Grape Health During a Heat Wave

We have been having an unusally hot summer, punctuated by heavy rainfall. We have been seeing some signs of berry stress in our Chenin Blanc where the berries in some clusters have been raisining. Here is a minor example of what we are seeing. I am bringing my tweezers to the vineyard so that I can clean these sunburnt grapes from the cluster.

I was telling my husband about what I was seeing and then I came across an article in Wine Industry Network, written by Mark Greenspan called "Growing High Quality White Wine Grapes".¹ It was a timely article to be reading because we are now in the lag phase of berry growth and experiencing high heat bordering on drought conditions and his article was focussed on this phase of berry growth.
White wine grape growing is more difficult than red wine grape growing. A white grape is inherently more vulnerable to degradation since it doesn’t have an arsenal of polyphenols protecting it which is the case in red grapes because they have anthocyanin compounds for protection.
However, a white grape does have some means of protection which can generate aromatic compounds if the stress event occurs during the grape lag phase.
Benefits of heat stress during grape lag phase:

• aromatic compounds are produced in abundance during periods of abiotic stress, such as a heat wave, because they help protect the plant from oxidation
• water stress imposed during lag phase upregulates the synthesis of many secondary metabolites associated with better color and mouthfeel
• other compounds associated with water stress imposed pre-veraison include thiols or mercaptans, organic compounds containing sulfur that are associated with passion fruit, guava, and grapefruit aromas and flavors
• Glutathione is an important compound in helping white grapes with stress
  
• glutathione is synthesized in many plants in response to abiotic stress such as drought, this compound breaks down into thiols, which accounts for the many desirable aromatic compounds in wine
• glutathione is integral in protecting plant tissue from oxidative stress, which is more important in white grapes given that the antioxidant anthocyanin is lacking
• biochemical pathways responsible for terpenes and 13-norisprenoids (derived from carotenoids) are upregulated by water stress between lag phase and veraison, these are the compounds associated with floral and earthy aromas

The link between phenolics and water stress is well-established. In places where irrigation is practiced, such as California, farming practices can be manipulated to increase the tannins and color by planning the appropriate time to irrigate after hot weather.
This article recommended that excessive leaf removal be avoided. Where severe heat events are on the rise, shade cloth and microsprinklers are being used to cool the fruiting zone.
My husband and I are quite conservative when it comes to leaf pulling. My husband is of the mindset that the leaves on the west side of the canopy should be left in place in order to protect the grapes from the heat of the afternoon sun. Currently, we are working in our Chenin Blanc, hedging, shoot thinning, shoot tucking, shoot positioning, and leaf pulling. This is what the canopy looks like on the left side and how the leaf pulled grapes look like on the right side of the photo.

We are trying to strike a balance between air flow, which is critical for maintaiining a clean canopy and grapes and preventing the grapes from getting too much sun so that they do not raisin before veraison.
The weather for the first few days in August shows no rain, but also thankfully, no temperature hitting 90 degrees!
References:
1. Mark Greenspan, Wine Industry Network, "Growing High Quality White Wine Grapes.

Wine Enthusiast: How Chenin Became the Cool Kid's Grape

My husband was delighted to read this article in the Wine Enthusiast called "How Chenin Became the Cool Kid's Grape".
Where Chenin is grown:

• The Central Loire Valley of France: For over 500 years Chenin Blanc has been cultivated in famed appellations like Vouvray, Anjou, Saumur and Savennières
• South Africa: historically known as “Steen”, the first cuttings were planted near Cape Town in 1655 by members of the Dutch East India Company, comprising 18% of South Africa’s vine plantings, it grows across the western part of the country, from Stellenbosch and Paarl to Swartland
• Western Australia: In Swan Valley, Chenin is turned into fortified wines, half the plantings are in Western Australia, but can also be found in Margaret River, Victoria and South Australia,
• California: Chenin reached peak levels during the 1970s and 80s.
• Long Island, New York: Paumanok Vineyards
• Connecticut: Passionfruit Estate

The last two entries above, Long Island has been known for their excellent Chenin Blanc and we, in Connecticut hope to make wine drinkers in our area familiar with our Chenin Blanc.
Why Chenin has seen a resurgence in popularity:

• Introduction of biodynamic farming of Chenin by Nicholas Joly in Savennières
• Promotion of "natural wine" and minimal intervention wine by Alice Fiering
• Praise by top sommeliers including Pascaline Lepeltier, Alex Alan at Hotel Delmano
• Early U.S. importers like Louis/Dressner, Jenny & François, Polaner, Camille Riviere and Avant-Garde

We also make our wines with as minimal intervention as possible, using Chenin Blanc grown at our vineyard and yeast to ferment the juice. Nothing is added but yeast during the fermentation. The wine sits on lees, to gain richness and mouthfeel. Prior to the bottling process we add less than 50 ppm sulfites (legal limit 300 ppm) and filter.
So, be the cool kid in your area and come to Passionfruit Estate to purchase our Chenin Blanc! We are open on Fridays from 3-6, Saturday and Sunday from noon-4. We are located at 40 Taugwonk Spur Rd Unit 31. When we are open, our signs can be found on the corner of North Main Street and Route 1, North Main Street and Taugwonk, Taugwonk and Taugwonk Spur. If you've come this far, you've found us! Hope to see you soon!
Reference:
1. Wine Enthusiast: How Chenin Became the Cool Kid's Grape.

2021 LAN Rioja Crianza

The 2021 LAN Rioja Crianza is one of our goto red wines in the summertime. Not only does it pair well with summertime dishes, but it is very affordable.
On this night, we paired this Rioja Crianza with deboned, chicken thighs marinated in teriyaki and grilled. The side dish was a typical Hawaiian noodle dish that was elevated by the Haleiwa Sun Noodle Company mein that our daughter sent us.
The Bodegas LAN was founded in 1974 and the name is taken from the initials of the three provinces of Lagrono, Allava, and Navarra that lie in the heart of the Rioja Alta.¹ This wine is made from 94% Tempranillo and 6% Mazuelo.
María Barua has been the head winemaker and technical director since 2002. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks, 15 days maceration, with continuous pumping-over to optimize color extraction. It is then aged for 14 months in hybrid oak barrels, followed by 9 months bottle ageing.
The wine was very pleasant with bright red fruit notes of strawberries and raspberries with a soft tannin finish that paired very well with the teriyaki chicken and noodles.

References:
1. LAN Rioja.

Vintage 2025: July Weather

We have had a very wet spring, you know the old saying, "April showers bring May flowers", well this year, April showers brought May showers, June showers and now July showers! A farmer's best friend is the weather app and here is what it showed for the previous week from July 7-14 and for this week, July 14-21. Rain! Rain! Rain!

Rain brings a number of things in the vineyard such as out-of-control growth, weeds, and most of all mildew. Our friends and our granddaughter have been coming to the vineyard at 6 a.m. to help with the July duties which include shoot tucking, lateral shoot removal and hedging. Some parts of our vineyard looks like this, where a lot of work has already been done:

But some parts of the vineyard looks like this where a lot of work still needs to be done.

This is the state of the vineyard in July!