Spring is often a crazy busy time. So much is happening in a short burst of life!
Shoot thinning, planting things in the garden, weeding, mowing the lawn every 5 days, rotating cattle daily, irrigation, staffing the tasting room, feeding Barbara, whew!
This Xarel•lo shoot grew 4 1/2 inches in 36 hours!
Fortunately, I have some extra hands helping me stay abreast. Bertha (Berta), who has worked with me for over 20 years and is a master vinádor, does the majority of the essential shoot thinning, one of the critical methods to canopy management, so we don’t need to use pesticides. Most days her husband, Pietro, helps as his second job.
I also have a student intern, Carlos, who is providing some help as he learns the hands-on aspects of vineyard management. We also have Gabriel, a Wwoofer, for a couple of months lending his hands. He is a third-year law student interning at Columbia Legal Services.
We are dealing with some significant winter freeze damage from the cold front in January. A couple of varieties got hammered and now require extensive rehabilitation.
Interestingly, Chenin Blanc, historically one of the cold-sensitive cultivars, is the least affected. Is this because we eliminated the viruses that previously infected it? Why was Cabernet Sauvignon, traditionally considered quite freeze-tolerant hit pretty hard? It’s inverse to the damage we saw before the Clean Plant Program. Puzzling.
Every year is a new scenario that generates lots of questions and occasionally an insight. After 40+ years in vineyards, I am not always sure what the heck I’m doing. I still feel like I’m in Kindergarten.
