Well, Hello There!
It seems summer has arrived, just
in time. We have a fairly determined breeze with about 20 mph gusts and temperatures
in the lower 90s. The haunt of September 2003 seems to be visiting today. Our
Pinot Noir clusters that survived the thinning process are sporting a nice
purple to "gunmetal blue" tan. We will be removing wings beginning
this week. We have not detected any signs of Botrytis from the August rains;
however, I was sleeping easier at night knowing I had sprayed for it at cluster
close and veraison. Veraison seemed to happen somewhere around the 5th,
and then again on the 12th. I think many clusters are carrying
berries from separate and distinct pollination periods. They are mutually
exclusive and collectively exhaustive, if only we could ferment them that way.
Here are the numbers through
August. We have recorded about 442 degree days for the month of August,
providing a total of 1,496 degree days since the beginning of the growing
season on April 1st. This compares with 503 degree days last August
and a comparative total of 1,750 degree days for 2006. In 2005 we had
accumulated 1,630 degree days through the end of August. Add 645 degree days if
you think we will be having a 2003 September, or 360 degree days if you like
the odds of a 2005 September.
During August, our highest high was 97.1 and our lowest
high was 90.9. Our lowest low was 44.7 and our highest low was 49.0 degrees
Fahrenheit. The rainfall for August was 0.78 inches and was 0.73 inches over
last August's rain of 0.05. Rainfall since April 1st through August
31st was 4.44 inches, and is 0.03 inches less than last year's
growing season to date rainfall of 4.41 inches (How about that for
insignificant!) From the vines' point of view, we are 254 degree days short of
last year and about spot on for rainfall.
The cover crop is still mostly dormant and is being
sustained from the morning dew. The canopy is very green, lush and healthy. The
canes are lignifying to a "café au lait" brown that sets off the dark
clusters at first light. Sorry, I got confused and grabbed my marketing hat.
Back to farming. I took the
precaution of a 3rd hedge to remove as many growing tips as
possible. I gambled that if we continued to see a cool down in September, that
I had done what I could to achieve harvest within the month of October. If we
have a warm September, well then I have removed more young leaf tissue that
would have transpired excess water and contributed to over-ripe phenolics.
Heads I win, tails we call it a draw. If nothing else, in 30 days we will be
"all-knowing." So, we got that going for us, and that's nice.
We are seeing a few birds, mostly
in our neighbors' fields. I have 2 "Bird Gard" devices that replicate
the sounds of birds of prey in a target rich environment and also the sounds of
said meals being plucked from the sky. The mylar streamers we put out remind me
of Christmas tinsel and it is nice to see the wind catching them when driving
along the road. And of course, we are trapping yellow jackets at the rate 10 to
the 7th power. Or about 10,000,000 cells per mil, if you are into
that sort of thing.
The only issue I see at this point
is the split berries. As is typical, my favorite clone 114 seems to be
showing the worst. The remainder of the field has some instances, but not
significant. I am hopeful that the warm temperature and dry breezes will be of
help. The main issue I can control is yellow jacket damage. As I mentioned
above, we are "on it." If that fails, we will pull out "The Big
Guns" - see attached: http://www.remington.com/pdfs/msds/ss8ga.pdf
Ernie
