Grapevine Rubberbands

So far, our January has been a mild one with the exception of two days in the teens that occurred on January 9th and 10th. The temperatures last week were in the 40's so we took that time to test out some grapevine tethering rubberbands. We are considering these rubber bands which are sold under the name "bandofix" or "stretchlock". Our first iteration at tethering our grapevines to the pencil rod was with the Max Tapener. This was an okay system, but we found that the brisk winds were enough to loosen the plant from the pencil rod and there was a lot of re-tapenering that was going on. With our long rows, we had to have spare tape and staples as well as a small scissors when the tape became jammed in the tapener.

So, while it was a good first iteration, we were looking for other solutions to our tethering situation. We next tried the Prothec System. We used this in the spring of 2016 to tether our canes to the fruiting wire. It is a good solution because the wire is biodegradable. We also used the Prothec wire to secure our young vines to the pencil rod. We secured it in 2 to 3 places and also used the wire for some Vine Chiropractice. Unfortunately, since this wire is biodegradeable, we had to ensure that our vines were still tethered to the pencil rods by continually patrolling the vineyard. (This is really good for Fitbit steps.) My husband is always on the lookout for improvements that could limit the redundant work we end up doing. His search took him to try a few of these rubberbands.

We did receive a sample of all of these sizes of rubberbands from Plantra and determined that we can use the #5 and #8 for our vineyard. The nice thing about these rubberbands is that they will allow the vine to grow in girth, they are UV treated and will withstand cold weather. They are also relatively easy to use. I'll let you know how long it takes us to tether our plants after we receive our shipment.

2012 Vajra Riesling

This 2012 Vajra Riesling is another wine that we purchased from Federal Wine & Spirits. I was shown this wine by Michael and I immediately recognized the name "Vajra" because we have purchased and enjoyed the 2009 Vajra Barolo and 2009 Vajra Barbera d'Alba. We were under the impression that Vajra made only red wines. Wrong! Here was this 2012 Vajra Riesling that was staring at me! I had to have it! Luckily for me, my husband consented because he was the one who had to lug the wine from Boston back to our home. Ha ha.
It did not last for very long in our EuroCav because yesterday, we were the recipients of fresh clams harvested by our generous hunter. I had a broth in mind for these clams. I thought that I would make a Tom Yum soup with fresh lemon grass, ginger, and 2 whole red peppers simmered in chicken stock. After the aromatics had integrated into the chicken stock, I added 2 teaspoons of fish sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar and continued simmering my stock. The simmering time was about 2 hours long. Just before we added the clams, I stirred in a can of coconut milk. This is what the final product looked like:

The Riesling was very pale yellow in color and the aroma was not quite identifiable as Riesling. One sip and we both said, "Whoa!" It was dry and acidic but had a wonderful lemony, honeyed flavor that reminded us of Chenin blanc! It paired very well with this Asian-style clam dish. So, I don't think my husband minded lugging this outstanding Riesling home after all.

More Information:
1. Langhe Riesling `Pétracine`.

2015 Pretiosa Albanello

We were up in Boston this past weekend, visiting our son, daughter-in-law and their new baby. That was the focus of our visit, but since we were in Boston, our son wanted us to visit the places that he had been going to to broaden his wine experiences. One such place was the wine tastings that he was attending at Federal Wine & Spirits, an activity that we heartily approve of. In September, I blogged about 2015 Julian Haart Riesling 1000L, that he bought from Federal Wine & Spirits to share with us. So, on our visit to Boston, we found out how conveniently located the store was relative to his apartment. We went into the wine store from a very inconspicuous entry way. If you didn't know where you were going, you would totally miss this place. If there were 10 people in the store, it would be a crowd. Our son lead us to a stairwell that went downstairs. "Watch your head!" When we landed downstairs, we met Michael who attended to our every need and more!

Our eye first landed on a 2008 Black Label Carema. We had the opportunity to taste a 2000 Ferrando Carema Black Label, so knew that we were in a cave with some special wines. Michael then pointed us to many other wines from Italy. This 2015 Pretiosa Albanello was one that he recommended. It is a disappearing grape variety that comes from Sicily.
That peaked our interest and we bought a bottle to have with a few goat cheeses that we purchased for appetizers. The wine was light, fresh and had a hint of floral quality to it and a flavor unlike any other white wine I've tasted, though it did remind me of a Torontes. I also thought I detected a bit of coconut in the finish. This coconut note is ephemeral and I only detected it on my first sips before I began having the cheeses. It did pair well with both the hard and soft goat cheeses.
Now that I am at home, I turned to Jancis Robinson's Wine Grapes to learn more about Albanello¹: This is a Sicilian variety that can be confused with Albanella (Marche). Albanello is a late ripening variety. In the 18th century, it produced a sweet wine, obtained from grapes that were sun dried on mats for several days. Currently, there are approximately 309 acres of Albanello on the island of Sicily.
It is difficult to find this wine. My husband did a cursory search on the Interet and Federal Wine & Spirits is the nearest place to us that sells this wine. I guess it will be a return trip to Boston, may be in the near future.
References:
1. 1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 22, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.
Other resources:
2. Santa Maria La Nave.
3. Federal Wine & Spirits: 2015 Cantine Gulino Albanello Pretiosa

View From Above

Every once in a while, we look at Google Maps to see if they have updated the view of our property from above. We believe that this was taken in the early fall of 2016.

In December, 2015 I blogged about this view of our North Field:

Although these are slightly different views, it's good to see the overview from time to time. Next---hoping to get some drone pictures!