Sunday, April 28, 2019

April Update on Our Buds

My last blog post was on April 18! On April 8th I blogged about our buds being still dormant. During the intervening time, we have been busy pruning, trying to work around the weather which has been the wettest on record in Connecticut with rain on 18 of the 27 days in April.
We were pruning as quickly as we could until we noticed after Easter Sunday that the Chardonnay was beginning to be in the budswell stage. Here are the various stages of the dormant bud:
Our Chardonnay is the farthest along with most of the vines at the Eichhorn-Lorenz "rosette of leaf tips" visible stage. The Chenin Blanc is next, but fewer of the vines are at that stage. The Auxerrois, Cabernet Franc and the Barbera are at the wooly bud stage and the Cabernet Sauvignon is still dormant.
Variety
Dormant Bud
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera
During those days when it was merely drizzling and not raining, we were laying down our canes so what we have left are 5 rows of Chenin Blanc to prune and lay down canes. However, the forecast calls for more rain! I know that April showers bring May flowers but Mother Nature is taking that saying to the absurd level!

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Vintage 2019: Spring

Earlier in late March, I blogged about Vintage 2019: Pruning Time. We are very slowly coming to the end of pruning but face a few days of rain that will keep us out of the vineyard. What we have learned in the process of pruning is that we can actually begin this process in the dead of winter. (Brrr)
Our vineyard row is nearly 800 feet long with approximately 180-190 vines planted in each row. Currently, we can take up to 4 hours to prune one row of vines.
Each row of pruning that we do can be divided into 4 separate tasks:
  • Cutting tendrils from the trellis wires
  • Cutting the tops of the canes
  • Cutting the one year old canes from the two year old guyot (the cane that was laid down on the fruiting wire)
  • Determining which canes to leave for this year's growth
We quickly learned that we should cut the tendrils from the trellis wire as a separate task to facilitate the pruning task. Cutting the tendrils from one row of vines can take up to 1-1/2 hours if done by one person. Cutting the tops of the canes while not necessarily a time saver, can save on the amount of cuttings removed from the row during pruning, which we do with a tarp.
Just doing these two tasks in winter can save us time when it comes to pruning. One additional thing that we can do when we cut the tendrils and the tops of the canes is to move the netting so that it is not in the way when it comes to the final pruning.
Raising the netting should also facilitate our next task which is to lay the canes down on the fruiting wire. These are just some of the details we learned in our 6th year of pruning. Yes, we are slow learners.
So far, our buds still appear to be dormant so hopefully we have a few more days before budbreak commences.

Monday, April 15, 2019

2015 Carpineto Chianti Classico

In the back of my mind, I wanted to make the ground venison that our hunter had given us into a bolognese. I looked on the Internet and found this recipe Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce. The only problem with it was that it was going to take at least 3 hours to make it. Well the opportunity presented itself this past Saturday because it was raining cats and dogs in the morning. We were going to go back to pruning in the afternoon, but we decided to give each other the day off.
What is special about this bolognese is that you add a cup of milk and then you stir and stir and wait for the milk to evaporate and get incorporated into the meat. Then you add a cup of wine and stir and stir and wait for the wine to get incorporated into the meat. At the end of the day, we had this beautiful sauce that we put over some fettucini and had a nice light salad to go with it.
What we didn't have for this meal was the right red wine. My husband bought this 2015 Carpineto Chianti Classico as a pairing for the venison bolognese. The first thing that hit me were the tannins. It was assertive but not overpowering and it cut through the rich bolognese, making for a very nice pairing.
The wine is made with 100% Sangiovese. The label on the back of the bottle tells how the wine is made. The DOCG on the neck of the bottle stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (controlled and guaranteed designation of origin). This indicates that the food product be produced within the specified region using defined methods and that it satisfy a defined quality standard.
And what is the significance of the rooster, you ask? Well, according to DOCG rules, Chianti Classico is legally defined by its aromas of wild berries, violet, iris, earthiness, and spices; as a savory wine with noticeable tannins; and a fair amount of acidity. When those traits are guaranteed in every bottle, then the wine is labeled with a black rooster.1
Also on the back label is written, "A wonderful match with grand roasts and game dishes." That it is! What is really nice about this wine is that it is $25.00.
Reference
1. Wine Enthusiast, Five Things You Need to Know About Chianti Classico.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

2016 Liquid Farm Pinot Noir SBC

Our friends, who are on their cross country trip in a luxury, custom designed recreational vehicle gave us this 2016 Liquid Farm Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County a few months before they left. Thank you MnB!
They knew that we enjoyed the Liquid Farm Chardonnay, and I blogged about it in Visiting Liquid Farm where we met owner, Jeff Nelson and winemaker James Sparks who are making some outstanding Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Rosé of Mouvédre.
We paired this delightful, Pinot Noir with a chicken dish that my husband made. When I asked him how he made it, he said, "I don't know, I just cut slits in the bone in chicken breast, rubbed the Santa Fe rub all over the chicken and baked it in a 375 degree oven for around 45 minutes." That's the kind of meal we can make after a long day of pruning in the vineyard. The side dish is ratatouille a la Remy, the Little Chef in the cartoon which we recently watched and I blogged about in Ratatouille for Wine Lovers, which was made on a previous day and reheated.
I'm not sure if it was the hunger after a long day of work, or the perfect pairing of Liquid Farm Pinot Noir and chicken that made the meal. We kept pouring the bottle of Pinot Noir and nearly finished the bottle while having the chicken. This almost never happens since one bottle usually lasts us 2 nights. The Pinot Noir was light, spoke of dried red fruit like cranberries and was absolutely sparkling in the glass.

Monday, April 8, 2019

Buds: Still Dormant

It is raining this morning so there will be no working in the vineyard today. In the past few days, I've been taking photos of our buds. They are still dormant and this is good while we "race" like the tortoise to finishing pruning duties.
Variety
Dormant Bud
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera
In May 2014, I blogged about the Various Stages of Dormancy which included this illustration with photos I took of the various stages of bud break in our vineyard.
The rain and the warm weather, including the sap flow that we are seeing in the vineyard, will probably hasten the transition of our buds from the dormant bud stage to the bud swell stage.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

Eagle Eye Spots Unusual Vineyard Droppings

Eagle eyes (my husband) spotted this while he was driving his truck to pick me up at the north end of the vineyard. He asked me if I wanted to see the antler. I said "no", lets do it tomorrow. So, yesterday was tomorrow and it was early in the morning and still cold, so I said "yes". Here was this white tail deer antler caught in a mass of brush. "Oooo, cool" I said and we went to take a picture of it. We know that we have white tail deer on our property because our hunter gives us some of the bounty of his kill. Also, in 2015, I blogged about Snow Melt in the Vineyard Brings Surprises, seeing a skeleton of a deer head as the snow melted.
You can be sure that I went into the brush to retrieve the antler. This morning, we looked on line and found some interesting information at Realtree United Country called 10 Facts to Know About Whitetail Deer Antlers.
I didn't know that antlers are different from horns. Apparently, they are "cast" or grow every year in the spring and summer, not like horns. The antler is one of the fastest growing tissues on earth known to man! Dropping testosterone levels triggers the antlers to fall during late winter and early spring. The growing antler is covered in velvet which allows the deer to have feeling on the growing antler rack. Post growth, the deer has "muscle memory" of the rack on his head.
What does this have to do with a vineyard? While pruning, I kept thinking, that in order to do what we are doing, we must really love the work. Indeed we do and seeing unusual and interesting things in the vineyard is the added spice that livens up the work day. In addition, as I mentioned, we are the recipients of our hunter's endeavors in the vineyard that provides us with delicious meals to warm a winter's day.
I also learned more about antlers than I ever knew before. If you are interested, check out the link in the references. Back to pruning for us. We are more than halfway done, thanks to some timely help from our friends!
References:
1. Josh Honeycutt, Realtree United Country called 10 Facts to Know About Whitetail Deer Antlers, September 14, 2018.

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Annual Cycle of Grape Vine Growth

At this time of the year, I always like to review Ed Hellman's Grapevine Structure and Function, an online publication that walks you through the parts of the grape vine, grape vine phenology, major developmental processes of the vine,
In this publication, Ed Hellman advocates keeping a log of the annual cycle of grape vine growth and we have been doing this since 2015.
A chart like the one above helps us to plan for the various milestones in the vineyard. At the moment, we are pruning our vines. We began with our Auxerrois then moved on to the Chardonnay and now we are on the Chenin Blanc. We noticed that 2 weeks ago some of the Chardonnay sap was already beginning to flow. Now that we are pruning the Chenin Blanc, we are noticing that the sap is also flowing on these vines.
Last year, budbreak seemed to be later that "normal". March 2018 was very cold with a heavy snowfall at least once a week. Spring was unusually cold and delayed budbreak in our vineyard. This spring appears to be warmer and we are hoping for cooler weather so that budbreak can be delayed until we finish pruning.

Monday, April 1, 2019

Bon Voyage with 2016 Birichino Pétulant Naturel and Soft Shelled Crabs

Earlier this week, after a day of pruning in the vineyard, my husband said that we should have fish for dinner. I concurred because any time my husband cooks, it will be delicious! When we went to our favorite fish monger, they had Maryland soft shelled crabs and immediately, our dinner changed from Fish en Papillote to deep fried Maryland soft shelled crabs. The fish monger had already cleaned the crab so this purchase was a no brainer.
We always have panko on hand so my husband went to work on deep frying this delicacy. If you have never had fresh Maryland soft shelled crab, you are missing a culinary experience. Fresh! that is the key. After tasting the crab, we knew what we would make for our friends who would be coming over for dinner on Sunday. Typically, our friend's husband is a meat and potatoes kind of of guy so we were thinking smoked cowboy steaks, but the Maryland soft shell crab floated to the top of the menu choices so all that remained was for us to reserve 6 Maryland soft shelled crabs. Done!
We knew all along that we were going to share this bottle of Birichino Pétillant Naturel with our friends and our initial thought was to begin with Birichino and fresh oysters. With the soft shelled crab on the menu, we knew that the Birichino would be paired with dinner.
Our friends knew the story of how we got this Birichino, so bare with me while I digress a little. In January, I was in Hawaii, attending my mother's 90th birthday and had contacted Chuck Furuya (10th Master Sommelier in the USA) and he graciously agreed to meet me. So, on a Sunday evening, my two daughters and I went to Vino and had a delicious dinner. Throughout the evening, Chuck would stop by our table and tell us about the menu and how the food was sourced, or just give us a thumbs up. At the end of the evening, he sat down at our table and we had an uproariously good time and as we left, Chuck gifted us with this bottle of Birichino, after he heard that my husband and I are making Chenin Blanc Pétillant Naturel in Connecticut.
So, on Sunday night, our friends brought over appetizers and a salad. We paired the soft cheeses that they brought with a sparkling wine from Long Island. My husband kept the soft shell crabs under wrap until it was time to toss them into the deep fryer.
Our friend loves soft shell crab and any time it is on the menu, she will gravitate to ordering the dish. As my husband was cooking, our friend told us her story about catching a soft shell crab in her youth and cooking it and sharing one soft shell crab with her three other friends. So I knew the rest of the story about her love of soft shell crab.
What is wine and food about? It is the marriage of the perfect pairing that makes a lasting memory. We had a wonderful dinner and hopefully a memorable send off for our friends who are beginning their 6 week cross country trip. Bon Voyage!