Friday, March 5, 2010





The vineyard has been pruned and the buds are beginning to swell. During the first year of production every vine we have kept trained up must be basal bud pruned. We only basal bud prune once. The years following we will spur prune the vineyard meaning we will leave 2 buds on each spur attached to the cordon. We will have a total of 5-6 spurs on each cordon arm, and from each of these shoot positions we will grow a canopy and ripen 2 clusters per shoot, thus on average each individual vine will have 10-12 clusters of grapes per vine.
In the picture above of the vineyard following pruning every 4 inches or so you can see little bumps coming out of the cordon arm. From these spots along the arm the shoots will grow upward and we will train the growth with the use of catch wires also pictured

Picture taken today shows the chardonnay is
beginning budbreak. Typically the pinot noir at
our site is delayed a couple weeks behind the
chardonnay so we always look to the chardonnay
for budbreak initiation. Once the chardonnay
blocks have 100 budbreak and several leaves out
we will make are first fungicide spraying pass to
prevent mold and mildew from taking hold in the
vineyard. Typically we will need to make 10-12
passes through the vineyard from mid March-
August to spray for mold and mildew.


The cooler wet weather we have been experiencing lately has been prolonging budbreak especially on our pinot noir blocks. Below is a cool picture of rolling fog making its way past the vineyard. The extra rain we have been getting is going to be extremely beneficial for us this year as we will be able to hold off on irrigating a little longer into the season.


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