Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Implementing New Net Position

We have always talked about putting our nets at the lowest position on our linepost which is where our irrigation hose is located but we have never implemented it. What a lower net position would do for us during the growing season is that it will definitely avoid this:
The photo shows tendrils growing into the rolled netting. All of the tendrils have to be removed from the netting and the shoots tucked into the trellis wire before veraison when the nets have to be lowered. The removal of the tendrils takes the better part of the growing season. During the growing season, we always tell ourselves that we will never be doing this again!
We go back and forth about how we will lower the netting and how we will attach it to the lineposts. We wanted to use something that was easy to use and reusable. We settled on Velcro this year and are tying the netting to our irrigation hose at each linepost. It looks like this:
One person can lower the netting from it's current position and Velcro the netting to the irrigation hose. It is a good solution, unless we need to use the irrigation!

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Vintage 2024: March Pruning

There is no excuse now since we have been having very warm weather this March. Beginning March 3, we have been out in the vineyard pruning. For us, pruning entails cutting the wire that holds down last year's fruiting cane, removing all of the black ties we used to hold the shoots upright, pruning the tops of last year's shoots and most importantly, selecting this year's fruiting canes. As we do this, we are checking to see how the buds look. So far, the buds look dormant, which for now is a very good thing.
It's a good time for me to refresh myself regarding grape vine phenology. At the moment, the vineyard is in the dormant bud stage, pretty much stage 1, the winter bud stage:
Here is what the vineyard is looking like now:
We leave at least 2 canes from last year to be this year's fruiting canes. All of the cuttings are piled at the lineposts. This makes gathering the cuttings "easy". Last year, we purchased an expedition sled and used it in the vineyard to remove the cuttings.
This year we hope to implement another idea which should save us a lot of time during the growing season. We almost never have time to bring the netting into the lowest position on the linepost to prevent the summer tendrils from twining into the net. This spring however, we hope to bring all of the nets to the lowest possible position on the linepost to avoid the tendril twining situation. We are testing out a few ideas that we have and when we implement it, I will blog about it. Until then, it's more pruning for us!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

States that Drink the Most Wine

My wine feed from a few days ago had a very interesting map of the United States showing the states that drink the most wine!1
This map is based on data from 2021:
I also learned that there are some 11,000 wineries in the United States. California, the state home to the highest population and the highest number of vineyards, naturally consumed the most wine in 2021: over 155 million gallons. In second place is Florida, having consumed 83.2 million gallons, and Texas takes third with 65.6 million gallons. On the opposite end of the scale, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming drink the least amount of wine overall, just 1.2 million gallons in 2021.
References:
1. Vinepair, Sara Pinsonault, The States That Drink the Most Wine in America (2023), March 11, 2024.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Industrial Space Upgrade

We are currently in the process of turning our industrial space into a more functioning winery. One important component in a functioning winery is a wash down station. Last year, when we pressed our harvest in our industrial space, we borrowed our neighbor's running water. It's not that we didn't have running water, the water was not accessible to us.
To solve that problem, we were in communications with Mark and Dan, who installed our HVAC. Planning began last fall and my husband began sourcing the wash down station as well as a sink. This past week was when Mark and Dan had some time to do the work for us.
There was a lot of prep work to be done. The electrical outlet needed to be moved and for that we called on our electrician who came on the day that Mark and Dan were there so they could coordinate where the new location for the outlet should be.
Then, the old plumbing was removed temporarily while Mark and Dan put up the fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) to protect the sheetrock from getting wet. The plywood that can been seen on the left photo is where the washdown station will be located. It was the first time that Mark and Dan put up FRP so I understand that there was some reference to Picasso when Dan was trowelling the glue on the wall.
All of the business end of the plumbing is located in one of the bathrooms. There is a filter plumbed into the line as well as many shut off valves.
This is how the washdown station and the sink looks like:
The washdown station will allow us to move wine around and clean the kegs and tanks. Mark and Dan did a fabulous job! Thank you so much!