View from Spring Mountain Vineyard by Ron Rosenbrand, Vineyard Manager

May 2012 Vineyard Update After a very wet and cold March and April, May was beautifully warm to hot. Day time temperatures were mostly in the 80’s and 90’s. We only had one rainy day with only 0.25 inches of rain. This brought the season total to 37.30 inches. This is some 9 inches below normal for the season, but we are in good shape for irrigation water for this year. The warm temperatures pushed vine growth along tremendously. Bloom started two and a half weeks earlier than last year and the year before. The entire bloom process went from start to finish in about 12 days. We are checking fruit set currently and should have a good feel for the degree of success soon. Early indications are quite positive. This earlier bloom puts us on a much more normal pace. If the summer temperatures are fairly normal, harvest times should do the same and we could expect to complete harvest by the end of October. How nice would that be for a change?
Another very noticeable thing in the vineyard is the increase in the number of clusters on the vines this year. We expected an increase in the trellis-converted blocks, but we are also seeing increases in Vertical Gobelet blocks. As always, as long as the weather doesn’t create a major problem, total tonnage this year should be up from the past 4 years.

May has been a very busy month out in the vineyard as is the case every year. But when you have warm weather it pushes us along even faster. During the month, we completed all the suckering and have been very busy mowing down cover crop, undertaking mildew control, tying and training of the vertical gobelet vines, shoot tucking and positioning in the vertical-shoot-positioned trellising, field-grafting some 7000 vines to Malbec, Chardonnay and converting clones in Pinot Noir. The warm weather has helped those grafts take successfully and they are currently taking off. Soon, we’ll start working on leaf removal to get some sunlight on those developing clusters and help get them acclimated to direct sun exposure before the real summer heat begins.
We have begun our insect releases for various vineyard pests including releasing lady bugs for leaf hoppers. The bluebirds have once again taken over the bird houses along with the swallows. There are many, many babies out there which have a tremendous appetite. We have a researcher from UC Berkeley working with the bluebirds. She is doing extensive studies on insect populations and the blue bird’s diet. We will have some great information when she completes this 12 week study. We also have another group of researchers from UC Berkeley studying three different flowering cover crops and the beneficial insects that are attracted to these flowers. This study is in the second of three years. They are also studying bat populations, the species of bats that we have here at SMV and their diet. Interesting stuff. We’ll keep you updated on the results.

Pruning vs Pre-pruning

Last year we decided to change things up in the vineyard. Sure the vines have been around for a hundred plus years, but it just felt right.  In effort to bring the viticulture into the 21st century we hired Jim Munk of A Cut Above Viticulture Services, he has been working with zinfandel for years so it is a great fit for our historic vines.  He came on board with us last year in September and was a great asset for the 2011 harvest. 

An un-pruned vine

    This winter he did something that  has never been done in the Hayne Vineyard, he pre- pruned which means instead of pruning the canes all the way down to the one or two buds you cut the cane back to about 12 inches.  Later in the season the crew will come back and prune the cane all the way down to the one or two buds before bud break to finish the job.  Basically you take two passes through the vineyard instead of one.  I know that seems a bit nutty, but it is done for a few good reasons.

  

   Most importantly pre-pruning helps prevent the spread of disease.  Cutting any part of the vine leaves and open wound that is very susceptible to disease especially Eutypa and Bot Canker which eventually lead to stunted growth and lower yields.  If you leave a few extra inches of cane that creates a buffer zone so even if the vine becomes infected the diseased part of the cane will be cut off before it reaches the vine.  We have a pretty healthy vineyard, especially when you consider the age, and we would like to keep it that way so pre-pruning is a great option for us.

A Pre-pruned vine

   Another factor in pre-pruning is labor.  During the winter months there isn't that much to do in the vineyard and most managers prefer to keep their crews busy so they don't loose anyone.  Pre-pruning adds a few more weeks onto the schedule (sometimes months) so you don't loose the crew that you have trained and would like to keep around.  In a larger operation pre-pruning can actually save you money because it doesn't require as much as an exact cut as pruning so the men can go much faster and they don't have to be as skilled.

A pruned vine

     By now you may be asking yourself, pre-pruning, it sounds so wonderful, why would you do anything else?  Backup the trolly, there are a few drawbacks.  Because you are cutting the majority of the cane off in the first shot it becomes difficult to gauge the health of the vine.  The pruner may leave too few or too many buds per shoot causing the overall balance of the vine to shift.  Balance in a vine is one of the most important factors to producing amazing wine grapes. If they are vigorous and not allowed to produce a larger amount of fruit they will go crazy with green growth taking the focus away from ripening grapes, and on the other side if the vine is allowed to produce more then it should the vine will not be able to ripen the fruit properly.

  

Overall we have faith in Mr. Munk and I can't wait to see what our little guys will produce in the future.

Rebecca Martin

Chase Cellars

Drop It Like It's Hot

   The grapes I mean!  Bunch thinning, or dropping fruit, is a common practice in the vineyard that must be done before harvest, even if it may break grape growers hearts. The end goal for any grower or wine maker is to produce the best product, which means we usually have to intervene and help the vines out to ensure they ripen their fruit.  So, after verasion (the process in which grapes turn from green to whatever color they are destined to be) we head out into the vineyard and cut off any bunch that clearly will not ripen in time.  My winemaker, Joel Aiken (super smart dude) pointed out bunches (like the one pictured) that were only sort of pink and said they would never fully get through verasion, so off with their heads!  We also make sure to cut off bunches that have been either damaged from sun, pests or mold.  The idea is we do not want the vine wasting energy trying to ripen them when they will never be good enough to become wine.

So far everything seems logical, if it looks bad, take it off, if it looks good, leave it on.  Now here comes the hard part, at least for growers, we also go through and drop perfectly good fruit.  The idea is the same, we want the vine to be able the fully ripen the fruit so if there is too much fruit we have to take some of it off.  It is all about protecting the balance in the vine. 

Walking down the rows after they finish can be hard, it is sad to see all that seemingly perfect fruit in the dirt, but you have to remember it is for a good cause, to make the best damn wine we can! So maybe its best if you avoid the vineyard for a few days..

Happy Harvest All!

Chase Cellars

Au Natural: Going Wild at Martin Estate Vineyard

At first glance, Martin Estate's eight acre Puerta Dorada Vineyard appears to be lacking good house keeping this summer. The truth is, while we’ve taken our weed eaters to the perimeter of our 12-acre property, the vineyard itself still has a wild and unruly cover crop of what only looks like weeds growing vigorously between every other row. What appears to be neglect, however, is our natural approach to managing the unseasonably late rainfall this year. These grasses and grains are working hard to wick excess moisture out of the ground.

“This semi-permanent cover crop also creates competition with the vines, which reduces the vigor, keeping our quantity down but our quality high,” Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert says.

“Once we feel the soil has dried out to just the perfect point,” Martin Estate Proprietor Petra Martin says, “our Carraro tractor will finally make its way through the rows to make everything look tickety-boo.”

In the meantime, we welcome the weeds as a working cog in the Martin Estate Vineyard Management Team.