Vintage 2026: June Activities

Here it is June already! This year, parts of our vineyard are looking good and other parts are looking not so good, by this I mean that we are still trying to lay some of our fruiting canes down on the fruiting wire. Meanwhile, shoot thinning is occuring in our reds. We are taking off excess shoots in the Barbera and the Cabernet Franc. Our vines are on a tall graft so we have to remove tons of excess shoots from that region. Here is an excample from the Cabernet Franc.

We do shoot thinning so that our canopy when it becomes mature will allow for air flow. It is one of the things that we as vineyard workers can do to keep our vines healthy. Shoot thinning creates what I call a trail of leaves.

I can attest to the fact that shoot thinning and removing excess shoots from our graft union is a time consuming task. However, one can come upon surprises like this bluebird nest in the graft union. This particular vine remained untouched so that the bluebird mommy can have her privacy. My husband also came upon what he thought was a black racer in a tree outside of the vineyard. These unexpected sightings make working in the vineyard interesting!

2020 Linden Claret

Some time ago, when neither one of us wanted to cook, we pulled out this Annabel Langbein's Leek and Chicken Gratin from our freezer and had it with the 2020 Linden Claret. The only thing that someone had to make was a side of buttered string beans. The pairing of the 2020 Linden Claret and the leek and chicken gratin was perfect! The first time my husband made this leek and chicken gratin, my mouth was happy with all the different flavors in the gratin. Since then we have made this recipe a number of times and it still sings with a lot of amazing flavors. Here is a link to: Annabel Langbein's Chicken and Leek Gratin.

The Linden Claret, as indicated on the back label is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. It was produced and bottled by Linden Vineyards in Virginia.
Many years ago, when we went to Virginia on our educational trip to learn what kinds of grapes can grow on the East Coast, we stopped at a restaurant, whose name I have now forgotten and looked at their wine list where there was a local wine made by Linden Vineyards. We tried the wine and was amazed at the quality of the wine and looked up Linden Vineyards. Here is a winery you will want to go to if you find yourself in Virginia. The winery is owned by Jim Law who began farming and making wine in the 1980s in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, located 60 miles west of Washington DC.
When I looked up the tasting notes for this wine where there was extensive information about the vintage. For the winemaking, the grapes were triple sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed. Fermented warm with gentle pump-overs early and then punch downs once the cap formed. Pressing took place after about 18 to 20 days. The wine was aged for 12 months in older French oak barrels. Unfined. 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot. 7,580 bottles produced. Alcohol 12.9%. Drink now through 2028.
Update: My husband remembered the restaurant that we went to where we had the Linden Sauvignon Blanc, it was The Ivy Inn located in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Grape Flea Beetle Infestation

We do see grape flea beetles in our vineyard at the start of budbreak but this year seems to be quite the infestation. We have not seen this since we first planted our vineyard in 2013. At that time I captured the best picture of the flea beetle with my film camera. You can check out this blogpost: Grape Flea Beetle.
In that blogpost I showed the damage that the grape flea beetle can do to leaves. It is the larval form that does the most damage. Typically the grape flea beetle can be found on grapevines closest to the edge of the vineyard, but this year, we are seeing the beetle in the entire vineyard. Here is the activity that they are engaged in:

A lot of the beetles are mating and boring holes into the buds to lay their eggs. We have been squashing the beetles when we see them but other then that, we are not using chemical means to get rid of the beetles. We will monitor our vineyard to see if they are causing any real damage.

Annual Cycle of Growth

This is the time of the year that I start filling out the chart for the annual cycle of growth. Although on the chart there is a specific day for the milestones that we track including budbreak, bloom, veraison and harvest, the date can have a range. We began tracking our annual cycle of growth in the vineyard beginning 2015 when we had our first small harvest of Chenin Blanc.
This is what the annual cycle of growth chart looks like:

I took pictures of all of the varieties on May 4th and what stage of development they were in at that time. Due to the cold weather than we are having, the Cabernet Sauvignon is not yet in bud break. This is what is defined as budbreak:¹

The Chenin Blanc appears to be the furthest along followed by the Barbera, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Auxerrois.
I copied the Annual Cycle of Growth chart from Ed Hellman's excellent online document on Grapevine Structure and Function. It is 19 pages long and crammed with good information about grapevines.
References:
1. Ed Hellman, Grapevine Structure and Function.