Napa Valley Wine Radio

RSS Feed-Posts RSS Feed-Comments

Yountville, CA

Temperature: 68°F
Humidity: 49.1%
Wind: S at 15 mph
Clouds: Clear Skies
Sunrise: 6:02 am GMT-8
Sunset: 8:10 pm GMT-8
Updated: 1:54 pm GMT-8

May 2008
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Archive for the 'Vineyard Update' Category

Sleep Deprivation in Paradise

April 26, 2008 in Vineyard Update and Wine News. 1 Comment

As our Winemaker/Vineyard Manager, Geoff, remarked “This is global warming???”

Ya gotta feel for him. It’s become a regular thing, getting up at 2:00 or 4:00 a.m. to hang out in the vineyard checking temperatures and listening to the radio until the sun’s up or he’s convinced we’re out of frost danger. Then it’s back to the winery to do some odds and ends before collapsing on his desk to catch a few zzz’s about the time the rest of us come strolling in at the leisurely hour of 9:00-ish.

Geoff blearily acknowledges “I have to count my blessings. We haven’t had any crop loss, so far, but at this point I’m about ready to sell my soul for a good night’s sleep.”

He’s absolutely right. The Napa Register has reported over a million dollars in frost damage in Napa County so far this year, the worst year for frost in about thirty years - only the old timers remember a spring like this.

The buds for clusters appear almost the moment the growing season starts, and damage begins when it drops below 32 F. Some growers protect the new growth by turning on overhead sprinklers. If they have enough water, the ice insulates the tender shoots and buds as the temperature drops. We use a wind machine, a big fan, really, which mixes the warmer air, above, with the cold air that’s settling down on the vineyard to raise the temperature a bit. In many areas of the north coast, wind machines just couldn’t cut it when faced with temperatures in the mid-twenties, but we’ve been lucky so far. Some growers don’t have any form of frost protection at all.

A local vineyard management company estimates 27 frost nights over six weeks, since the growing season began in mid March. That’s bad. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. There are all those nights when it hits the mid thirties, which requires showing up at the vineyard just in case. So, even if it doesn’t actually freeze, you’re up in the middle of the night, driving around the vineyard sipping high-octane brew out of a thermos.

A little cloud cover, or rain or a good, old-fashioned warm front would provide some very welcome relief. We’re usually out of danger by about mid-May. Keep your fingers crossed and send some No-Doze…

Spring has Sprung

April 9, 2008 in Vineyard Update and Wine Education. 0 Comments

We’re off and running with the 2008 vintage. The vines here at the winery started coming out of dormancy right on time, mid-March, and they’re growing like crazy! Usually Merlot and Cabernet Franc are the first on our estate to bud out, then the Cabernet and finally the Petit Verdot. The harvest will probably follow a similar pattern. When you consider the whole valley, Sauvignon Blanc is often the earliest to bud, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on its heels. The Bordeaux varieties tend to bring up the rear.

Early spring is called the season of “great growth” in the vineyard, because the new shoots seem to grow before our eyes. As soon as they bud out, I’m on call for frost protection because we can have freezing temperatures at night here as late as into May. The newly exposed, tender buds will be damaged if the temperature drops below 32° F.

Spring in the vineyard photo collage

Those of you who have come for a visit have probably noticed the large fans in the vineyard. These wind machines mix the warmer air, above, with the cold air, below, to protect the vineyard. Some growers also use smudge pots, which burn diesel or oil to warm the vines. Some years it’s no problem at all and others it seems like I’m up almost every night. This year is more in the latter category - I’ve been driving around checking temperatures in the wee hours a lot lately. I wouldn’t mind a little cloud cover to help insulate things at this point…

This is also the time of “great walking”! As you saw a few posts back, the pruning is severe. Now, it’s time to get out there and sucker. We prune with the idea that we’ll get a shoot for each bud, and a couple of clusters per shoot, but inevitably, the vines do as they please and if there are extra shoots, as there nearly always are, it’s important to sucker out the extra ones. Otherwise we risk over-cropping and crowding, which may exacerbate mildew problems.

Another reason to walk is that the best way to know how the new shoots are developing and to check for signs of insects or disease is to get off of the tractor and walk. As I walk I’ll tuck the new shoots up into the trellis wires.

The vines should flower around mid-May and set the crop by early June. Every season seems to go faster! Let’s hope Mother Nature smiles on us! Cheers!

PRUNING 101: down to brass tacks

March 21, 2008 in Vineyard Update. 2 Comments

In the last post Nancy, our Director of Education, recapped our staff “Pruning 101″ session. It was a great morning - everyone caught on really well and it was a bloodless coup - no trips to the emergency room! The vines seem to be OK, too. ;-) Anyway, Nancy asked me to tell you a little bit about what I’m trying to accomplish by pruning.

I’m always sorry to see the end of pruning season because it’s great quiet time out there, just me and the vines. But - the buds are swelling. It’s time to finish so the vines don’t waste any of their energy on growth that’s just going to be pruned off later. So, here goes:

When: Any time from December through February. Once we’re sure the vines are dormant, we can start and it’s important to finish before the growing season starts again (bud-break), usually mid-March. I did the Merlot and Cabernet Franc first, because they usually bud out ahead of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Pruning at the last minute, like this, is great, when I can swing it, because it may delay bud-break and cut down on the number of nights I spend up, worrying about frost.

How: The vines need to be severely pruned, kind of like roses. From a wild tangle of shoots that are 3-4 feet long, I bring it down to what looks like almost nothing - just the vine “skeleton”.

Our vines are trained into what is called a bi-lateral cordon (two permanent arms) and we use what is called vertical shoot positioning (VSP), which means the shoots grow vertically up through the trellis wires. VSP maximizes light exposure to the leaves, which helps heighten fruitiness, and provides filtered light to the clusters.

I leave several small protrusions on the cordons, called spurs. The spurs contain the buds (growing points) for the next season’s shoots. The theory is that for each bud I leave, I’ll get a new shoot in the spring. From each new shoot, I can expect about two clusters.

The problem is that the vines don’t read the textbook, and I’m bound to have some surprises. So, I’ll go through in April, to see what actually happened, and inevitably do some shoot thinning. If there are too many shoots and the canopy is dense, it blocks the light and increases mildew and mold problems. Plus the excess shoots produce excess clusters, which can compromise quality.

In late May, after flowering, I’ll make cluster counts to see if I need to do some thinning. There’s nothing I can do about too few, but If there are more clusters than I anticipated, the grapes may not ripen properly and could lack flavor intensity.

Every year is a new ballgame, but one thing we know for sure: Quantity and quality hardly ever go together, when it comes to wine, so pruning and thinning carefully is critical to the quality of the vintage.

Now, we wait for the new growing season to begin and pray we don’t have too much frost this spring!

Pruning 101

March 3, 2008 in Vineyard Update. 1 Comment

pruning photo one

It’s March - I know these vines look like they’re dead right now, but they could wake up and start growing, literally, any minute, just like the roses in your garden. So, it’s time to get this business of pruning wrapped up. Geoff, our Winemaker, foolishly agreed to show us how it’s done. He’s a very patient man…

First, a little carbo-loading for the arduous task ahead…

pruning photo two

Geoff explains the theory and, with trepidation, hands over the pruning shears to Mark, our Tasting Room Manager, downtown, at Wineries of Napa Valley.

pruning photo three

pruning photo four

pruning photo five

Mark’s got it down!

pruning photo six

pruning photo seven

We managed to come out of it with all digits intact

pruning photo eight

So - the theory, according to Geoff Gorsuch: “…for each vine, it’s a balancing act…getting a leaf-canopy to cluster ratio that’s appropriate for the vigor of the vine and the site. Balanced vines make balanced wine.”

“Before”

pruning photo nine

“After”

pruning photo ten

Next post: Geoff explains in a little more detail

Lookin’ Good!

August 14, 2007 in Vineyard Update and Vintage Update. 0 Comments

Can’t get anyone to say anything bad about the 2007 vintage. The weather is just so darned agreeable! It’s doing it again today! When the human population is so blissfully comfortable, you can bet the vines are feeling good, too, so things are looking very rosy indeed!

Goosecross Estate vineyard lookin good

Be happy for the sparkling wine producers because many of them have begun harvest in the last few days, which means they’re getting the full benefit of the beautiful weather. The rest of us have to wait, which means that there’s the chance the Mother Nature can still turn on us, but we don’t like to think that way.

Here’s a description of an ideal growing season around here: warm, but not too-hot days; cool, foggy nights; no rain. That’s 2007 in a nutshell so far. And so we have high hopes. In fact Lee Hudson, a local grower, is so fair-weather besotted that he pronounced 2007 to be “…an exquisite season. I predict the best harvest in 100 years.” No, he doesn’t work in marketing.

You can see the grapes have made progress since the last time I was out with the camera. Lookin’ good!

veraison progress

OK, petty gripes:
1. Low rainfall last winter, about 2/3 of normal. This would be more of a problem if it was a hot summer, but it’s been so mild that the vines haven’t been as thirsty as we feared they might be and no one seems to be talking about water shortages. There’s actually a dry-conditions upside (provided it doesn’t continue) of small, non-watery grapes within the cluster. If we don’t have good rainfall in 2008 the gripe will no longer be petty.

2. A little “shatter” in some vineyards. That just means that pollination was impaired here and there, for some reason, and there was some crop loss. No one seems to be able to put their finger on the cause this year. The estimate for the valley is that the crop is down by about 10% of “normal”, whatever that means.;-) Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, thinks we’re just about normal, maybe slightly down.

Geoff just thinned the crop for the third time this year. It’s not unusual to thin a little before and after fruit set is complete. Over the last few weeks, as veraison (the color change) has been wrapping up, he’s thinned again in the sections where he’s noticed some reluctance to color up. The result? Bam! Instant, gorgeous color in the clusters that remain. It’s all about distribution of energy.

We’re running a little ahead of schedule. Early is a blessing because it gives us a better shot at getting the grapes in before the rains hit. The only time it’s a gripe is if the growing season is shortened and the fruit doesn’t get enough “hang time“. The whole season has been early from the get-go, and, in these mild temperatures, the grapes tend to ripen slowly, so they should have plenty of time to develop good flavor maturity and intensity. Geoff says it’s too soon to be sure.

He figures we’ll probably bring in our first grapes, usually Sauvignon Blanc, around Labor Day. With any luck we’ll wrap it up with Petit Verdot or Cab some time in October.

If we can find a way to prolong Mother Nature’s excellent mood, then maybe Mr. Hudson’s prediction will come true. Under these circumstances, Geoff’s biggest fear is human error. “When you’re handed a year like this, the best thing to do is just try not to screw it up!”

Bloom is Bustin’ Out All Over

May 16, 2007 in Vineyard Update. 0 Comments

Well, we had New Years in March, and now I guess you’d say it’s Epiphany. The vines have started to bloom over the last week or so. Pretty spectacular, huh? Well, uh, on second thought…

So, don’t bother rushing out here to see the romantic flowering of the vines. This is a bloom only in the technical sense. And they have no scent - these fuzzy little flowers couldn’t possibly attract a thing.

Wine Grape Bloom

And that’s OK. The grape flower is hermaphroditic, meaning that the blossoms are self-pollinating. They contain both the male, pollen-producing staminate and the female, seed-producing carpelate. This means we don’t have to worry about attracting bees or rely on the wind to carry the pollen. Quite convenient. We only worry about the weather, and so far the weather, if not the flowers themselves, has been spectacular. Mild and agreeable–and dry–which bodes well for cluster set. Uniform cluster formation means Geoff, our Winemaker, may just have a little easier time figuring out his answer to the eternal question at harvest: “What is ripe”

The Cabernet Franc was the first, beginning to flower about a week ago, followed by the Merlot. Geoff said he’s amazed at the amount of fruit the vines want to set in some parts of the vineyard and sees some serious cluster thinning in his immediate future.

Wine Grape Thinning

He’s already dropped some crop in the Merlot–a rather bold and confident move when it has yet to complete bloom. We’re beginning to see some action in the Petit Verdot and hints of flowering in the Cab. So, the next thing you know, it’s time for cluster counts and we’re off and running!

Here’s to a bloomin’ good year!
Cheers!

Happy New Year!

April 7, 2007 in Vineyard Update and Vintage Update. 0 Comments

It’s New Years in the vineyard! They’re growing! Every winter they look deader than dead and when it’s time for bud break, I always have this momentary fear: “What if they don’t wake up this time?”

But they did. First the Petit Verdot - go figure. Then the Merlot and Cabernet Franc. And now the Cabernet Sauvignon. The official kick-off of the 2007 vintage and yet another excuse to open the sparkling wine!

Bud Break Photo 1

Our Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch, hasn’t had the chance to pop the bubbly since he’s been up in the middle of the night twice so far to protect the tender new shoots from frost. This is when you wish you were a hillside grower! Damage begins at 32 degrees F. so wind machines, with large propellers, are used to mix the warm air above with the colder air that’s settling on the vineyard. For severe frost, we use smudge pots - some wineries call them “vineyard heaters” which burn propane to warm the vines. With any luck, we’ll start getting some much needed rain, to replenish our about 10- inch deficit and to chase away the frost. Every year tells its own story.

Wind Machine

But these delicate, pink and green buds - that’s truly a miracle that happens right in front of our eyes every spring. It’s better than New Years, such visible signs of renewal. Makes me want to stop and think awhile - to count my blessings.

Bud Break Photo 2

Bud Break Photo 3

All of which reminds me - Happy Passover! Crack open a bottle made by our good friends and neighbors, Hagafen Cellars, one of the most delicious ways to keep kosher! Happy Easter! Pull the cork on a bottle of Goosecross and enjoy (we both make sparkling wine, by the way)!

Welcome, vintage 2007! Here’s to a very good year!

Another Year, Another Harvest…

September 14, 2006 in Harvest Report, Living in Napa Valley, Vineyard Update, Wine, Wine Blogs, Wine Education and Wine News. 0 Comments

The feeling is anything but that. No matter how many harvests I witness, there’s nothing like the feeling when that first box of jewel-like grape clusters arrives at the winery. It still makes my heart race and tears spring to my eyes. Don’t know why. But I’d venture to guess that most true, hands-on winemakers feel the same way (actually, maybe they’re crying in anticipation of all the weeks of 24/7 work ahead rather than out of sentiment!). The vintage doesn’t start with the crush. A whole lot of their time and effort over most of the past year has been toward the goal of producing a great next vintage. Of course, they’ve got to take care of the wines they made last crush, but the next vintage starts calling pretty soon after the last one was put to bed in barrels.

At least for a small producer like Goosecross, the Winemaker is also the Vineyard Manager, and he gets really up-close and personal with the crop. He’s been walking the vine rows repeatedly, starting last winter with pruning, and then on to cultivating, shoot thinning, cluster thinning, checking for nutrient deficiencies and pest problems, more thinning, and he’s still walking now, checking the sugar and acid, tasting. He has a relationship with those vines.

And harvest is his one chance the whole year to get it right. You know if you make beer, or almost anything else, you can order the ingredients and get into production when it’s convenient. Not wine. When the grapes are ready, you’d better be in the mood! He needs to make the right decisions every step of the way from fresh grapes to wine and it all happens rather quickly. Once the wine is made, its basic character is pretty much formed and the goal is to sculpt and hone - not to do damage control.

We’ve started with a bang this year! 71/2 tons of Sauvignon Blanc Tuesday the 12th, 8 tons more on Wednesday, Chenin Blanc on Thursday and Cabernet from Howell Mountain on Friday! Literally, tons of work! We’ve got a play-by-play of the Goosecross crush if you check our Harvest Calendar, which is updated regularly. I think you’ll be surprised to see how quickly grape juice converts to wine, which is why it’s 24/7, and leads to the key phrase for surviving the crush: “Stock up. It takes a whole lot of beer to make good wine!”