Pruning Accomplished

We finished pruning the last vines on a day with sunshine and blue skies, although truth be told, it was still a little cool and breezy. With that task all done, we can move on to the other things, such as removing more rocks that have miraculously appeared out of the soil. What do we expect? Rocks are the the perennial crop in Connecticut, especially where we live, here in Stonington.
Concurrently, we hope to hoe some of the weeds that are taking hold in the vineyard row. And then it will be on to putting in the trellis posts, a task that we've had on our list since fall of last year.

Pruning Time!

Over the past 10 days, we having been pruning our 6804 vines. We have had one of the coldest winters that we can remember and we are not sure how our young vines have fared. As recently as April 16th, we were pelted with freezing rain. Our buds are still in their very closed dormant stage, but we do see some hopeful signs.

Recently, I went to help an acquaintance look at some grapevines that they had inherited when they moved into their home. Her husband had been pruning the vines but year after year, they have had very little fruit. So, armed with a few books and my Felco number 8 trimming shears, I went to their home. They are not sure what kind of grapevine they have but it is most likely Concord. He had it nicely trained in the Kniffen system.¹ For Concord grapes, this is a good system because the fruiting zone will be as exposed to as much sunlight as possible. I will be returning to their home periodically to see if we can discern what kind of grapevine they have, using Lucie Morton's book A Practical Ameplography.
References:
1. Juanita Popenoe, Tara A. Baugher, Richard K. Zimmerman and Arthur Selders, Growing Grapes in West Virginia, West Virginia University Extension Service, 1990.

Chateau Margaux Capsules

Something that interested me because I am collecting capsule tops is the difference between an old capsule from Chateau Margaux that was in my collection and the 1999 capsule from our recent dinner at the Weekapaug Inn. The capsules look like this:

I wondered why there is this difference in the capsule tops so I sent an email message to Chateau Margaux. I am waiting to hear from them and when I do, I'll update this blog. In this day and age of Red Obsession you have to be a little careful.

Weekapaug Inn Celebration

Our friend, the traveling man decided to surprise his significant other with a birthday party at the Weekapaug Inn Restaurant in Rhode Island. It was a small gathering of close friends. My husband informed me that I needed to get dressed up for this occasion, which presented somewhat of a challenge since my normal attire of overalls and gardening boots would not do. The Weekapaug Inn Restaurant was an elegant but unpretentious dining experience. Our server, Benjamin, attended to our every need and he even noticed the green fingers on my right hand, the result of a morning spent dying eggs with our grandchildren.
We began the evening with a basket of bread freshly baked on the premises and a vegetarian amuse of chopped cauliflower that tasted like a less salty version of caviar. The champagne, provided by our host, was an Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru. We have previously had Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes Vrigny Premier Cru a récoltant-manipulant champagne made entirely of Pinot Meunier grapes, the Grand Cru is made from 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay picked from 35-40 year old vines. What to have with Champagne? Oysters!

For our main course, the wine pairing, again provided by our host was a 1999 Chateau Margaux. I asked to have the capsule top because you, gentle reader know that I am a hoarder and have blogged about what I do with the capsule tops, so acquiring a Chateau Margaux is a rare and wonderful opportunity and drinking a Chateau Margaux is just plain wonderful. Half of those gathered ordered the monkfish with saffron risotto and the pairing was delicious!

It was a very special evening and our friend chose an excellent venue to host a birthday party. We ended the evening with our choice of dessert. Some chose a liquid ending, while I went for the chocolate filo dough mille feuille with slices of blood orange. I have to remember that even through my inebriation, I need to be focused enough to take a photo. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the finale which was as beautiful as it was delicious! Somehow I need to maneuver another trip to the Weekapaug Inn, it was so worth it!

Pruning Time is Near

We are waiting for some good weather to come around so that we can go in the vineyard and prune the vines. We will be pruning back to two buds so that the new shoots this year will have more of a synchronous beginning. We also hope to ward off the powdery, downy, and black rot infestations by following the advice of our vineyard consultant, Fritz Westover.
The weather has not been auspicious for pruning. One day it's sunny and the next day it is pouring down rain with gusting winds. This morning, we awoke to a covering of sleet resembling snow. This would not be good if our vines were in budbreak but they are still (thankfully) dormant.
The warm temperatures in the spring causes the dormant bud to deacclimate and become less cold hardy. As soils warm up, capillary action draws water up the trunk, and "sap flow" occurs as the grapevine re-establishes the vascular system between buds, canes and roots.¹ By the time of bud swell, rehydrated bud tissue is vulnerable to freeze injury at only a few degrees below freezing as shown in the figure below:²

More and more of our buds are exhibiting signs of very early bud swell but according to our friend, a vineyard manager in our area, bud break is still a month away.
References:
1. Tim Martinson, Grapes 101: How Grapevine Buds Gain and Lose Cold-Hardiness
2. Tom Zabadal, Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection, Michigan State University, Extension Bulletin E2930, June 2007, pg. 7.

Waiting for Bud Break

We went to check on the status of our vines on Wednesday. They looked like sticks in the ground. We went again today and our random check showed that the buds are still at the stage of dormancy.

This is a good thing because we still have many things to do before in no time, we will be at the land full time. This year we hope to be much more prepared than we were last year but all the best laid schemes of mice and men....speaking of which, my husband found a mouse's nest in his tractor. We hope the little mouse didn't eat through any wires.

Grgich Hills at Sea Goose

Last night we spent the evening in the company of some friends enjoying Grgich Hills wines at Sea Goose Restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island. We first heard of this event from James Morrison at The Wine Store in Westerly. It's been 30 years since we had a bottle of Grgich, so this was a great excuse for an evening out. In our winemaking journey, we've come to learn that it was Mike Grgich who made the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won at the Paris Tasting. The movie Bottle Shock is a somewhat fictionalized version of the Paris Tasting and the real story is recorded by George Taber in his book Judgement of Paris. There was a representative from Grgich Hills, Bill McPharlin, who provided a lot of background information so that we could enjoy the wine paired with food made by Chef Andrew. The event began at 6 p.m. with a reception featuring Grgich Hills Fume Blanc 2011 and Ninigret Cup oysters, a herb and gruyere gougeres and olives. The meal began with a fried oyster stew paired with Grgich Hills 2010 Chardonnay. This was a perfect dish with two fried oysters, a bite of lobster and an herb buttermilk biscuit. Bill mentioned that Grgich Hills Chardonnay does not undergo malolactic fermentation, which is the process that takes malic acid and converts it to lactic acid. This is probably why the Chardonnay had a very nice level of acidity that worked so well with the oyster stew. For the main course, Chef Andrew made a rosemary lamb jus, ratatouille and garlic roast potatoes. This was paired with the 2009 Grgich Hills Zinfandel.

The final offering of the evening was a luscious berry tart paired with a 2009 Grgich Hills Violetta. More information is provided on the back label of the Violetta. The Violetta is a late harvest wine made from botrysized grapes grown at their estate vineyards located in the cool area of Napa Valley. The vineyard is being farmed biodynamically and it is Demeter certified. The back label also has information regarding the sugar level at harvest, 36 ^oBrix, alcohol level 14.1%, and level of residual sugar 11.9 g/100 ml. Yum!
Ginger, from Sea Goose, who organized the event mentioned that the Violetta is a blend of Sauvignon blanc, Riesling and Gewürztraminer. It was a fun and delicious way to pass a Wednesday evening. Sunny days are coming an the vineyard is calling us!

1988 Faiveley Grand Cru Clos des Cortons

We drank this 1988 Corton with a meal of chicken legs. This recalled to mind the recent Wall Street Journal online article that I read, The Wine Lovers' Chicken Conundrum written by Lettie Teague. The article mentioned that wine choices for chicken can range from Arneis to Barbera, Chinon to Bordeaux and for Pinot noir, a Chambertin would do quite nicely.
This morning, I asked my husband how to write up what this wine is. "It's clearly marked on the label", he said and translated for me. The year is 1988, it is a monopole which means that the vineyard, in this case Clos des Cortons, has one owner, and it is a Grand Cru. "How many of these do we have left," I asked. "That was the last one," he said. "What, what!!!!???? and we drank it with chicken?" I thought. Ha ha ha. It was delicious, of course and is holding on nicely to the balance of fruit and acidity which paired very well with roasted chicken legs.

Fighting Fungal Diseases Organically: Powdery Mildew

Today I am reading an online issue of Wines & Vines and in it there is an article written by Glenn T. McGourty on Fighting Disease Organically. McGourty called for active intervention if the vineyard is to be maintained organically and stressed the following.
Basic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles:

• Know the disease lifecycles
• Use canopy management to reduce conditions that favor disease development
• Monitor for disease incidence and severity

In California, Extension Plant Pathologists Doug Gubler and Carla Thomas have developed a Powdery Mildew Risk Assessment Index (RAI). Three consecutive days of temperatures in the optimum growth range for conidial spore development, 70-85°F, triggers the model. There are suggested treatment intervals based on this model which helps to time and stretch the treatment intervals.
Organic Fungicides to Combat Powdery Mildew
Kumulus 80 df is an organically certified micronized sulfur when applied at full bud break is highly effective at stopping powdery mildew infections early in the season.
Materials suitable for low- to moderate-pressure disease conditions include:

• Stylet oil
• Potassium bicarbonate (i.e. Kaligreen, Armicarb)
• Biological fungicides (i.e. Bacillus subtilis (Serenade) and Bacillus pumilus (Sonata))

In addition to the use of the above organically approved fungicdes to combat powdery mildew, cultural practices in the vineyard can help ameliorate the disease.
Canopy Management

• Remove leaves around the clusters after fruitset
• Remove 4 to 6 basal leaves to expose fruit clusters early in the season to help thicken the fruit cuticle, helps to resist mildew infections
• Exposed fruit also has a less humid microclimate, and sunlight is likely to hit the fruit for part of the day, discouraging mildew growth.
• Fungicide applications on exposed fruit are much more effective

This is a very good article which goes on to discuss in detail how to mange botrytis, Phomopsis and eutypa. I'll follow up with more details on those in another blog.

Fungal Diseases of Grapevines: Overview

There are so many things to remember about fungal diseases of grapevines so I put it all together in a table so that I could compare the details side by side.

	Downy Mildew	Powdery Mildew	Black Rot	Phomopsis
Latin Name	Plasmopara viticola	Erysiphe necator	Guignardia bidwellii	Phomopsis viticola
Lifecycle	Downy Mildew Lifecycle	Powdery Mildew Lifecycle	Black Rot Lifecycle	Phomopsis and Leaf Spot Lifecycle
Primary Infection	Oospores	Ascospores	Ascospores	Pycnidiospores
Secondary Infection	Zoospores	Conidia	Pycnidia
Overwintering Form	Oospores in fallen leaves Mycelium in buds	Hyphae inside dormant bud scales Cleistothecia on the surface of the vine	Mummies in berries, vine or in the ground	Mycelium and pycnidia in bark Mycelium in dormant buds
Favorable Conditions	Warm and wet conditions Infection generally occurs in the morning	High humitiy, temperatures between 68 to 81 oF Low, diffuse light Shady portions of the vineyard	Temperature and age of tissue when infected	Rainy weather during the early growing season
Method of Distribution	Rain splash Wind	Wind dispersal; does not require rain or water	Rain water	Splashing rain water
Susceptible Tissues	All green parts of the vine esp. leaves Plant structures with stomata are susceptible	All green tissues of the grapevine	All new growth during the growing season All green tissues	Shoots, leaves, rachis
Control of the Disease		Sulfur: both preventive and curative, applied as both dust or as wettable powder
Cultural Practices	Good soil drainage Reduce overwintering inoculum Prune infected shoots	Reduce humidity Get good air circulation in the vineyard Provide good light exposure	Canopy management practices to improve air circulation Remove all mummies during the dormant period	Increase air circulation in the vineyard Remove diseased canes during normal pruning operations
Link to Cornell IPM pdfs	Downy Mildew---Diease Identification Sheet No. 5 1984	Powdery Mildew---Diease Identification Sheet No. 102GFSG-D2 2003	Black Rot---Disease Identification Sheet No. 102GFSG-D4 2003	Phomopsis---Disease Identification Sheet No. 6 Revision 1991

I'm still looking into how to control the diseases organically, so I'll be updating this form. All of the information came from the links to the Cornell IPM pdfs. This form is also located under the tab Fungal Diseases of Grapevines.