Grape Vine Haircuts

The vines are progressing. This time of year you can almost see them growing. We are slowly winning the battle against the weeds. Now its time to start shoot thinning. Basically, the new growth is a bit too bushy. So we clean off the stray shoots- kind of give them their first haircut of the season.

Here's a "before and after" shot

Weed Wacker Whoops

Did you know that you could sever a half inch piece of pvc pipe with a weed wacker? Well somebody can, as my dh, Matthew found out this morning. I was tying up drip irrigation tubing. My brother Tony, was burning weeds with a propane torch while Matthew weed wacked under the vines.
"Uh-oh" says Matthew. "Somebody just cut this pipe right off with the weed wacker. Maybe you should look at this."
I raised an eyebrow at him and mumbled that I'd look at it after I finished my row.
Not more than 2 minutes later, he says, "Oops. Somebody did it again."
Sure enough that somebody had wacked another one. I made a mental note not to turn somebody loose with the propane torch.
No big deal though, Tony had the pipes repaired in no time and Matthew managed to keep somebody clear of any more pipe.

Tractor and the Dance of Successful Repair.

This week, my husband Matthew, started mowing in the vineyard. Some of the grass had grown past knee-high.
Well, Matthew was nearly finished for the day when he decided to swing the tractor past our tasting patio. He stopped to chat with me for a minute. "How's your day-What's for supper?" that sort of thing. When he turned the key to restart the tractor, smoke started puffing out from under the dash. That is not a good sign. The tractor wouldn't start, so Matthew left it sitting right in front of the tasting patio. Not exactly the most convenient place for it to die, but what are you going do?
The next day, Matthew and I towed the tractor back down to the barn so I could look at it. Matthew worked the tasting patio while I stared at the melted wires that snaked under and through the tractor body. I figured something has shorted and burned up the wire. My powers of observation amaze even me.
I checked the battery, still good and holding a charge. I checked the solenoid/starter. They turned over when jumper-ed from the battery. I checked the safety switches, all good. I even checked the ignition switch, it too was good. So I ended up removing the burnt up main wiring harness and replacing the melted bits. I reinstalled the wiring harness and with a short prayer, I turned the ignition key.
The tractor fired right up. I thanked God. Matthew and the dogs joined me in a rousing "Dance of Successful Repair".

First Post of 2007

Well I'm ashamed to say it's May and thisis my first post of 2007. I've got all sorts of excuses, but suffice it to say, I will be posting more often in the near future.

Bird Net

I can’t believe harvest is almost upon us again. I have been putting up bird netting for what seems like an eternity. The vine rows are about 650 ft long and there are 56 of them. While I am have had occasional help from kind people, I have put up the lion’s share of the stuff myself.

This is the first year that we’ve installed bird netting. Last year, we used a shotgun for bird control. (see blog entries from last year) The birds still ate about 2 tons of fruit last year despite my best efforts at blasting them into birdie heaven.

Bird netting comes in various forms. We tried 2 different kinds. One is an extruded, black, fairly stiff netting that comes on rolls that are about 14 feet long. The rolls are sliced into 40 inch segments with a chainsaw. This produces 3 jelly rolls of netting. The netting unfurls as I kick the roll up and down the vineyard rows. It tends to lay neatly flat on the ground . I lay netting on both sides of each trellis. Then I clip the netting onto the trellis via slots notched into the posts. The netting sandwiches the fruiting zone thus deterring the birds from snacking on my harvest. While no picnic, this netting is fairly straightforward to install.


The other kind of netting is a woven, green, stretchy nightmare that comes stuffed hopelessly tangled in large sacks. I have spent days and days unraveling the stuff. Then it doesn’t lay flat. It must be pulled apart like pork and pinned to the trellis every 24 inches or so top and bottom. I have come to really hate this netting. But I am also cash poor enough that I can’t afford to replace it this year. Besides, I hate the idea of something going to waste. I just hope my husband can find a way to salvage and store the green jumbled morass for use next year. HE gets to install it next year.

Bottling Accolade

So another one of things I’ve been busy with is bottling Accolade.

Accolade is a semi-sparkling Chardonnay that I made for my son’s wedding. Bo and Heather were married in April of 2004. I was so thrilled that they were finally getting married that I decided to make a wine in their honor.

Heather (the future mother of my grandchildren) enjoys prosecco, an Italian style sparkling wine. It is typically fruity with less effervescence than champagne. So completely naïve to the production of sparkling wine, I jumped in with both feet.

I’d like to report that making Accolade was easy, that it was produced with no setbacks or tribulation, with no gnashing of teeth or rending of cloth. It didn’t quite happen that way. Fortunately, it was unique and delicious. Heather loved it; people loved it, so much so that I had to make more.

I approached the new Accolade with cautious optimism. However; if you look back at “Adventures in tank moving” the tank had been bounced since I last made Accolade. As a consequence, the man way door gasket no longer sealed. Of course since the tank is 45 years old, I had a very tough time locating a gasket which would seal the tank. There were several unsuccessful attempts, including one where I epoxied a hand cut Teflon donut looking thing to the inside of the tank doorway. We finally located a company in Wisconsin that was able to fabricate a gasket that sealed successfully.

It is surprising how difficult it is to make 2 wines exactly the same. I talk about how much the weather and winemaker affect the wine, but I didn’t really think it would prove so troublesome to make this Accolade taste like the first one. In fact, they aren’t quite the same. But what can I say-

Anyway, we were finally able to bottle this equally delicious but quirky wine in early August. Accolade is made using the “Metodo Charmat”. Instead of making the bubbles in the bottle, we make them in a large tank via a secondary fermentation. This requires us to bottle Accolade under pressure. The counter pressure filler that I could afford only has 4 spigots. I have a single pneumatic capper. Bottling was not going to be fast. I assembled a team of 5 hard working enthusiastic individuals to help me bottle. We cranked out about 18 cases an hour. The “A” team slaved for 2 ½ lo-o-o-ng days, opening cases of bottles, filling them, capping them and then boxing the now filled bottles back up. The 46 pound cases then all had to be stacked (case by case) in the wine storage bay at the winery. We bottled 416 cases of the new Accolade.

Did I mention that in my spare time, I sprayed the vineyard (finished in the dark) and poured wine at a local golf tournament?

grape puberty

Its been too long since I’ve written anything-

Not due to lack of stuff happening- actually I’ve been working my little winemaking fingers to the bone. In the last month or so, I barely get a chance to get the basics covered; like eating, sleeping and bathing. And I won’t even talk about laundry.

So the first I’ll give an update on the grapes. The 2006 grapes are starting veraision, although not 50% yet. Veraison (ve-ray-zon):The phase of growth where the grape begins to turn color and the sugar begins to form.

One might ask- but don’t you grow Chardonnay? That’s a white grape, right?

It is indeed a white grape. Actually they look green, but at veraison, the color goes from lime green to a more golden green tone. The skins thin, the grapes soften, and the flavors gain some sweetness; although the grapes are still quite tart yet.