We are done with pruning in the Don Miguel Vineyard and the crew has moved on to Sonoma Coast and the Doña Margarita Vineyard. This year it has taken longer to prune because we had a late start with the December rains. Besides, we have been able to use a new organic product to paint the pruning wounds and prevent Eutypa, the feared wood fungus that can go inside the trunk and kill the vine. But it takes a long time to paint all the cuts!
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The last parcel of Pinot Noir was pruned this week. While the rest of the crew prunes in the background, Alfredo goes after them and paints the cuts to prevent Eutypa.
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This young vine in the Doña Margarita Vineyard thinks it's already spring and has budded out several leaves!
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We went for a walk in the Doña Margarita Vineyard, which we love because there are sooo many gophers there!! We ran up and down the rows and tried so hard to catch one -- but no way, we couldn't. Not a single one. Darn!
We are indeed a bit behind in pruning, as it will take almost a month to do the 20 acres of that vineyard. Fortunately we've been lucky with the weather so hopefully we'll finish before bud break ... we don't have a choice!
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We both worked really hard here as we could smell the gopher -- but although we made a humongous hole, we couldn't get him
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