Hello
and Welcome,
The April Pink Super Moon
(on National HEMI Day 4/26)
was quite a sight to see all up close and personal. Not that it was actually
pink in color, but instead it derives its pink moniker from Phlox subulata—commonly
called creeping phlox or moss phlox—which also went by the name “moss pink”
which blooms in the northern HEMIsphere this time of year. And as you would
imagine, the blooms are pink.
A FLOG communication
(Farming bLOG) by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette
Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Have a look and see what we see on Instagram @AmalieRobert Estate. We
are ramping up on FaceBook! (If you don’t
like us, we don’t wanna know…)
While there is no vintage 2020 Rosé due to the potential for smoke tainted
wine, we do have a little bit of the sublime 2019 and a few bottles of the
highly perfumed (think Wadenswil) 2018 barrel aged Pinot in Pink vintage Rosé
to offer. You can read our FLOG posting on the smoke impacted vintage 2020
here.
Note: We have been doing some structural updates to our on-line presence, so if
our pages are not displaying correctly, you may need to toss your cookies. More
specifically, the cookies in your browser settings.
Tilling and Drilling – Preparing the Vineyard Floor for Vintage 2021
The vineyard floor is what we refer to as the top foot of soil. This area is
where we as winegrowers can impact the nutrients and soil moisture that will be
available throughout the growing season. And like everything else in farming,
there is a specific and limited window of opportunity available.
The vineyard floor is really 2 vineyards in one. Every other row is planted to
a permanent cover whose only treatment is mowing. In our case, permanent grass
means Tall Fawn Fescue – it’s a bunch grass also known as Festuca.
Viticulturally speaking, mowing this permanent cover can significantly impact
the amount of soil moisture available to the vines. A short cut means the grass
uses less water, leaving more available to the vines. Letting the grass grow
takes more water out of the soil profile. This can be useful in areas that have
deep moist soils.
Canes before and after mowing.
And we mow up last years canes in the permanent cover crop rows. The browns and
greens are what keeps our soil microbes busy digesting and then releasing all
of these nutrients for our vines. The permanent cover crop rows also provide
our beneficial insects (think lady bugs, ear wigs and all kinds of
spiders) a place to call home.
Ernie drilling in cover crop.
The cover crop rows are where we till the soil and incorporate the cover crops
to naturally supply nutrients to our vines. Last fall, Ernie drilled in a
winter cover crop of Austrian winter Peas and Barley. These two plants help to
hold the soil onto the hill during the winter rains and provide nutrients when
tilled into the soil the following spring.
Opening up the soil with the chisel plow and the open air crawler.
But first we open up the soil with a chisel plow. This tool has a fairly simple
job. It breaks up any tire compaction, trims off shallow vine roots and helps
to aerate the soil. And it is hooked up to the open air crawler, so Ernie gets
a refreshing springtime ride. It’s kinda like driving around in a top down 911
Porsche. Kinda…
Mixing in the cover crop with the rototiller to feed the vines.
Next up is the rototiller. This tool mixes the green cover crops with the soil
and places it right below the surface. We consider the soil to be the plant’s
stomach, and dinner is served!
Buckwheat and vetch starting the growing season.
Buckwheat is a fantastic little plant with Superpowers! First off, it can start
to bloom about 3 weeks after it germinates. Pollen is protein and a good
dietary supplement when our army of carnivorous predatory insects can’t find
any mites or other hapless victims to feast upon.
It is also a great soil conditioner and enhances the activity of mycorrhiza fungi.
Mycorrhiza fungi function as a symbiotic extension of the vines root system.
The plant makes organic molecules such as sugars by photosynthesis and supplies
them to the fungus, and the fungus in kind supplies the vine water and mineral
nutrients, such as phosphorus, taken from the soil.
Common Vetch (and Austrian winter Peas) adds to the mix by fixing nitrogen from
the atmosphere to its root system. Both the Buckwheat and Common Vetch survive
in our dry farmed vineyard from the morning dew of an “on-shore flow”, meaning
moisture and humidity riding the jet stream in from the coast. Once these cover
crop plants are tilled into the soil, the soil microbes convert the green plant
material into nutrients the vine can use. Spring or fall, we till it all!
Spring growth in the Chardonnay block.
The numbers. April 2021 was a bipolar month if ever there was such a
thing. Our high temperature blazed 90.9 degrees on April 18th at 3:30 pm, while
our cold temperature was a frosty 27.9 degrees on April 5th at 6:30 am.
Our Degree Days reflected the warm temperatures later in April logging a total
of 236.8 Degree Days. The first half of April contributing 89.8 and the second
half with the remaining 147.0 Degree Days. Quite a respectable start to the
vintage and it certainly explains the rate of growth in the vines and the
grass. Ill-fated vintage 2020 began the growing season with 133.5 Degree Days.
Rain showers totaled 1.01 inches and came in two tranches, both at the end of
the month. The first recording 0.43 inches and the second 0.58 inches. These
showers are exactly what our cover crop seeds needed for germination and
establishment. So far, so good!
Dena & Ernie
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