Hello and Welcome,
Here they come! It’s that time of
year again – Bud Break. The first intrepid vines to show off some new leaves
did so on April 5th, 2016. This is a little later than March 24th, 2015, but
closer to the historical average of April 15th. While we need to wait until we
see the vines flower before we can predict a harvest date, we can certainly
deploy the first stages of the farming plan.
The vineyard floor is where it
all begins with the Spring mow job. All of the prior year shoots have been
removed from the trellis wires and placed in the alternating permanent grass
rows. Ernie’s first task is to run the flail mower through these rows to chop
up the dried canes and mix them with the fresh grass clippings – Browns and
Greens.
This begins the nutrient recycle
program at Amalie Robert Estate. The soil is the vine’s stomach and every other
row represents the “chow line.” The astute reader will notice that by placing
the canes in every other row, Ernie only has to drive half the vineyard, saving
not only diesel and time, but also a trip to the back cracker. The therapy
sessions, however, continue unabated.
And this being a leap year, we
also bear witness to the spectacle that is the race for the highest office of
the land. Since the citizenry chose leap year for this extravaganza, we are all
exposed to an extra day of disturbation surrounding these events. (Yes, this is
a word. At least it was in Webster’s 1913 dictionary.)
And the first week of April saw
record high temperatures in the Willamette
Valley
Prepare to be FLOG’d! Each month,
as the growing season unfolds leading up to the great cluster pluck, we will be
updating our Farming bLOG (aka FLOG) with pertinent,
relevant and somewhat irreverent updates to the 2016 vintage. We are just
farmin’ it like it is, so don’t shoot the messenger.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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