Evapotranspiration and Irrigation---Part 2

The heat wave continues. We have a smallish garden on our land but until this year no water source other than hauling water in a 40 gallon plastic container. Now that my husband has constructed a 275 gallon water tank using an IBC (intermediate bulk container) that he purchased used, I am watering our garden with abandon! I think that my previous problems with leathering of my tomato leaves had everything to do with my watering schedule (or lack thereof).
What does this have to do with grapevines, you ask. With the heat wave continuining, irrigating the vineyard may become necessary. The proper timing and amount of irrigation is critical in the production of quality grapes. The following information has been summarized from an excellent article called Irrigation Scheduling of Grapevines with Evapotranspiration Data written by Ed Hellman, Viticulture Extension Specialist.¹

Determining When to Irrigate:
• Know soil characteristics to understand moisture holding capacity
• Cover crops can impact vineyard moisture depletion
• Monitor grapevine water status

Determining How Much Water to Apply
• Use the Water Requirement Formula to calculate how much water is needed: [ETo X Kc] divided by the irrigation system efficiency
• Get the reference evapotranspiration date (ETo) for your area
• The crop coefficient (Kc) can be estimated
• The system efficiency is:
  • Drip irrigation between 0.85 to 0.95 (i.e., 85-95% efficient)
  • Sprinkler irrigation between 0.60 to 0.75
  • Furrow irrigation between 0.40 - 0.50

The article Irrigation Scheduling of Grapevines with Evapotranspiration Data, which is 6 pages in length is a concise explanation of how to calculate the water requirements of your vineyard including an example calculation.
In addition, evapotranspiration information can be obtained from both the Texas and California sites. Unfortunately, for us in the Northeast, I haven't come across a similar ET site:
Link to the TexasET Network
Link to the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS)
Another article that can be found online is: Irrigation of Winegrapes in California, Larry E. Williams, Practical Winery & Vineyard Journal, November/December 2001.

1. Irrigation Scheduling of Grapevines with Evapotranspiration Data, Ed Hellman, AgriLIFE Extension, Texas A&M System.

2001 Le Vieux Donjon

We had such a good time on Sunday celebrating, that we thought we would continue the celebration in the middle of the week and got together last evening, even though for some, the next day was a "school day". The meal was a marinated grilled pork, three bean salad, fresh from the oven biscuits, watermelon mojito and the featured wine a 2001 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
To my nose, there was a little bit of reductive aroma which quickly blew off upon swirling. This eleven year old wine was still youthful with an inky purple color and the flavors of black cherries and black raspberries. The wine paired perfectly with the meal. The wine is a blend of 75% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Cinsault. We've come a long way from the Rosemont GSM that we used to love to drink and thanks to the generosity of our friends, we can partake of this Rhone GSM!

Winegrowing in Eastern America by Lucie Morton

I recently read a book written by Lucie Morton and published in 1985 called Winegrowing in Eastern America. Although it was published in 1985 I found it to be an excellent reference on the history of grape growing, early pioneers of fine wine, grape varieties including a comprehensive description of hybrid grape varieties, and a state-by-state review of winemaking efforts between 1880 and 1980. The second half of the book takes you through a crash course in site selection, grape vine diseases, parts of the grape vine, as well as how to prune and train the vines. There is also a section on winemaking and the economics of winemaking. Her book contained the first reference that I have seen on how many grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine, which I reproduce below (remember, you can always click on the images to see it in a larger resolution):

I enjoyed reading the book and learning about the various hybrid varieties and their parentage. It is worthwhile to read about the pioneers of viticulture in eastern America. There is so much to learn! On the cover of the book, it mentions that Lucie Morton translated and adapted Pierre Galet's classic A Practical Ampelography: Grapevine Identifcation.

2010 Exultet Chardonnay The Blessed

It was our friend's birthday last night and we all gathered to celebrate. The wine choice for the evening was the 2010 Exultet Chardonnay from Prince Edward County. Sometimes, you don't need to deconstruct the wine into aroma, flavor, color and mouthfeel, you just need to be hedonistic! In the case of the Blessed Chardonnay, it was unanimous, everyone loved it! One of our friends said that even without food, it was delicious.
It was very pale lemon in color, crisp with well balanced acidity and minerality. My husband explained where the wine came from, no, not Prince Edward Island, although it is an island in Lake Ontario, it's from Prince Edward County. He also explained how they have to bury their canes in the winter. I was remembering our visit to Exultet, and recalling how Gerry and his sons Mario and Joseph were in the winery to welcome us and let us taste their wonderful creations. Oh, and by the way, this bottle of Chardonnay brought home gold at the 2012 Ontario Wine Awards, it's easy to taste why!

Soil Texture and Water Holding Capacity---Part 1

We have had three days of temperatures exceeding 90^o F in our area. My husband asked me about the water holding capacity of an acre of land. This requires knowledge of the soil texture, which is something that can be provided by having the soil tested. We know from our soil test that we have sandy loam soil. You can also perform your own analysis of your soil texture by following the steps outlined at the Natural Resources and Conservation Services (NRCS) site. The Soil Textural Triangle can also be found on the NRCS site.

Once you know what type of soil you have, you can get a rough estimate of the water holding capacity of your site from the following guidelines provided by Terry Prichard. Following a normal winter with rainfall and snowfall, the soil is at field capacity and the dormant grapevine is provided with enough water for spring growth. The field capacity is provided in the chart shown at the left. Another way to look at the same data is provided at the
Cornell Vineyard Site Evaluation website.

It's important to know this information because if you need to irrigate your vineyard, you will need to calculate the waterholding capacity of your soil and have some indication of your vine water status. That being said, I learned in the Viticulture for Winemakers course that midseason water deficit, from fruit set to veraison can be beneficial leading to reduced vegetative canopy growth, allowing increased fruit exposure to light assuming photosynthesis is not a limiting factor.

Effect of Heat Wave on Grape Leaf Stomata

We are in for a heat wave in the Northeast and may be setting some record temperatures. I wondered what effect this will have on the grapevines. I learned in the UConn Master Gardener course that when the temperatures get too high, this adversely affects sugar accumulation. When I first heard that I was really puzzled. In order to understand this conundrum, I needed to learn about the functions of the grape leaf stomata. The image on the right shows the stomata which are located on the underside of the grape leaf.¹ The stomata functions in the evaporation of water as well as in gas exchange. Carbon dioxide entering through the stomata is converted to carbohydrates via photosynthesis. When temperatures approach 100^o F, the stomata on the leaves close in order to conserve water and the translocation of carbohydrates to the grapes stops. We may actually be okay because I believe that the grapes are currently in the lag phase of their growth. (See Vine Growth) However, if the grapes are in veraison, even 3-4 days of excessively high temperatures (>105^o F) may retard ripening. Once temperatures have returned to normal, sugar accumulation can resume.²
1. Regents Biology Chapter 19
2. Nick Dokoozlian Grape Berry Browth and Development

Burgundian Fest at Fish

We decided to drive about an hour from our home to try a restaurant, new to us in Jamestown, Rhode Island called Fish. We went with a friend of ours who really likes Burgundian white wine so we brought along a Chassagne-Montrachet knowing that there would be a corkage fee. Fish is a seafood restaurant so we thought that a nice white wine would go with the food, but we were also aware that some of the dishes may be tomato based so we also brought along a red wine. We began dinner with the 2002 Chassagne-Montrachet Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard paired with a flatbread and it was absolutely spot on. For a wine that is now 10 years old, the flavors were of crisp lemon and I detected just a hint of oak. The other wine that we had with our dinner, their signature dish Jamestown Fish Cookpot and Scrod was a 2002 Kistler Sonoma Coast Pinot noir. I can't claim that I am a fan of the Kistler Chardonnay, but I really enjoyed this Pinot noir with our dinner. It didn't have the Burgundy barnyard nose and tasted of black cherries. Although, Kistler is not a wine from Burgundy, on the Kistler Vineyards Website, there is a quote from Robert Parker that reads: If the Kistler Winery could be magically transported to the middle of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, it would quickly gain a reputation as glorious as any producer of Burgundy grand crus.
It was interesting to have a 10 year old white and a 10 year old red to see how the vintage was expressed. Our meal was made even more memorable by the courteous waitstaff (Joe in the bar and Marisa out on the patio), we would go to Jamestown Fish again.

The Making of a Great Wine by Edward Steinberg

I first heard of Angelo Gaja in the Introduction to Viticulture and Enology, the prerequisite for the UC Davis online certification course in winemaking. On the DVDs that were provided, Prof. Carole Meredith took us on a tour of the wine regions of the world. When she got to Italy, she mentioned Angelo Gaja and how he went outside of Italian tradition and grew Cabernet sauvignon. She mentioned that his father was so ashamed of what Angelo had done that he called his son's enterprise, "Darmagi", and this is the name that Angelo Gaja used on his bottlings of Cabernet sauvignon. In this book, after a brief introduction, Edward Steinberg begins at the end of the 1988 harvest. It recapitulated in my mind, many of the lessons that I learned in the online course.
This is the story of how world class wine is made in northwestern Italy, in Sori San Lorenzo in Barbaresco. The first order of business is the selection of the appropriate site to plant Nebbiolo, an Italian Vitis vinifera. Soil tests, vine balance, green manure, phylloxera and rootstocks selections are explained. I didn't know until reading this book that AXR1, the rootstock used in California is actually a cross between Aramon, a vinifera and rupestris and it was the Aramon parentage that made AXR1 susceptible to phylloxera biotype B in California.
Steinberg is there in 1988 during the winter pruning season. The vineyard manager relates a story about a trip he took to California where he saw Nebbiolo being cordon trained and spur pruned. The result was a lot of foliage but very little fruit because in Nebbiolo, the first two nodes are not fruitful. The inverse relationship between yield and quality is discussed. There is a big jump from the chapter on pruning to the chapter on budbreak, May, 1989. In Sori San Lorenzo, they do not till or use weedkillers because they harm the soil. There is a cautionary tale about the new spray used against peronospora and the feeding habit of the red spider. When the new spray was used, the red spider which fed on trees and bushes began attacking the vineyard. Harvest began during the last week of September into the first week of October. Intimate knowledge of yeast strains, using the hydrometer, paper chromatography, sulfur dioxide and pH relationships are all part of making a quality wine. I read about the differences between sawn oak and split oak as well as kiln dried and air-dried oak staves. The book explains the steps Angelo Gaja takes in order to make his world class wines from Sori San Lorenzo. (And what was the fate of the 1989 vintage? I recalled that in Ferenc Máté's book A Vineyard in Tuscany Angelo Gaja gives him a bottle of wine. It was the 1989 Sori San Lorenzo. When the book was published in 2008 the wine was selling for $400.00!)

Elmaro Vineyard! Congratulations Lynita!

It's really nice to hear when a former classmate has achieved her dream. I happened upon an announcement of Lynita Docken-Delaney's winery in the online Winona Daily News in an article entitled Mother's Day: Lynita Docken-Delaney, Elmaro Vineyard . I Googled Lynita because when I went to listen to the online seminar on David Gadoury's Presentation on Grape Powdery Mildew, I saw her name in the chatroom and became curious and was delighted to hear back from her when I emailed.

Elmaro Vineyard located in Trempealeau, Wisconsin was planted to grapes in 2006, on the land that their family homesteaded in 1850. Click on Elmaro Vineyard to see what Lynita and her family have been up to! Elmaro Vineyard also has a Facebook Site with many more photos and information. Congratulations Lynita!

Jonathan Edwards 2010 Connecticut Pinot Gris

We had this Jonathan Edwards Connecticut Pinot Gris and thought it was a well made wine. 2010 in the Northeast was a great year with a warm summer. It may be that for winemakers who are not familiar with California-like weather, the grape ripening in 2010 might have thrown them for a loop with acid levels being respired faster than normal, but this Pinot Gris contained a good amount of acidity which pairs well with food. Since Jonathan Edwards is a winemaker with experience with both California and Connecticut fruit, I'm sure he did all the right things to take advantage of the stellar grape growing year in 2010 to make this Pinot Gris.

Amazing! Hampton Court Grapevine

I am reading (okay, really, "reading" is not something you do with this book because it is a technical book about the anotomy and physiology of grapevines) Markus Keller's The Science of Grapevines and came across a reference to The Great Vine in London's Hampton Court Palace. There was only a little information in this book about it being the oldest living grapevine so I wanted to find out more about this oddity. (I love oddities, especially as it relates to grapes. Please see my previous blogposts on The Vix Krater and 1540 Steinwein Tasting)
There were a few places on the Internet that had information regarding The Great Vine, but one of the more comprehensive sites was called The Human Flower Project and the article can be read at this link: The Great Vine of England. I emailed Julie at The Human Flower Project to ask permission to site the article written by Jim Wandersee and Renee Clary and she graciously gave me the okay.If you are a wine aficionado in England or traveling to England, say for the summer Olympics, you should carve out a little time to visit this grapevine, planted in 1768! It is a Black Hamburg table grapevine and still produces edible grapes in the fall. Can you believe that!
Wandersee, a biologist, and Clary, a geologist, work together as EarthScholars Research Group Please visit their website to learn more about their mission.
The photo shown above is from:
The Human Flower Project, James Wandersee and Renee Clary, The Great Vine of England: All the Makings of a Marquee Plant.
Oh, the places you go and the things you learn on the Internet!

David Gadoury's Presentation on Grape Powdery Mildew

I found a great presentation on powdery mildew given by Cornell's Senior Research advisor, David Gadoury from the Department of Plant Pathology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. This presentation was given on April 4, 2011 and is posted on the Oregon Wine Research Institute website. The presentation, including a 15 minute question and answer period is approximately 1 hour long.
The link is here (I found that the slide portion of the presentation took a little while to launch so you just need to be a little patient):
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Grape Powdery Mildew and Several Things you Really Need to Forget
Some interesting points that David Gadoury makes:

• The cleistothecia is the overwintering body. They mature on the leaves and are deposited by rain into the grapevine bark crevices where they overwinter. There are some impressive images made using scanning electron microscopy to show this maturation.
• The susceptibility of the fruit to powdery mildew is a consequence of inoculation during pre-bloom, bloom, or shortly after bloom. After that period has passed, the fruit acquires an ontogenic resistance to powdery mildew. Gadoury mentions that this ontogenic resistance to powdery mildew may be related to the appearance of a Germin-like protein. Spraying during this time, up until 3-4 weeks post bloom, is absolutely critical for clean fruit at harvest.
• There are beneficial mites called Tydeid mites (Orthotydeus lambi) that have been shown to feed on powdery mildew colonies. These mites are killed by the usual spraying regimes including sulfur. The strobilurins are much less harmful to Tydeid mites, but there is resistance showing up in powdery mildews.

Here is the lifecycle of powdery mildew:

This was a really eye-opening presentation for me. I hope you can find the time to view it. You will find that it is well worth it.

2005 Francois Gaunoux Bourgogne Blanc

This Francois Gaunoux Bourgogne Blanc (Chardonnay) is a Neal Rosenthal imported wine and is already 7 years old! We had this wine two nights ago with a friend who is a Chardonnay aficionado. We felt that it had very good acidity which didn't quite translate into minerality, but it was very bright and was a good sipping wine. This is a regional wine my husband says comes from a good year. All the better because it was less than $20.00!

How to Put Drain Tile in the Field

One of the first things that we did was to have our soil tested. The report came back with information on the soil pH, the macro- and micronutrient analysis as well as the type of soil that we have. We have soil designated as Paxton and Montauk derived from glacial till comprised of schist, gneiss, and granite that creates a sandy loam soil texture of 64.2% sand, 25.2% silt, and 10.6% clay. Although this composition allows for good drainage of rainwater, we will be ripping the land because there is a firm substratum at approximately 3-1/2 feet that may restrict root growth. We will then be tiling the land to move water out of the field. One of the questions that I had was, "Does tiling move all of the water". I found the answer to that question in this video created by Hans Walter-Peterson of the Cornell University Cooperative Extension that gives a good overview of how and why to tile a potential vineyard.