with these two diagrams:

Excessive shade associated with high vigor vineyards affects the ability of the vine to produce fruit, this lack of fruit production encourages vegetative growth, which further depresses the ability of the vine to produce fruit.

The vicious cycle of vegetative growth can be broken if shade in the canopy is reduced. Light in the canopy favors the initiation of inflorescence primordia and the production of fruit acts to balance shoot growth. Proper canopy management is one key to getting fruitful vines.

Insects in the Vineyard

A few days ago when we were pruning our vines, we came across this little creature in the pith of one of the vines. When we were doing our Vineyard Cleaning Detail last fall, we did spot these little green caterpillars but could not identify them. But now that spring is here, and it seems like these little green guys have survived our incredibly cold winter, it is time to pour through books and the Internet to get a positive ID and take appropriate measures.

The best close-up view of the caterpillar shows that it has a light tan border. Some good reference books include:
1. Grape Pest Management Third Edition by Larry J. Bettiga.
2. A Pocket Guide for Grape IPM Scouting in the North Central and Eastern United States.
At the moment, I haven't figured out what this could be but, it is time to get ready to go to the vineyard to begin the process of removing all of the dead vines. Our plan is to remove the pencil rods first, which should make removing the dead vines a little easier. We hope to use a hydraulic auger to do the job of vine removal. Stay tuned.

Vintage 2015: Pruning Time is Here

We seemed to have turned the corner on winter! This coming week the temperatures will be in the high 50's so it is time to get out to the vineyard to prune our vines. Although we planted 6800 vines in 2013, when budbreak came in 2014, we learned that approximately 500 vines survived, or less than 90%. (You can read this blogpost about our Lessons at the School of Hard Knocks.)
During the summer of 2014, we took care of the hardy survivors and a recent test cut of a side shoot and a close but cursory inspection of some of our buds and shoots gave us some hope that even though the winter was brutal and the snow lasted seemingly forever, we will have a cohort of hardy 2 year old vines to take care of.
There are a number of dormant pruning presentations on the Internet that we consulted that provide some excellent information on why proper pruning is important:

• Dormant Grapevine Pruning by Fritz Westover
• Pruning Systems for Grapevines by Andrew Teubes

We went to the land on Sunday morning and using the chart below, we worked our way through the 36 rows of vines, pruning the survivors that we had tagged in the fall.

It took us about 5 hours to go through all of the vines. We tried to leave a renewal spur below the cane that we pruned, as suggested, although in some cases, this was not possible. Most of the canes that we pruned showed a green interior and the sap was running, so we took this to be good signs of survival.

2013 Clos Pepe Axis Mundi

About a week ago, we received our case of wine that we ordered when we went to visit Clos Pepe. It's always a good idea to let the travel weary bottles rest awhile to let them recover, but we didn't wait too long to try this 2013 Clos Pepe Axis Mundi which is a rosé of Mouvedre. According to the label in the back of the bottle, Axis Mundi is a philosophical term that denotes a sacred space, a World Tree where compass points meet and fields of opposites become harmonious.
The color of a rosé which is a blush pink always reminds me of my initial love of white Zinfandel, which I think I would now find cloyingly sweet. This Axis Mundi was very dry and went very well with the lavash pizza that my husband has been making. Inspired by the lavash that we found at a speciality store in San Diego coupled with the trip to Industrial Eats in Buellton, California, my husband has been making diet friendly lavash

crust pizzas. The lavash can been found in any grocery store near the deli counter. There are recipes on line but you can put whatever you desire as a topping on the lavash and bake it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. The lavash turns into a light crispy cracker like vehicle for the topping. This particular one has cherry tomatoes, artichokes and thyme sprigs on a bed of grated Gruyere cheese.

Spring Transition from Grapevine Dormancy

It looks as if spring is finally here in Southeastern Connecticut. Our thoughts are turning to the many tasks ahead of us including that of pruning our grapevines. We did a test pruning on a side shoot about a week ago and found the shoot to have a green interior, a good sign that even thought the temperatures were at times in the negative numbers, they were able to survive. Still, we do have to wait for budbreak to see what the true survival rate will be.
How does a grapevine emerge from dormancy? It's complicated.
In the spring, seemingly dormant grapevines are busily engaged in protein synthesis and chromosome duplication. The nutrient reserves from starch and proteins and the pumping of sugars and amino acids into the xylem creates an osmotic pressure that provides the driving force for the water uptake from the roots and lifts the water up into the vine. This root pressure in turn dissolves and pushes out air bubbles that might have formed in the xylem in the winter and prevents cavitation and restores function to the xylem.
This metabolic activity in the roots marks the beginning of sap flow and is related to soil temperature and soil moisture. The cytokinin delivered from the roots reactivates and rehydrates the dormant buds. Cell division and auxin production in the distal buds stimulates the cambium cells to resume division and differentiation into new phloem and xylem cells.

While all this is occurring, abscisic acid (ABA) declines, awakening the vine from the growth inhibition that protected it through the long cold winter.
References:
1. Markus Keller, The Science of Grapevines Anatomy and Physiology, 2010, Academic Press, pg. 53-54.
2. Illustration modified from Grape Grower's Handbook by Ted Goldammer, Apex Publishers, 2013, pg. 2.

Grape Grower's Handbook by Ted Goldammer

Spring is here and there is no excuse for not going out into the vineyard to begin pruning. There are still some odds and ends that my husband is taking care of so, I picked up this recent acquisition of ours to see what kind of information it contains.
So far, in perusing half of the book, I would say that it is a very good post-introductory handbook. Here is a link to Amazon:
         Grape Grower's Handbook
You can look at the table of contents. I like the layout of the book and the illustrations that add to the topics contained in the book. After each chapter is a list of references for further research. There is a very good chapter on irrigation and good coverage and photos of grapevine diseases and pests. The Appendix also contains some valuable information including commonly used rootstocks, fungicides and pesticides registered for use in the vineyard, commonly found weeds in the vineyard and much more.

Nature's Turner

On April Fool's Day, we went up to our land to retrieve our data loggers to reprogram them and then in the process, we downloaded the photos that were on our Stealth Cam. Just a week ago, the vineyard was still covered in snow. Now, all of the snow has melted so we are making plans to get back to work!

But, I just had to share these photos from our Stealth Cam. Recently, we went to see the movie called Mr. Turner, about a gifted English painter who lived in the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. We had no idea about the paintings of Mr. Turner, but our newly retired friend, Mary, knew all about him and had long appreciated his works. After watching the movie, we went home to learn more about Mr. Turner from the Internet and found that many of his paintings were depicted in the movie. When we looked at the photos taken by our Stealth Cam, I felt that this scene below could be one from Mr. Turner's later years, when he used oils ever more transparently, and turned to an evocation of almost pure light.

Here is what the above scene looks like sans snow. There is always something wonderous to appreciate up on our land.