Vintage 2021: Pruning Update

At the beginning of the month I blogged about Vintage 2021: March Pruning Time. This blogpost is an update on where we are. We have friends who come to help us with this activity (thought for a moment to call it "chore" but "activity" is much more positive!)
Our vineyard is comprised of 36 rows of vines and each row is around 800 feet long. From west to east, we have 5 rows of Auxerrois, 17 rows of Chenin Blanc, 8 rows of Chardonnay, 2 rows each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Barbera.
From past experience, we know that the Chardonnay and the Auxerrois are the first to budbreak so we prune those vines first. This year we are also pruning the red varieties before the Chenin Blanc. This year, we are trying something a little different. The steps are still the same, but now we are doing them concurrently:

• Lower netting in order to cut tendrils, remove Agfast and cut wire on last year's fruiting cane

• Cut the tops of last year's shoots, now 1 year old canes; cut these shoots shorter than the shoots that will possibly be used for this year's fruiting canes
• Raise netting
• Do the final pruning leaving potential canes to lay down
• Lay canes down on the fruiting wire
• Rake up the cuttings for later removal

Our friends have been coming to rake up the cuttings that are in the vineyard rows. About one third of the vineyard now has the canes laid down in preparation for budbreak.

We have about half the vineyard pruned at this point and another half to go!

Designing a Winery: 2010 Interview in Wine Business Monthly

This blog is exerpted from two articles that appeared in Wine Business Monthly in 2010. It featured Scott Bartley, Peter Lescure and Mike Kiani on tips for how to plan for success in Winery Construction.

• The roundtable agreed that the first thing that the owner should develop is a business plan to define the vision and the budget
• The use permit can proceed concurrently with the business plan
• Get people involved with the expertise up front
• Have a dedicated winemaker in place
• Architectural schematic design includes: the design process, design development, construction documents and construction

Peter Lescure provided a chart of Winery Development Functions and when various people involved in the planning and construction need to be involved:

The roundtable panel had many more ideas they discussed including:

• Appriopriate design of the refrigeration load for the three months that it will be needed
• Importance of freight access; loading dock
• Power needs and energy costs
• Building with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) in mind
• How to deal with waste water

References:
1. Bill Pregler, Industry Roundtable: Winery Construction Part 1 -- Plan for Success, Wine Business Monthly, June 2010.
2. Bill Pregler, Industry Roundtable: Winery Construction Part 2 -- Plan for Success, Wine Business Monthly, June 2010.

2000 Chateau D'Issan Margaux

The first day of spring occured this past Saturday, March 21. It was a beautiful day and we spent a good portion of it pruning our vines. As a celebration of spring, my husband decided to fire up the barbie! He bought some steaks and veggies to cook on the grill. We decided to pair our meal with this 2000 Chateau D'Issan Margaux. How did this happen? All of our wines that my husband has "catalogued" is in the wine cellar. He directed me to "those black boxes" and said just pick one up and look at the label and this was the first bottle that I picked up. (Question: what else does he have down there?)
I remarked that the wine was now a young adult! When it was time for dinner, we opened up the Margaux and poured the dark purple wine into our glasses. I detected a bit of barnyard on the nose. Not off putting, but it was there. There was a lot of dark fruit flavors like black raspberries and black currents with a spicy finish. The wine was well balanced with soft tannins. It tasted like a wonderfully evolved wine with a fresh, youthfulness that means that there maybe more years to enjoy this 2000 Chateau D'Issan. It was the right wine with steak to commemorate the beginning of spring, 2021!

Preparing for Pruning our Chardonnay

The first day of spring found us in the vineyard getting ready to prune our Chardonnay. It was a beautiful first day of spring and the next few days will also bring temperatures in the 60's. I was going ahead of my husband removing the tendrils, Agfast and ties holding down last year's canes. I spotted this Chardonnay that accomplished what we were hoping to achieve from last year's pruning.
This photos shows that the cane that we laid down last year came from a region that was somewhat removed from the graft union. We were hoping to encourage new shoots to come from a region closer to the graft union. The vine cooperated and we were rewarded with two new shoots that will be laid down for this year's fruit.

Although it is delightful to work in 60 degree temperatures, we hope that this is just a passing phase since we have a lot more of the vineyard to prune before budbreak! Just asking, weather-gods.