Hello and Welcome,Happy 4th of July!
This is the climate update for the month of June 2013.
Just when you thought you had all
of the questions figured out, the legislature starts changing the answers. If
you would have asked us what a “Wine Growler” was a few years ago, we would
have said it is a guy who grows grapes for wine that is not all that happy with
the current growing season, or maybe a wine reviewer.
Today in Oregon ,
a Wine Growler is a container that you can take to your locally enlightened
alcohol purveyor who will, for a modest fee, fill your Growler with Oregon
Ecologically speaking, this
removes all of the glass, labels, protective foils, pesky corks and screwoffs
that get in the way of enjoying Oregon 
Whaddya know, the 2013 vintage is
now “on the vine.” After a fairly nice Spring and relatively early bloom
period, we are the proud stewards of little pea sized berries! It is still a
little early to tell what the crop load will be, but it seems more likely than
not that we may have a “low drama” harvest. Ernie is thinking it could be a
little early, maybe somewhat similar to 2009. That vintage is just starting to
show off a little something above the knee.
June gave us the full complement
of weather including the “June Gloom” which proceeded to arrive on the longest
day of the year. The June Gloom typically vacations here from the Gulf of Alaska . It brings with it a full contingent of dark,
overcast skies that blot out the sun and very humid temperatures with a spot of
rain. It is pretty typical slug and fungus weather, and certainly not as fun as
our favorite fall weather - duck and fungus.
The cover crop took full
advantage of the 1.24 inches of June rainfall. The Buckwheat has started to
flower and we are seeing all manner of insects looking for a little free pollen
lunch. The Vetch is on a slower trajectory, but it has more to do. As you read
this, it is pulling Nitrogen out of the air and putting it in the soil. And there
it will remain until mid-September when Ernie tills it into the soil. The
Nitrogen will then help breakdown the Buckwheat and Vetch green material. All
of this organic matter will become natural fertilizer for our vines in the
fall.
Now, the vines don’t miss much.
Not only are they burning through all that easy to get soil moisture, they are
also sporting shoots that are overgrowing the trellis. This time of year is
really hard to keep pace with 44,155 not so little winemakers. But persevere we
must, until we have trapped all of the shoot growth in 3 sets of catch wires.
These wires are important to growing great wine because they help separate the
leaves and the fruit. This separation allows for sunlight penetration and air circulation
in the canopy. This in turn dries out any excess moisture that can lead to Mildew
and Botrytis that will compromise our grape clusters. Clean, disease free fruit
allows for increased hang time in October, and that can put the finishing flavor
and aroma touches on the 2013 vintage.
We save the numbers for last, so
you can skip all the fluff and wade right into the analytical minutiae of winegrowing.
The month of June accumulated a
whopping 387.4 degree days, had a high of 95.2 (recorded June 30 at 3:40 pm) and
a low of 43.0 (recorded June 14 at 3:20 am) with 1.24 inches of rain. This
brings the 2013 growing season up to 668.8 degree days from April 1 through June
30. Rainfall for the growing season is now up to 6.24 inches. Well now, we may
just have a “contender” vintage on our hands here.
And this is what it looked like
in 2012: The month of June accumulated 244.2 degree days, had a high of 86.6
and a low of 37.2 with 2.92 inches of rain. This brought the 2012 growing
season up to 480.3 degree days since April 1. And yes, we did receive exactly
2.92 inches of rain last June. We would say this is odd, but it is divisible by
2. Was it sampling error? Ah yes, the “human” terroir factor.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
