Thu, 26 Jun 2008
The big problem with growing grapes is that no matter how great your game or business plan, you always have to deal with an unruly player who sets her own rules, ignores your plan, and insists on dealing her own wild cards. You recall that as we entered bloom time we said we were expecting and hoping for just five or six perfect days to allow for perfect pollination. It still seems to me not too much to ask for. But it did not happen. We had cold days, windy days, foggy days and even rain at mid bloom. Player Mother Nature threw all her bad cards at us.
The vines feel they had to stagger through an obstacle course while they were trying to set fruit for the coming harvest. Well, we are finally through fruit set and, like after any battle, can now count our casualties and make estimates of the final results. First the bad news. Almost a fifty percent loss in the Merlot block due to severe shatter. This means that if you were expecting a given bunch to successfully pollinate 100 tiny blossoms the bunch ends up with only 50, irregularly spaced, berries.
The Sauvignon Blanc faired better with only a ten to twenty percent loss due to the irregular pollination of shatter. Our resident optimist, Vineyard Manager Chuey, says often the vines can compensate with extra weight for the successful bunches. I say, ?we will see.?
The Zinfandel vines are sitting up there gloating on their plateau feeling pretty smug with an almost perfect pollination score with nothing but perfect bunches. To sober them up a little Chuey is saying we may have to thin some of those bunches!
And here at ranch headquarters the accounting department is already sharpening their yellow pencils to try to get the dollar and cents meaning of all this, and some hint at what the year might look like from a profit and loss stand point. It?s not easy to reduce losses to numbers on a sheet of paper when you know there are some really disappointed Merlot vines out on the vineyard battlefield.
Now let?s get the monthly reports from the two vines we?re tracking personally this year ? Marie Sauvignon Blanc and Javier Zinfandel:
Marie?s Sauvignon Blanc Report:
Wow, that was the most harrowing bloom time any of us can remember. But it?s over now, and with any luck at all we can come in with our promised four tons an acre.
The people from our largest winery customer have been out pawing through our leaves and examining our new bunches. Over the past few years they have been changing their minds as to just how much shade and sunshine our bunches need to develop optimum flavors. There is now pretty convincing technical evidence that direct sun and autumn heat will cause our bunches to lose flavor. For many years our grower friends removed all the leaves around and protecting our bunches. Not only did we lose flavors but often a lot of our bunches got sunburned. All of us vines knew this was bad practice but you know how hard it is to tell those hardheaded growers anything.
This year they want to open up our canopies so that our bunches will have plenty of fresh air and maybe dappled sun light still leaving protection from direct sun. This will be done by removing some of our interior leaves and laterals. Finally they may be getting everything right.
Javier?s Zinfandel Report:
Its hard to be modest but our team did indeed come through the bloom time battles with flying colors. We have a beautiful potential crop (if I do say so myself). Our cordoned vines and our new head pruned block all are really looking great. Chuey and the Old Patron were out this morning counting the number of bunches per vine with an average of 23 bunches per vine.
Monday a work crew will come out to take off some of our interior canopy leaves to open up all to plenty of air. Then they?ll tuck our canes behind the trellis wires, and make sure all is open, without exposing our bunches to direct sun. A second crew will then come through and make sure each new bunch is hanging freely with a spacious home of its own. At the same time they will remove any small shoulder bunches. When these small shoulder bunches get bigger they can overlap the grapes on the main bunch and cause bunch rot and improper ripening of the grapes under them.
Our new head pruned block looks really great. Chuey and the Old Patron practiced removing interior leaves and straightening the young bunches on a couple of vines. The effect was an opened, airy interior with dappled sun on the freely hanging bunches. Very impressive.
George?s Report:
Well, with all the prospective bunches now present and accounted for, the vines all have their harvest assignments. The new bunches have almost achieved closure, with the individual grapes at about 3-4 mm diameter in size about to touch each other. The vines are all getting about nine gallons of water a week and of course we are vigilant in watching for disease or insect damage. We will be adding fertilizer mostly Potassium in the coming weeks.
We are all a little disappointed by the poor bloom time results for our Merlot. As I have often said, farming is not for the faint of heart. This year we are reminded why farmers often refer to Merlot as Mer?little? because of its variable yield problems. But while quantity may be down, the prospects remain good for a vintage of tremendous quality.
Larry King
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