Today we walked the Don Miguel Vineyard -- the growth is just as astounding as in the Doña Margarita! The crew is working non-stop to keep the canopy in check. We also saw some powdery mildew (oidium) but it is practically gone and not a concern anymore.

Fortunately, this is the only cluster we could find in the vineyard with powdery mildew!

Leafing and hedging has been a non-stop job in the vineyard

Many vines, however, are showing good balanced clusters and excellent set

The young tempranillo vines look healthy and great!

A good example of 'coulure' or shatter: sparse berries in a cluster, due to poor weather at the time of pollinization and set.

Many vines show normal-size and tiny berries in the same cluster, another result of weather, commonly referred to as 'peas & pumpkins'.

Mom is back from Spain!

Other than the organic sprays, aggressive leafing has been necessary as well as immediate removal of each berry that shows the first sign of mildew, even cluster thinning of any bunches that are lumped together, despite the low yields, to ensure the aeration of the canopy.
July 14, 2011 

Mom and Cristina are back from Spain! Not that we missed them that much, really — we had a grand time while they were gone, with Cooper and his Mom, Susan. She took us to the beach (which of course gave Chico an ear infection) and we also swam in the pool and lounged on her patio. Truly, a dog’s life!

Swimming in the ocean at Stinson Beach was so much fun! The water was coooold and great

That’s only three of us, not six! Bonita and Cooper are definitely going steady…

 Today we went in the Doña Margarita Vineyard and saw the incredibly wild growth that has taken place with all the rains last month. Can you imagine 4 inches in one day?? And that was not all, of course. So it has been impossible to keep up with the shoot growth – the vineyard crew is scrambling. But they’ll soon have it all under control, hopefully it won’t rain anymore, and we’ll have beautiful Goldilocks weather to ensure a perfect harvest!

The shoot growth has been wild — look at them going in all directions!

A very organic way to get rid of gophers: a gopher snake is the perfect predator!

The Rainy Spring

Shoot tips and leaves in the Doña Margarita Vineyard are

yellow due to the cool, wet weather

One of the many yellow leaves


 



 



 

 

  

Persistent rain and cool conditions have dried
 the leaves near the tip (where the arrows point)

The rains and cold weather are driving us crazy!!  Mom wakes up in the night worried and wondering when they are going to stop… The consequences are showing especially in our Sonoma Coast’s Doña Margarita Vineyard, which is even cooler than the Russian River Valley. Signs of Pinot Noir “leaf curl”, with dead leaves near the tip, are everywhere; this is due to a build-up of toxic putrescine during wet, cool conditions. And also, leaves toward the top are yellow instead of green. As the season advances leaves will turn green and new ones will grow near the tip – but it’s sad to see them looking so “sick” now.Bloom is barely starting; we found just a few flowers in the upper area and none in the lower vineyard. Bu interestingly, last year we had 1% bloom on June 3rd — so the conditions were pretty similar to this year!  But we sure hope this will not be as difficult growing season as last year’s… 

The weather has not been very good this spring and we are about two weeks behind schedule in the growing season. The soil is very wet from all the recent rains and it's almost impossible to go in with the tractor!  But our vineyard team is very busy with the usual tasks of this time of year: weeding, mowing, suckering, etc. This new machine allows us to weed with a tractor instead of weed-whacking, which also minimizes fuel emmissions. The soil is "sliced" under the rows, so weeds are erradicated rather than cut up by hand. The Earthquake Block looks beautiful! You can imagine here the deep ravine we covered with earth, which after a storm in 1995 opened up and originated the name of the block!

This tender shoot and cluster of Albariño looks nothing like Chardonnay - but it's very pretty!

We've had some frost again this year, shown here in these tender shoots that look like burned. A secondary bud will likely come out, but it will be much less fruitful than the primary bud.

Setting up the bee hives was a fascinating project! Here Steve is shaking the cages where the bees came into the hive, while Mom sprays sugary water to entertain them

There were 10,000 bees in each cage!

This weekend we had a very fun project -- we set up our two bee hives! Steve, the "Bee King of Sonoma County", helped and directed us throughout. Of course we were not allowed to be around the bees, as Mom and Steve were worried that the bees might sting us. But we watched attentively from behind the fence as they set up the white-painted hives, took the bees out of their cages and shook them into the hives, then took eachqueen inside her cage and tied her to the board so the bees could get used to her. Then the next day we got the queens out and set each among their 10,000 subjects... they seemed to be getting along very well!

Spring is here and the buds are pushing in the Doña Margarita Vineyard!  The vines looks fantastic, as you can see.  The pictures tell more than a thousand words -- it is such a beautiful time in the vineyard!

The cover crop is about to be mowed, you can see how high it is -- perfect habitat for good predator insects!  We also walked the winery's Don Miguel Vineyard, in Russian River/Green Valley. Soon we will mow the cover crop, after it's gone to seed so next year most of it is self-seeded.

Unfortunately it was only me, Bonita, who went both days with Mom -- Chico had to stay because he just had leg surgery for a torn ligament.   He looked so longing when we left him at Mom's office on his leash...  :-(   He has 10 more days of rest to go, and won't be able to run for another 2 months. What a bummer!  But we give him lots of TLC so he is not too unhappy -- and many licks!!

Zach and the team walking down a mowed row. Below are our stables, and our beloved horses!

At the Don Miguel Vineyard, I listened attentively to Zach as he explained to me how important cover crop is, while Ventura looked on approvingly

We went to the Doña Margarita Vineyard this week, in Sonoma Coast! The vines are all pruned and, surprisingly for that cold region, buds are starting to push. Most are at the “popcorn” stage, but a few are open with a green leaf visible.


The cover crop looks terrific — it’s called Organic Soil Buider, isn’t that a great name? It has lots of legumes, such as vetch, oats, barley, bell beans and peas. And they are tasty, too! Mom had to get us off of them, or we would have munched on way more than is good for our tummies…

Buds are starting to push! A few are open already, like this one at the Doña Margarita Vineyard

The organic cover crop is thick with peas, vetch, bell beans, oats and barley

Spring is here and the buds are pushing in the Doña Margarita Vineyard!  The vineyard looks fantastic, as you can see.  The pictures tell more than a thousand words!

We also walked the winery's Don Miguel Vineyard, in Russian River/Green Valley, which has been disked every other row. Soon we will mow the cover crop, after it's gone to seed so next year some more of it is self-seeded.

 

Unfortunately it was only me, Bonita -- Chico had to saty home because he just had leg surgery for a torn ligament!   He looked so longing when we left him at Mom's office on his leash...  :-(   He has 10 more days of rest to go, but won;t be able to run for another 2 months. What a bummer!  But we give him lots of TLC so he is not too unhappy... 

Mom is back from Spain - yeeyy!  So we went in the vineyard today, her first day back at the winery, with Ventura and Zach - in the middle of the rain!  It was pouring - so much fun! We ran and splashed in the puddles; you should see how we left Mom's car when we went back in it...

The Albariño vines are already pruned, with the new system: the spurs are pointing outward alternating sides, so the shoots will grow sideways and provide a divided canopy

Can you tell how wet we are -- and how much fun we had running in the rain??