2013 season: Gearing up

Well, nothing has been posted for a while. The deer, for a second season, enjoyed the 2012 harvest. The barriers used were ineffective. Fencing has been purchased, and will be established soon. Lessons have been learned: control the varmints! (and fungus and insects).
I am thankful for the lessons of 2012. The spray program was effective. We obtained grapes from Mount Juliet Vineyards, Silver Creek Orchards, and Horton Vineyards. We made cabernet franc, merlot, malbec, and mourvedre. Winegrowing and winemaking education will continue to press onward...

The vines continue to sleep under a blanket of winter snow.

Winter in central Virginia wine country.

Example of spur-trained vines.

Example of cane-pruned vines.

Speaking of education and experimentation, the petit verdot and petit manseng, on alternate rows, are pruned to spur or cane. I look forward to seeing how these vines perform differently. I especially anticipate differences in shoot thinning, with cane-pruned vines requiring less labor. The question will be whether the difference of less summer labor will outweigh the spring labor of retying of the vines to the training wire. The fruits (literal) of my labor will also be compared.

Recap from a post-derecho vineyard

So far, 2012 has offered a very cordial growing season. Any shortcomings experienced in our vineyard have been attributed to learning experiences. One day in June, we felt forced to spray before an imminent storm. However, temperatures spiked in advance of the rain event, and burned leaves and even some fruit. Lesson learned.

We have learned meteorology as well. On June 29, we experienced an amazing straight-line wind storm, called a derecho. The leaves were thrashed by winds and flying brush. However, the fruit held strong. On the contrary, our orchard lost almost all the apples and pears. The vineyard was spared mostly, but a few scars remain.

Veraison will be any day now...

Sunrise in the vineyard. New mercies each day.

Netting to protect the grapes from birds and deer.

Petit manseng.

Petit verdot.

2011 plantings. Growing very well.

Fruit set & leaf pulling. Memorial day.

A healthy vineyard. The 2009 planting on the right, 2011 planting on the left. The 2011 vines are thriving, with no visible deer nibbling this year. Deer severely impacted the vineyard last year, but not at all now.

Integrated pest management is critical in cultivating outstanding wine grapes. I use fairly innocuous chemicals (copper, sulfur, phosphorous acid, and others), so the cultural practices are even more important. Leaf pulling on the east side allows the morning sun to dry the dew off the young grapes. Less moisture, less disease. Also, it is easier to catch disease earlier with direct visualization of the developing fruit. I just never would have foreseen that I would be pulling leaves as early as Memorial Day!

BB-sized petit manseng grapes.

Tiny petit verdot grapes.

Safety, shoots, & blooms

Safety third had been my catch phrase. But, eventually, I had to ponder the dangers associated with operating a vineyard. Tractors. Pesticides. PTO-driven equipment. As Mike Rowe says in his video blog, no one else is going to look out for my safety.

I visited Dick Button at Ivy Creek Vineyards to learn about vineyard safety. He discussed pesticide storage, safety during mixing/spraying/cleaning, tractor roll bars, tractor air filtration, PTO shaft clearance, and many other safety issues. He gave me a very nice pair of safety gloves, to ensure I knew what I needed in pesticide handling. This well-spent afternoon may help me live a bit longer & healthier.

Dick Button with a protective suit.

Dick recommended that I pursue Pesticide certification through Virginia Cooperative Extension. One Extension visit and several emails & phone calls later, I was on track. There is a core curriculum available through Virginia Tech, and free testing is performed at DMV (everyone loves to go to DMV!). The certification process stresses personal safety, environmental safety, and appropriate use of pesticides. We will continue to use sustainable viticultural practices, following an integrated pest management system.

Reynard Florence Vineyard is a new local vineyard and winery. Their tasting room opened a few weeks ago. I dropped by last week, and met Roe Allison in his vineyard. Roe asked me if I wanted a tasting. I said that I want to help him in his vineyard for a while. After he realized that he wasn't dreaming, we shoot-thinned rows of merlot. What a cool experience! First of all, I operate VSP compared to his Smart-Dyson. Completely different! While I try to have 3-4 shoots per foot, his bidirectional growth requires much denser growth around the cordons. We talked vines, wines, and life. After a bit of work, we sampled his wines. I particularly was impressed with his 2011 100% grenache, sampled from the barrel. He will likely blend it, but it was splendid (some bing cherry goodness). 


And yes, our vineyard keeps growing. We just had 2 inches of rain in the last two days. Nonetheless, the spray program is holding up well. As you can see, several of the vines have already reached the top wire. Shoot thinning is a constant, vigilant pursuit. Cluster thinning will ensue after fruit set. So far, so good.


And no deer problems! Not a single shoot eaten by deer. The milorganite bags are making a tremendous difference this year.
  

Petit manseng rows at left, petit verdot rows at right.

Ready or not, bloom is here. Intensive surveillance and spraying is critical right now. The Petit manseng is blooming, with Petit verdot close behind. Hopefully, a great fruit set will commence. 

Petit manseng bloom.

Growing, growing.

A little water, and the vines are going crazy. I had to hand water once, and rain followed the next week. I have thinned shoots twice. Shoot thinning helps direct growth and limit vigor. The cultural practices and spray program are keeping the vineyard pristine. Contrast the vineyard with a couple distant Concord grapes (black rot spots) and orchard (some cedar apple rust), and you can see the benefit of proper maintenance.

Petit manseng.

Petit manseng, preparing the flowers.

Petit verdot.

Petit verdot, with my favorite pest insect control device.

The big freeze?

For 10 days, we were warned, scared, and prepared for the worst. Weather reports indicated low temperatures in the high 20s this week. After a very warm & early start, grape growers across central Virginia worried. Helicopters were prepared (mine is "Harold" from Thomas the Tank Engine), wind machines started, and burn piles lit. But the cold was never as bad as expected. Whew! My lowest temperature was 35 degrees, reached last Saturday and yesterday. Time to grow now. Let the next phase of work begin.

New growth 2012

The 2012 growing season is ripping right along. We experienced a VERY early budbreak, three weeks early. The petit manseng erupted March 23rd. The petit verdot followed a week later. So far, so good. I have already sprayed the vineyard twice. The only signs of mildew have been on the lowest leaves of 2011 planted vines. The vineyard looks great right now.

Petit manseng, 23-March-2012.

Petit manseng, 01-April-2012

Petit verdot, 01-April-2012.

Petit verdot, 01-April-2012.

But something wicked this way comes... Significant deer damage has already been seen in the orchard. Deer are eating the tender leaves from pear trees. So far, the sprays have deterred the deer in the vineyard. I pulled a page from the Vintage Virginia Apples playbook. I visited Chuck Shelton, and purchased their little cloth bags. Mr. Shelton fills the bags with milorganite and ties them to all of their fruit trees. The deer do not like the smell (Milwaukee sewage - yuck). Now, Firstfruits Vineyard is full of bags. I will keep you updated...

Milorganite deer deterrent. 

One final note: weather. Weather makes us or breaks us (reference 2011). Temperatures in the 80s in mid-March helped expedite bud break.  Well, we now face a very chilly week ahead. There is a freeze warning tonight, but a big freeze may be coming. We just received notice that a hard freeze may hit central Virginia in seven days. Hoping for the best, planning for the worst.