Post Progress

We are getting pretty good at putting in our line posts. Yesterday, we put in 12 posts in one hour at the end of the day. Our rows are 756 feet in length with 189 vines planted 4 feet apart. We are putting in our posts 20 feet apart which means that we have 37 posts in each row. So, if we can do 12 an hour, it should take us about 3 hours to do one row. We have 36 rows, so if my math is correct, it should take us 108 hours to do the entire vineyard! There is hope! We have already done 3 complete rows. In addition, each row has 4 posts already staked in the vineyard. Here is what it looks like at the moment.

In every other row, the tall grass is the germinating winter rye that we seeded last October. Our next task is to cultivate the winter rye before it goes to seed and put in some grass in the rows with the non-germinating oats before this cool weather ends. Speaking of which, it is supposed to go down to 40 ^oF this evening. It has been a long, cool spring!

Weed Du Jour: Convolvulus arvensis

We finished putting in all of our intermediate posts in our vineyard yesterday. These posts will be our story post for our guide string for the remaining line posts. As we drove up and down our vineyard rows, we were dismayed by the bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) congregating in the southwest corner of our vineyard. The bindweed is related to the morning glory, and can be pretty in the right setting, but in a vineyard, they are a choking hazard for our young vines. So we took a day off from post pounding to pull out the bindweed. The story post provides a good marker for weed pulling. While pulling out the bindweed, I came upon a pair of very golden beetles. I stopped to shoot them, not to kill, but to take a picture. I learned from the Internet that these are Golden Tortoise Beetles (Charidotella sexpunctata previously called Metriona bicolor), and their favorite food is the morning glory! I'm glad that I left them alone and was thankful that I didn't disturb the bindweed that they took refuge in. But watch out bindweed, I'll get you later!

In the evening, we went to our friend's home for dinner. We really appreciate friends who feed us after a long day of weed pulling. They had invited another couple for dinner and the husband was from Reims and he brought this Ruinart champagne! There were oysters, shrimp and smoked salmon for appetizers with the Ruinart and dinner was pork tenderloin with sage butter, faro and a green salad with thyme vinegar dressing. The wine pairing there was a Martinelli Pinot noir. Yum!
Reference:
1. The Ark in Space: A Compendium of Creatures, The Tortoise Beetle - Amazing Metallic Arthropods.
2. Bec Crew, Glad you ditched the anal fork, Golden Tortoise Beetle, Scientific American Online Blog, July 4, 2012.

Some Info About Our Post Pounder

Way back in 2013 after first planting our vines, we received our line posts from Spec Trellising. We purchased their 12-gauge Mannwerks Stakes. At that time, we thought about renting a pounder but when my husband looked into the cost of renting a pounder versus the cost of owning a pounder, he thought that we would be ahead of the game if we purchased a pounder. So, after much research, he decided to get an Atlas Copco LPVRD hydraulic post pounder with remote valve for our task of pounding in our line posts. (Aside: In our two person company, I am the CEO and CFO and he is in charge of Procurement. However, in the field, he is the field manager and I am the field hand, so he pulls rank on me there.)
My husband designed this hoist for the pounder and the Landini's hydraulics drives the device. The Landini also pulls our narrow dump trailer which contains the posts that we use in the vineyard rows.

So far this has worked very well for us and yesterday, we asked our friend, the NBC, Golf Channel and Olympics camera person if he could film us in action. He did a great job because he is a professional camera person and we liked his artistry. I tried to download the shoot from my husband's Canon HD video camera but I lacked some kind of software. Today, we were able to pound in 16 line posts in 80 minutes, a new records for us, before the rains drove us to seek shelter.

Bud Break in the Vineyard

While we put in our line posts, we are driving up and down the length of our vineyard and are beginning to see bud break at the north end of our field. We saw a few signs of budswell around May 12, so in about 1 week, we are now at the Eichhorn Lorenz stage 12, which is "5 leaves separated; shoots about 10 cm long".

Our precocious Chenin blanc are still ahead of the pack. When the sun was setting, it was clear that the last rays of light were hitting the south end of the field where we see much more bud break. Maybe that is the explanation. My husband is getting us a counter so that we can count how many vines have visible buds in each row.

Frizzante Wine Bar Champagne Class II

This past week, we attended the Frizzante Wine Bar and Speakeasy Champagne Class Part II. Every Wednesday, Steven, the owner teaches a class about wine. This was the second week that featured champagne. We went to the First Class where Jason Starkey stepped in to help Steven. Part II featured the following champagnes:

Steven began the class by grabbing our attention saying that Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and Champagne have something in common...the end of the dinosaurs and the creation of the chalk layer in Champagne that is critical to making this bubbly wine. Steven explained about the 5 regions in Champagne that make the bubbly stuff, taught us about grand cru (great growth) vineyards, and about grower producers. One of the interesting champagnes that we tasted was the Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne. Initially, this champagne was the vision of Nicolas Feuillatte, however, in 1986, Feuillatte relinquished the brand to the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne (CVC), which would later become the iconic Centre Vinicole – Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte. This move by Feuillatte united 82 cooperatives in Champagne giving the brand access to 2,250 hectares of vineyards. We have had this champagne before and my husband knew that it was made by a commune. It is available locally and sells for approximately $35.00, a very good value. We enjoyed the evening, sitting in the company of 6 other people, as well as our friend Barry. Every Wednesday, The Frizzante Wine Bar and Speakeasy conducts a wine appreciation class, the next class is about the red wines of the Old World.

We're Lineposting!

The time is finally here! We are putting in our line posts. We have had our trellis material since late June of 2013 soon after we put in our vines (it's coming up on the 1 year anniversary of our vineyard planting!). This is a photo from our Landini. I am sitting in the driver's seat because it takes two people to put in a line post. Actually, three would be ideal, but two works. This is what we fine tuned this task to be: we first marked where the line posts would go with spray paint around the perimeter of our vineyard. We put in line posts on the 4 corners of the vineyard as well as the

mid point on the north-south row and then strung a string from one post down one row and laid down all the line posts on the east side of the vineyard. My husband taught me how to drive the Landini and work the hydraulics while he positions the line post and uses the hydraulic pounder to drive the line post into the ground. Here I am in the Landini, taking a photo of the mirror looking back at my husband checking our work.
We were getting the hang of it and finished the first row when the whatyoumacallit that you put on top of the line post to allow the hydraulic pounder to pound in the line post snapped! It didn't break at the welding joint, the metal broke! I have to admit it was a nice break (for me), and when we went home, we ordered 5 more just to have spares around.

Spined Soldier Beetle: Hello to Good Predators

Today, while we were out in the vineyard, my husband eyed this little beetle resting on one of our vines. We've already forgotten most of what we encountered last year, but a search on the internet brought up some familiar images. We knew that this was some kind of beetle, but was it good or bad? The brown marmorated stink bug is bad, but a spined soldier beetle is very good. A good reference to determine which is which can be found here:
Look-Alike Insects
Last year, we were indiscriminately destroying things that we saw in the vineyard before we knew what it was and one that we deeply regretted was destroying the eggs of the spined soldier beetle. I feel that the eggs of the spined soldier beetle are one of Nature's little beauties. In looking back at my notes, this particular beetle that we saw is a spined soldier beetle Podisus maculiventris (Say), so welcome back, little guy! Be fruitful and multiply!
References:
1. University of Florida, Life Cycle of the Spined Soldier Beetle
2. Cornell University Biological Control Site
3. Stop BMSB

Various Stages of Dormancy

We were asked by our vineyard consultant to spray lime sulfur on our dormant vines to control overwintering diseases that could be in our vineyard. He stressed that the buds should be in their closed state because application of lime sulfur to a bud that is in the budburst stage can burn the nascent leaves. We were seeing all different stages of dormant buds which prompted me to look at more photos of grape buds in their dormant stage. I found a really good research paper on the internet: Adoption of a system for identifying grapevine growth stages, authored by B. G. Coombe. In this research paper, I found detailed descriptions of the various stages of vine phenology based on the Eichhorn Lorenz system. I took photos of our Chenin blanc buds and put it against the silhouettes provided in the paper and came up with the following:

At the moment, approximately 3% (or about 200 out of 6804 vines) of our buds are at stage 5 which is the "rosette of leaf tips visible" stage. Interestingly, most of these vines are located at the south end of the vineyard and it doesn't matter which variety it is i.e. Auxerrois, Chenin blanc or Chardonnay. It appears, however, that our Chenin blanc are the most advanced and our Auxerrois are the laggards.
References:
1. B. G. Coombe, Adoption of a system for identifying grapevine growth stages, Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 1, 100-110, 1995.

Frizzante Wine Bar and Speakeasy

We went to Frizzante last evening for a class on champagne in our quest to continue our education about the bubbly. We were to meet our friends Mary and Barry there, but Barry, who is the real champagne aficionado was ill with something that Mary had the previous week. The class is usually taught by the owner, Steven, but tonight, Jason Starkey stepped in at the last moment to conduct the class. Usually, the class is free, but this evening there was a nominal fee of $15.00 to taste 6 champagnes. During the tasting, we ordered off of their tapas menu. All of the tapas are $5.00 so it made the tasting a wonderful repast. We began the tasting with a champagne called Veuve Fourny & Fils Grande Reserve Premier Cru Brut. It is made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot noir. The Veuve Fourny is imported by Kermit Lynch. We learned from Jason that part of the cuvée goes through malolactic fermentation. I did not know that. The next champagne that we were served was the Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut Champagne. I thought that the addition of Pinot Meunier in the Moët & Chandon Impérial, made this champagne taste a bit more complex and not as austere as the Veuve Fourny. We moved on to tasting the Heidsieck Monopole "Blue Top" Brut Champagne, similar in composition of grapes to the Moët & Chandon. The fourth champagne that we tasted was the Montaudon Brut Depuis 1891 followed by the Forget-Brimont Premier Cru Brut. We thought that the Forget-Brimont Premier Cru Brut had a nose of Camembert cheese. We ended the evening with a taste of Ayala and learned from Jason that is contains no dosage. During the course of the champagne tasting, Jason answered questions, talked about food pairings with champagne and explained the various bottle formats that champagne can come in. Jason did a great job of leading the class and we learned a lot by having the opportunity to taste and compare the various champagnes.

Cool Sighting: Six Spotted Tiger Beetle

One of the delights of working in the vineyard is seeing the various and interesting forms of life. This iridescent green beetle did not escape even my poor eyesight and it remained still enough for me to take several photos. This is called a six spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata)) and is about half and inch long.
Six-spotted tiger beetles live in loamy and sandy soils in eastern hardwood forests and are occasionally found in open pine forests. Adults are primarily active in the spring from April to early July.
This beetle is one of the good guys because it eats small insects, spiders, and other arthropods. Favorite foods include other beetles, springtails, sawflies, caterpillars, flies, ants, and grasshoppers. To avoid predators this insect relies on its speed, agility, and ability to secrete a noxious chemical. This noxious chemical has been identified as benzaldehyde, a highly volitle aldehyde that diffuses readily into the surrounding air. It is a non-specific irritant.

Reference:
1. Hays, Cummins, Cicindela sexguttata.
2. Nature's Notebook, Cicindela sexguttata.
3. Jason P. Schmidt, Cicindelidae of Colorado.

Weeds and Chemical Defense in Our Vineyard

We began weeding our vineyard rows on Friday, the first nice day after the rains. We found a plethora of these weeds with yellow flowers on the north side of the vineyard and began hoeing them out. A search on the Internet revealed that these weeds are from the mustard family and are called Barbarea vulgaria or yellow rocket. Knowing the weeds in the vineyard can be a clue to the type of soils. In the book Weeds of the Northeast, written by Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. DiTomaso, they mention that the yellow rocket is most common on nutrient rich sandy and loamy soils. Precisely the type of soil that we have. On very close inspection of the yellow rocket, we found some very tiny beetles and were able to identify the beetles as well. The beetles are Phyllotreta nemorum, a flea beetle that likes to feed on the yellow rocket making little shot holes in the leaves.

There is an interesting interatcion between the yellow rocket and the flea beetle reported in the research paper Identification of Defense Compounds in Barbarea vulgaris against the Herbivore Phyllotreta nemorum by an Ecometabolomic Approach written by Vera Kuzina, Claus Thorn Ekstrøm, Sven Bode Andersen, Jens Kvist Nielsen, Carl Erik Olsen and Søren Bak and available on line:¹
The Barbarea vulgaria the yellow rocket, a member of the mustard family, has developed chemical defense against the Phyllotreta nemorum flea beetle in the form of saponins, which are triterpenoid glycosides. These saponins are constituents of many plant drugs and folk medicines and possess a wide range of biological activities, including antifungal, antibacterial, molluscicidal, and insecticidal activities. The toxicity of saponins to fungi and insects is thought to be a result of their ability to form complexes with sterols in the plasma membrane, thus destroying the cellular semipermeability and leading to cell death. Although saponins are toxic to cold-blooded animals, their oral toxicity to mammals is low. I found the chemical structures of these saponins in another online article:²

The yellow rocket exists as two genotypes, the P and the G. The pubescent P-type is susceptible to all known flea beetle genotypes, whereas the glabrous G-type is resistant to most common genotypes of the insect. We must have the susceptible P-type genotype growing in our vineyard!
References:
1. Vera Kuzina, Claus Thorn Ekstrøm, Sven Bode Andersen, Jens Kvist Nielsen, Carl Erik Olsen and Søren Bak, Identification of Defense Compounds in Barbarea vulgaris against the Herbivore Phyllotreta nemorum by an Ecometabolomic Approach, Plant Physiology, December 2009, vol. 151 no. 4 1977-1990.
2. Jörg M. Augustin, Sylvia Drok, Tetsuro Shinoda, Kazutsuka Sanmiya, Jens Kvist Nielsen, Bekzod Khakimov, Carl Erik Olsen, Esben Halkjær Hansen, Vera Kuzina, Claus Thorn Ekstrøm, Thure Hauser and Søren Bak, UDP-Glycosyltransferases from the UGT73C Subfamily in Barbarea vulgaris Catalyze Sapogenin 3-O-Glucosylation in Saponin-Mediated Insect Resistance, Plant Physiology December 2012, vol. 160 no. 4 1881-1895.

2010 Wolffer Perle Chardonnay

It has been raining for most of Wednesday and Thursday and the tally for our corner of Connecticut is close to 3.0 for those days. It's still drizzling today. The rain put a halt to any work we were planning to do out in the vineyard.
A few nights ago, we had our friends over for dinner so even though it was pouring down rain outside, inside, we were having a great time. For this night, we began with smoked salmon and crackers and oysters which we paired with Nicolas Feuillatte champagne. We moved on to this 2010 Wolffer Perle Chardonnay which we procured when we visited Wölffer Estate this past August. We paired the Chardonnay with Sweet Pea Risotto, a recipe from the Real Simple site. We topped the risotto with seared Stonington scallops and it was a delicious pairing. In addition to the Wolffer Chardonnay, we also drank a 2012 Vignoble Dampt Les Fourneaux Premier Cru, which had a bit more acidity than the Wolffer. It was a very pleasant midweek evening in the company of good friends.