Good Chemistry, Questionable Grapes

Mike,

I much prefer Coyote Karen as a lab partner, but how could I refuse your request to run an acid test on the Petit Sirah we picked this morning especially after you crushed it and Gatored it over to our place? Thank you.

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you with the lab results. I just returned to the house with Bluey in tow. He had been out chasing she-coyotes in heat, again. (I guess I would do the same if I were him -- after all, aren't all men dogs?) I should have known something was up last week as he began making low moans that grew into howls. I thought he was lamenting the loss of his friend Carlyle, the neighbor's cat, who went missing after an evening outside attending the Coyote's Ball. Instead, it was either an 8-year itch or a mid-life crisis, because for all the years of his life he's never, ever been one to roam. Well, that's what a hot bitch in a fur coat can do to a dog (and a man).

After the harvest I had planned to bring Bluey to the Three Priests for the Blessing of the Animals (if not outright confession for his recent transgressions) as the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, is upon us. As I was getting ready to leave, the Queen showed up short of breath yelling "Karl Rove" had returned from the dead. (She can't pronounce C-a-r-l-y-l-e; the word comes out sounding like the Republican political strategist, which reminds me of our old friend Joe the Wino -- where is he? Out campaigning with the Tea Party?) Now a cat who dances with coyotes, disappears for a week and was proclaimed a goner but returns is a sight to be seen. He's our neighbor's cat and good vineyard friend. They asked us to look after him but it was like looking after a ghost because he was not to be seen, only a trail of dried blood drops from the cathouse to the woods as Carlyle had been injured just after they left. I went up to the house and sure enough he was asleep under the deck (had he been there the whole week and simply ignored our calls when changing his water and leaving fresh food?) I approached him carefully (perhaps he had rabies?) but he seemed well enough, if a bit beat up and tired. I put him inside the neighbor's house, feed him and comforted him. It was too late to drive to the church service, so (with apologies to the Three Priests for missing yet another church service) we just gave thanks where we were for the bountiful harvest and all the animals in our lives, especially the cats and dogs that survived while playing around with coyotes.

I headed back down the mountain to do your lab work, started a barbecue of sausages (somehow we had forgotten to eat today despite all the work) and then went out and took a sample of Grenache berries to measure their ripeness and to provide a control for the tests. The grill was smokey when I came back and the sausages were darker than a black cat. So much for eating.

I had 3 samples to test. The sample of Petit Sirah (PS) you gave me. The Grenache from our vineyard (as a control), and a sample of PS I took from our share of today's harvest. That sure was one of the most interesting harvests we've seen over the years, a perfect storm of powdery mildew, Pierce's disease and a blasted heat wave that taken together ravaged the grapes resulting in the lowest amount of juice we've ever seen. The mildew had decimated a good percentage of the vineyard, reducing what should have been plump grapes to dried out shells, without flavor nor sugar. And, what were plump berries just a week ago were shriveled by the surprise heat wave this week. Decimated by Pierce's disease and a fraction of its former self, it's become something of a family tradition to travel to Valley Center, the next hill over, each year for this harvest of the Scotchman's grapes and this year did not disappoint. In another chapter of the miracle of Don's vineyard, somehow, grape must was produced again this year in abundant quantity which should yield a barrel or two of distinguished wine. Yet, this 2010 vintage, with all of those skins, is going to present a challenge. Here's my strategy: cold soak for 4 days to extract as much fruit flavors and "soft tannins" as possible. Then, ferment for 3 - 4 days (without extending the fermentation beyond that). Then, pressing lightly (which is our normal custom) to produce a well balanced finished product to be blended to perfection with another grape, perhaps Petit Verdot to make another round of "Petit-Petit."

We were both pleasantly surprised to see that the brix (i.e., sugars) were in good shape ... close to 23.5 and likely to increase nicely with cold soaking because of all the raisins (not to mention skins) which should result in a bold Petit Sirah). And the pH was under control. But as I left, you pulled me aside and whispered that you were getting a reading of .9 on the acid, and would I mind checking it at our place because surely the acid could not be that high? Perhaps your test chemicals were out of date?

I have good news and good news and good news. There's nothing wrong with your testing procedure, nor your chemicals. Of the sample you gave me, I also measured TA (tartaric acid) of .91 with my equipment and my methodology. And, it should be noted that I measured .97 on not such a random sample from "our grapes" from the same vineyard. (For the record, I tested the acid of our Grenache, which was low as expected given the long hang time of this year's harvest.) Although you're concerned that the level of acid of PS is too high, let me share with you some wisdom about brix and acid from a master, my old mentor Angelo Pellegrini (bless his heart) who wrote almost 30 years ago in his book "Lean Years, Happy Years" :

"It has been established by years of experience that ... the sugar and acidity in the must will be adequate if the range is between 20 and 24 percent by volume of the one and .6 and 1 percent of the other. These are the minimum and the optimum.... I have found that when the sugar percentage is 23-plus and the total acidity near .8, the result will be a wine that will elicit the highest praise. Of such a wine we would say that the total acidity and the sugar in the must were in nearly perfect balance."

We are not too far from that my friend, and, with the luxury (and skill) of blending, we can achieve it.

So let us drink to the memory of Angelo, to the celebration of the harvest, to the nubile maidens (those who joined us and to those who dream of joining us some day) who crush the grapes, and to the cats and dogs and coyotes, and to good wine and good friends and our induction into the Order of Wise Old Peasants. Cheers!

Test Results:

Your Petit Sirah Sample: 23 brix; pH = 3.45; TA= .91
Our Petit Sirah Sample: 23.5 brix; pH = 3.54 TA = .97
Our Grenache Sample: 24 brix; pH = 3.55; TA=.56

Brix measured with refractometer.

Editor's Note: We welcome low acid on the Grenache because we have plenty of high acid wine with which to blend. Stay tuned for the Grenache harvest next week and the waiting of Petit Verdot.

Pictures: From top to bottom: 1) Bluey's Call of the Wild 2) Carlyle (aka, Karl Rove) 3) Petit Sirah vineyard in Valley Center, CA 4) Example of Powdery Mildew damage

Troubling Signs In The Vineyard: Time To Call in Disease Sleuth

Approximately 100 vines in the vineyard are showing troubling signs: dormancy; stunted growth; dried baby shoots; discolored yellowish leaves. Managing a vineyard requires being a sleuth to discern what's going on. Four cases, with accompanying photographs, are discussed below. (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

Case #1. Two blocks of 3rd leaf Petit-Sirah vines (about 50 plants) are not putting out shoots along the cordon. To paraphrase Monty Python, are they dead or just resting? It's late in the season for them not to have budbreak. At first, I thought we had burned the vines by applying too much lime sulfur mixed with organic JMS Stylet oil during their dormant spray. (Repeat, the vines were dormant, no green showing when we sprayed in winter.) Pete Anderson, who teaches vineyard management at Mira Costa Community College, assures me that is impossible. (On the other hand, in our backback sprayer the sulfur concentrates at the bottom and I'm sure these vines received an extra fortified dosage.) Pete asked me to clip the "deadwood" of the vines back to see if they are alive, and when I cut the ends of the cordon, I find that the sap is flowing. The vines seem to be alive, and shoots are coming out from the bottom of the trunks. Pete said another possibility is Pierce's Disease (PD), but to my understanding, to test for PD you need leaves, and these vines are not putting out leaves (except some new shoots at the base). At first, I didn't think PD was likely for this block, because it wasn't an area where we had seen many glassy wing sharp shooters (GWSS), which are vectors for the disease (plus, we had administered AdmirePro in the spring to ward off the GWSS). Could a pair of gophers have wiped out the vines? I began to see PD as a real possibility, so I called the San Diego County Dept. of Agriculture and left a message. My call was promptly returned (excellent customer service!) by Ms. Pat Nolan, an expert on PD whom I had heard give an engaging, authoritative lecture on PD at Mira Costa Community College last year. Ms. Nolan suggested I dig up a whole vine with roots intact so that she could run some tests to see what's bothering it. (The picture at left shows the spot where the sacrificial vine came from -- along with its colleagues down the row with no leaves). Mateo dug up the vine in protest saying it was healthy. I drove the vine down to the county office and dropped it off for Ms. Nolan's department to conduct the autopsy.

Case #2. Similar to the above, except that the vines are not dormant. They have put out shoots. However, many of the shoots have wrinkled leaves and are not vigorous. And, the leaf color is not as deep a green as healthier cousins. A whole block (30 vines of Petit-Sirah) looks similar to this. I invited Matt Hand of Southern California Entomology, a disease expert, to come and inspect. He suspects PD, but to be sure, he suggested we test it. I took leaf samples from this vine (shown at left) and brought it to the County for evaluation.

Case #3. Case three involves a row of Tempranillo vines which is the most vigorous row in the vineyard as it is at the bottom of the hill where there is actually some top soil, and, some vines may have tapped into the nutrients and moisture of the leach field. Of 25 vines in this row about 20 are impacted. The signs are little growth (which Mr. Hand calls "witchbrooming"), uneven growth (with shoots concentrated at the center of the vine and not pushing out the ends) and discoloration (which Mr. Hand calls "chlorosis"). This was an area of heavy sharpshooter concentration at the end of last year's growing season, and Mr. Hand strongly suspects PD. I'm preparing the chain saw to cut them down and a crew to dig them out and placing an order to Novavines for replacements. I sent a sample of leaves from the vine shown at left to the County for analysis, just to be sure. (PD can be transferred from an infected vine to a healthy vine by sharpshooters; hence the need to remove infected vines from the vineyard.)

Case #4 is not as clear cut. This involves the Grenache block on the opposite side of the vineyard. Very few sharpshooters have been observed in this area. Yet, to borrow a phrase from Sesame Street, "some of these vines are not like the others." The vine at left is showing slightly off colored leaves, and some very weak shoots. Could the small dead shoots be caused by too much wind? Did compost I place around the vines in Winter rob them of nitrogen? Has a dodgy gopher been attacking the vine unknown to us? Is the vine not getting enough nutrients? Concerning nutrition, it's almost time to take a petiole sample to conduct an analysis of the vine's uptake of nutrients, which is done when the grapes are "flowering." Meantime, to find out if PD could be the cause, I took a sample of leaves from this plant and sent it to the county.

So, you want to be a farmer?

Zombie Vines & Zombie Banks

They're out there. Vines that are sending out shoots, sprouting leaves and setting fruit. They are green today but when summer comes and they try to move water from the roots to the leaves they can't. The leaves won't get water. They will turn red and brown and shrivel and the vines will die. There are dying vines in the vineyard and I don't know which ones. They are zombie vines infected with Pierce's Disease, the #1 enemy of vineyards in Southern California where the sharpshooters fly. Those pesky sharpshooters. Glassy winged. They suck the juices from an infected vine, become infected themselves (they are born innocent) then go and bite a healthy vine who becomes a zombie.

When we planted our vineyard two years ago I noticed some interesting bugs on the vines. Move near them and they instinctively scuttle to the other side of the shoot to hide. Clever rascals. Paso Robles Bill, who planted his micro vineyard two months before us that year, called in a panic: "I have sharpshooters in the vineyard!"
"Are those the ugly bugs that hide on the other side of the shoot when you move near and look like frogs with a flat alligator nose?" Yes. I was told to wait until I had significant growth in our vines before applying AdmirePro, a regulated chemical (very similar to nicotine I'm told) that costs about $1,000/quart and repels the sharpshooters. Sharpshooters don't like the taste of vines with admire (which will kill them) and will stay away from them. Bill, whose vines were taller with plenty of foliage, inoculated his vines right away. We didn't, not until Labor Day. Last year, when I saw red leaves in the vineyard I panicked and called an entomologist who inspected the vines and told me that the redness was a varietal characteristic of Tempranillo. I had dodged a bullet. We even had a vine tested for Pierce's disease -- and the report came back with good news. However, Paso Robles Bill said that the incubation period can be up to three years, so I may not see any sign of the disease until next year, or the year after. And so they are out there, zombie vines. And, I just found a sharpshooter in the vineyard last week. And, another one today.

Just got back from a meeting with Pat Nolan, San Diego County's plant pathologist, and she gladly answered my long list of questions, including, how long is the incubation period? She assured me that an infected vine would show symptoms the next year. Looks like we dodged a bullet. And, that one vine in the vineyard which isn't putting out shoots? "Rip it out."

If admire is similar to nicotine, I'll ask my princess the college student to do some research: clone the nicotine gene from tobacco into vinus vinifera to produce sharpshooter resistant vines. There is likely to be an additional benefit from the nicotine: drinkers will get hooked on our wine.

Just received a notice from the bank. The line of credit we've had for 10 years will not be renewed and the bank is demanding payment of $50,000. Worse than zombie vines are zombie banks. Time for a fire sale to feed the zombie bank: One thousand bottles of wine for sale at $49/piece .... any takers? Perhaps I can work out a swap with the bank.

Troubling Signs: Vineyard Pests

There were troubling signs in the vineyard. Namely, a number of the Tempranillo vines were starting to show red leaves (which I thought may have been due to their age and some stress). More worrisome was the Zinfandel vine putting out brilliant red leaves combined with abnormal growth. So, we called in an expert, an entomologist from Valley Center.

The major concern in Southern California Vineyards is Pierce's Disease (PD) which will kill the vines. The vector is the glassy winged sharpshooter. These are interesting and crafty bugs. When they detect your hand, they move to the other side of the stem (so you can't see them). But, they're easy to trick ... put your hand on the "hidden side" and they'll come into your view.

Shortly after we planted our vines a year ago, we had an "infestation" of sharpshooters in the vineyard. We found them on many plants, and also on the "yellow sticky things". We definitely had them. When we spoke with our vineyard consultant about this, he recommended waiting until the vines had reached the cordon wire before applying "admire" -- a treatment against sharpshooters. The application was done on the last day of August last year -- what I don't know is if any of our vines are "infected" (because they were certainly exposed to the pests last year) -- and some of the red leaves I was seeing was a cause for concern.

On July 4th, we walked the vineyard with Matt, the entomologist. Good news about the Tempranillo -- the red leaves were just showing signs of age. (Picture at left.) Matt did observe some signs of stress, most likely caused by the heat wave two weeks ago -- and, as suspected, we have not been watering enough (I was trying to make the vines hunt for their water -- perhaps a little too much. In any event, no harm done -- and perhaps even stronger vines.) In the Aglianico area, we found signs of mildew, but nothing to be alarmed about -- the temperature has been well in excess of 85. Another reason we are not so concerned with mildew this year is we are not planning to harvest grapes for wine -- just a little for the farmers market.

The Zinfandel caught his attention -- but he's not 100% sure it's PD -- so, he cut samples from the vine, and will ship them to the lab for testing. We'll know in a couple of weeks if we have a problem.

We've upped the watering -- giving each vine approximately 8 gallons of water once a week.... the Petit Syrah at the bottom of the hill (which is where the rich soil is) have turned into a jungle. Within this tropical rain forest I found the King Kong of Grapes, a Godzilla cluster which was 10 clusters bunched together, on a second year vine whose trunk resembled the Ent Trees from Lord of The Rings. Since we're concerned with root growth this year -- it looks like we've got it in this area. I wonder if some of these vines have found their own source of water: the leach field?!