Our amigos from Mexico and Costa Rica are returning home. Manuel, Julian, Emiliano and Ezequiel worked long and hard with Edgar this season to successfully complete the makeover of the vineyards at O.H. We’ll miss them and we wish them well. Muchas gracias amigos y les desean mucha suerte!
We’ve been getting some pretty astounding tonnage this harvest, especially considering the challenging weather we’ve been dealt this season.
- Dave picking
Aaron leaf pulling the Guwertztraminer
Leaf pulling the Guwertztraminer at Harwood, done by hand. We pull off all the leaves around the grapes to uncover them for better sun exposure and better spray coverage. We pulled leaves a little bit late in the season this year because the sun has been quite hot for the last 6 weeks or so. We have seen some sunburn damage at other vineyards and we wanted to keep our grapes covered a bit longer to prevent this. But now they can be exposed for ripening and sweetening. Next, the nets get installed right after the leaf pulling to protect the grapes from birds. Seems like this season the birds are getting into the vineyards early. Even though the fruit isn’t that sweet yet they are starting to eat them anyway.
After, the grapes are exposed
It’s dry out there! Several of our vineyards are experiencing the drying effects of not enough rain. What a change from last month. We are bringing in trucks of water for some of our clients and irrigating the vineyards to supplement what Mother Nature is now holding back on.
Here are four reasons why vines die:
1. The vine just wasn’t biologically strong enough to survive.
2. The vine had to compete with weeds for nutrients – - sometimes the weeds end up with the lion’s share. What to do? Keep the vineyard well weeded.
3. GH disease (grape hoe disease). Easy with the grape hoe!
4. Winter kill. Our winters in PEC can be brutal on the vines. We like to do an extreme hill-up around your vines to protect them through the winter. We swear by it… Our clients didn’t lose one vine to winter kill last year.
Chardonnay, Cab Franc and Pinot
Guess what the Purolator guy delivered today? A box of new baby vines! Direct from Gemmrich Nursery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, they’re for our clients who are replanting a few. It was almost like xmas unwrapping each carefully packed bundle of vines: 50 Chardonnay, 20 Cabernet Franc and 20 Pinot Noir. Each type has its tips dipped in colored wax. The Pinot still has its clearance certificate from France attached! I set them in a tub of water where they will rest until they go off to their new homes to sink their roots deep into the rich PEC terroir. I’m babysitting vines for the next few days!
The volcanic ash from Iceland’s recent volcanic eruption affected lives around the world including ours here in idyllic Wellington. My new post-pounder being shipped from France was delayed due to flights being grounded. But it finally arrived and is hooked-up to the tractor in it’s new bracket. Ready and raring to pound your t-bars and end posts quickly, efficiently, and believe it or not, gently! (Oh, and in-line with each other!)
How do I judge a well-kept vineyard? One of the first things I look at are the end posts and t-bars. Nothing says “unkempt” like a vineyard full of crooked end posts and t-bars.
nice
Maybe I’m a strict task-master, but I like to stand at the end post, gaze down the row and not even be able to see the t-bars. And when I stand at the edge of the vineyard and look at the row of end posts, I should only be able to see the first one. That says “professional” to me.
