Hello and Welcome,
This is the Amalie Robert Estate
Climate Update for June 2017.
But let's start with an update from the press room. Wine
Enthusiast Magazine, October 2017 issue:
2014 Heirloom Cameo Chardonnay – 92 points
2015 Her Silhouette Chardonnay – 91 points, Editors’ Choice
We dedicate this June climate update
to the birds, the bugs and the weeds. Wine berries are self pollinating, so we
will leave the bees out for this go ‘round. And we will introduce you to our
two pet deer – Hanz and Franz. Hanz is the one with the big ears.
Just like people, there are two
kinds of bugs - good bugs and bad bugs. Bad bugs survive from eating parts of
our grapevines. During the winter, these bugs can bore into the dormant vine
and literally eat what would have become next year’s fruit. When all the other
vines are waking up and growing wonderfully healthy green shoots and leaves,
the victimized vine has stunted and damaged shoots if any shoots at all. In the
plant world, this would be known as a “rude awakening.”
Then there are the bugs that feed
off the leaves, draining the vine of its essential vascular fluids. This is no
way to live. And let’s not forget the jolly little blighters at harvest time
that want to eat the wine berries just before they are cluster plucked and
sting anyone who gets near them. These bastards simply must go!
Good bugs are the bugs that eat
the bad bugs. There are all manner of good bugs, including spiders that make up
the front line of defense for the vines. They are out there every day engaged
in mortal combat with the sole purpose of protecting the vines that grow our
wines. We love these guys, and gals! And the next time you see a ladybug, just
remember there are more than just a few notches on her lipstick case.
In the hopeful event that all of
the bad bugs have been vanquished by the good bugs, the good bugs still need to
eat. And that is where the weeds come in, “cover crop” to the trained eye, but
we can go with “specialized weeds” for now. The most vital thing that these
specialized weeds can do is flower. Because when these cover crops flower, they
produce pollen. And from a good bug point of view pollen is protein. So
logically, when the good bugs can’t find any bad bug protein to eat, they can
tide themselves over on some Buckwheat and Vetch pollen. And thus each summer
we sustain the 24 by 7, 365 day protection for our vines.
And let’s spend just a minute on
our insectary. An insectary is a place to propagate bugs. There are a couple of
ways to do this. One is to set aside a plot of land and plant certain flora to
attract the bugs you want. The idea is that those bugs will then go forth into
the vineyard and do your bidding against those nasty bad bugs. Or, you could do
it the Ernie way, which takes longer and costs more money.
The Ernie way involves planting
our insectary right in the vineyard. Every other row is planted to season
specific cover crops in the spring and fall that foster populations of good
bugs. And since they are right in the vineyard, they don’t have far to go to
find the bad bugs to sustain them. That and there are places to hide, pollen to
eat and the opportunity to propagate even more good bugs. Honey bees like
pollen too, and it is nice to encourage their populations as well. And get this
– our insectary covers about 17.5 acres. Technically speaking, that’s a lotta
bugs. But wait there’s more! The cover crops get tilled into the soil to feed
our vines in the spring and the fall. The Ernie way - maybe he is onto
something here after all…
And now on to the birds. Once
again, we see two distinct categories of bird - the good birds and bad birds.
Bad birds are the ones that are out in the vineyard carrying away this year’s
harvest. When it’s bad, it’s very, very bad. In 2011 we estimate about 5 tons,
or 300 cases of wine just up and flew out of the vineyard. Being the farming
geniuses that we are, we have learned how to net our perfect little Pinot Noir
clusters and deny the ravenous air assault our precious bounty. But we also
encourage a little proactive assault of our own.
The first specimen of good birds
we want to encourage are the insect eating variety. The barn swallow and
greenback swallow nest in different habitats but we have them both out on daily
patrols during the summer. The fly like mini F-16’s and are always around a moving
tractor that creates a “target rich environment.” Sayonara Mr. Yellowjacket!
And lastly, we have the raptors –
Good birds that eat bad birds. When the bad birds are getting out of hand, we
call in for air support. We go from Kestrels to Sharp Shinned Hawks to some
relation of the Peregrine Falcon that is so fast we never get a good look at
them and finally the majestic Redtail Hawks. The fact that the wild cherry
trees still have ripe cherries on them is an indicator that this is working
just fine. And the cherries are really, really good!
Ok, so to put that in a nutshell,
we had a very good germination of cover crop, our vines are healthy and we
haven’t been bothered by birds or bugs. But, we have been fighting the
explosive farming growth in the canopy and are behind in harnessing that growth
with our 3 sets of catch wires. As a farmer if you are not complaining about
something, then you obviously have no idea what is going on.
Catch wires and the hedger are
the way we shift the vine from a vegetative state to a ripening state. Vines
are in fact vines and they are first and foremost climbers. If left unchecked
they could grow 30 foot shoots. This is the vegetative state – growing long,
climbing shoots and leaves to support that growth. Their objective is to grow
into a sunny spot so that they can ripen their seeds and reproduce. Flora or
fauna, we all seem to be after the same thing…
The roots however are in a deep state,
and you can learn all about that by watching the circus that is the modern day
media.
Right, we need about 5 feet worth
of growth. So as the shoots grow, we try and keep pace by putting up the first
catch wire at about 8 inches of growth, the second at about 30 inches of growth
and then we top out the trellis at 42 inches of growth. The hedger is then set
to a maximum height to remove any growth above 60 inches.
What we want is a canopy that is
no taller than 90 inches so that we maximize sunlight collection in our solar
array, also known as the canopy. We have 60 inches of leafy green canopy that
starts at 30 inches above the vineyard floor and that gets us to 90 inches. The
hedger makes sure of that.
And here is why: Our rows are 90
inches apart – exactly (Note: Exactly is a relative term when used in farming
parlance.) So any shorter and we are not catching all the light we can and any
taller we would be shading the next row.
The clusters of wine berries hang
somewhere about 36 to 42 inches off the vineyard floor. Right where Hanz and
Franz can find them. Now, trust us we have tried to liberate them from our
farm, but they will have none of it. One day they are out, and then the next
day they are back as if transported by the Enterprise herself. So, we have agreed to adopt
them. They are both young bucks and their antlers are still in velvet. They look
very cute as they munch on a shoot that eluded the near certain cut of the
hedger.
Once the wires are up and the
hedger has made its first pass, the season is about half over. We will hedge
again, probably twice, and then assess the amount of fruit Mother Nature has bestowed
upon us. Of course we have ordered barrels for the new vintage, but really
don’t know if we will have the right amount until October…
The next thought process involves
determining what the second half of the season will bring and how much fruit we
will leave on the vine. If we leave too much, we can’t ripen it all. Leave too
little and it will ripen too fast with high alcohol and little aroma or flavor.
And then there are the fall rains to ponder. This is usually done over a period
of several days and often results in a nap, or an Adult Recreational Beverage
(ARB.)
So after much ado, here is what
the first half of the growing season looks like. The vines are not as far along
as the last few vintages due to cooler temperatures, but unfortunately we are
no farther ahead in arresting their growth. While this is an unfortunate set of
circumstances, it is not uncommon. It is farming.
We recorded 334.9 degree days for
the month of June, providing a vintage to date total of 560.5 degree days. Our high temperature was 99.3
degrees and our low temperature was 44.4 degrees Fahrenheit. We received no
measurable rainfall during June.
Comparatively speaking, the 2016
vintage recorded 363.1 degree days for a vintage to date total of a blistering
805.1 degree days.
Future Note: The vineyard will
experience a full eclipse on August 21, 2017. This seems to have the humans in
a dither, but we are confident that Hanz, Franz and the vines will pull through
just fine. Maybe we will have a “Full Eclipse” bottling this year, where the
artwork will be black on black.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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