Welcome

We are excited to share our adventures in growing wine grapes.

The vineyard, located in western Sonoma County, is just over one acre of Pinot Noir vines.

The owner, a retired professor from the U.C. system, is getting to the age where he cannot do much of the strenuous physical labor. So, from the beginning, he was having a crew come through and do much of the work. The drawback to that is that they "tear through" all of the work. It's not that they can't do high quality work, it's that they're under enormous pressure to get it done in the shortest time possible - imagine having to work on 10 or 20 acres of vines! That's tens of thousands of vines, and certain tasks can take over 3 minutes per vine!

In addition to working at a furious pace, the crew was using the vineyard as a "training ground" for the larger vineyards that they would go to next. Because of this unfortunate lack of respect and care, the vineyard is weedy and full of mildew. In short, the vines are unhappy and disheveled. It is our goal to remedy the ills of the vineyard and create a vibrant, dynamic system.

Last year, the owner sent out "the call" for anyone interested in taking over the vineyard. He already has an established buyer/winemaker, and he has offered the entire sale of the fruit to the grower - in return, of course, for helping to improve his vineyard. In addition, he has offered to help with watering, gopher-ing, and some tractor work. We were interested, so we decided to accept it.

Here are some pictures of the space.

The "West" side. Looking East-ish.

Looking West-ish.

Water. Tank.

Wind. Break.

John Deere. An excellent vintage, with aromas of Diesel fuel and sulfur.

Fritz: The friendly and playful gopher-er.

There is much to be done; Already! And we've only just begun. The vines seem to have started waking up a bit early this year, likely due to the unseasonably warm days and lack of water that this Winter has created. Therefore, our first thing to do is to prune. No, we're not making prunes... we need to cut all of the old growth to make room for the new growth. Then, after the vines have started to put out shoots and leaves, we'll have to go back and thin some more. Thinning the shoots will help with many things.

I'm getting carried away here... this is only the introduction. All of the steps and details will emerge in time.

Anyway, as I'm sure you know, we are excited to be doing this. We look forward to sharing our viticultural endeavors with you.

C + C

Pruning

The first task, a major and important one, is to prune each vine. Pruning is extremely important because, essentially, it determines the quantity of fruit produced in the coming season.

There are many ways that vines are pruned throughout the industry and across the world, with each system designed according to different vines and different conditions. For Pinot Noir, there are two main types of pruning that are used. They are known generally as Spur pruning and Cane Pruning. These vines have been pruned using the Cane style. Within the Cane style, there are a few different techniques employed. We are using the Double Guyot (ghee-oh) technique.

It's not a difficult concept to understand, but it will simply be confusing if we try to explain the details of it. We'll spare you.. Instead, enjoy the pictures.

The tangled canes of a not-so-well-kept vine. Unfortunately, they all are like this...

Notice the "web" of canes that are all jumbled together. The first step is to go through and get rid of many of those so that we can see what we are working with.

Thinning the canopy.

Deciding What to Keep.

After removing the excess wood, we make the final cuts and tie the canes to the wire.

Final Cuts Made.

The vines are starting to look better, simply by pruning them. After all, they've been treated fairly poorly in the past. Notice the damage caused by the crew as they raced through the pruning last year.

Strangled Vine.

They used twist-ties to secure the vines to the trellis wire, but they twisted them too tightly! They partially strangled the vine as it was trying to expand with the new year's growth. Oops... We've solved that problem by using "green tape". It's not really tape, and it's not "green" (in the eco-friendly sense). It is the standard plastic ribbon that is commonly used to tie saplings and vines to stakes. It is flexible, so it will not constrict the vines as they grow, but it is plastic, so it will remain in the vineyard "for ever". Going forward, we have to find a better solution. Any suggestions?

Now, some fun diversions:

Check out this guy's technique and demonstration of pruning. NOTES: He employs the Single Guyot system. He speaks Italian. His vineyard is amazingly and meticulously manicured!!! There is no extra "crap" in his canopy; this is a sign that the crew takes great care of each vine. My goal is to have the canopy look that good! Doing so really helps minimize mildew outbreaks and focus the energy of the vines on desired clusters of fruit only.

Also notice the trellis system. The wires are used to hold the canes vertically as they grow. The intention is to allow as much air and light into the canopy as possible because mildew is a problem in most (all?!?) vineyards that are near the coast (actually, this system was designed to allow for maximum mechanization of the vineyard). The wires are great during the growing season, but they are a pain during pruning time because of the extra time/effort that must be expended to remove the excess wood before completely pruning each vine. And, since the the vines are awakening early this year and are starting to swell their buds, we must be extra-careful to do as little damage as possible when removing the excess.

Check out this guy... He is our favorite potatura. We are psyched about his double-handed technique and his 3-tiered trellis system! Overall, his jovial demeanor and obvious love of the vines are smile-inducing.

Finally, we've just begun pruning the vines. For now, because of the care that we must take to select the best wood for future growth, the process is going slowly. Nevertheless, we plan to have all of the vines pruned by the middle of February. Then, we'll start the process of thinning extra/unwanted shoots.

Until then, we'll keep you updated on the progress.

C + C