Thinning The Shoots

San Diego's weather the last few weeks has been what you imagine it to be: beautiful. It's been warmer the last few days than most days in June and we're finally thawing out after the cold and storms that visited us in winter. The new green shoots of the vines are loving the sun and growing inches by the day. As the globe celebrated Earthhour on Saturday we were the last of "the wave" that circulated round the world turning out our lights. So it is with ringing in the New Year with California among the last populated time zones to cheer the clock strike twelve. But when it comes to vines it's as if budbreak in North America starts here first, right in our backyard. And as some of the first shoots reached the first wire, it's time to thin them, the idea being to have more or less two shoots per spur, approximately sixteen shoots per vine (on our 6' ft. spaced vines), more or less. It being early in the season, and with the possibility of El Nino's last desperate gasp at rain (the little baby seems to have disappeared in March), I leave extra shoots, just in case. The objective is to have proper spacing between remaining shoots to improve air flow making powdery mildew easier to manage. Also, we're not trying to grow the "most fruit" but the "best fruit" and thinning reduces yield.



Saturday was also Bluey's birthday. He's now a robust 8 years old about the same age as me in dog years and for an Australian Shepherd, he's mellowing out and aging quite nicely, just like the wine in the barrels.

The Queen spied her first snake of the season this afternoon among the rocks of the Protea Garden. "It was a nice snake,"' she said.
"How do you know?" To her, any snake that doesn't bite her is nice.
"It didn't rattle."
"Could it have been one of the new deadlier breeds that doesn't rattle?" Darwin has been working his laws of evolution with the snakes of this region. Since those that rattle tend to get killed, survival of the fittest is resulting in snakes that don't make noise.

A Masterpiece: A Perfect Row of Vines

In the six years we've been writing about winemaking then grape growing these pages have recounted countless mistakes, obstacles and disasters which is to be expected as I have no natural ability to succeed at such endeavors as make wine or farm land. But as I tied and primed a row of newer Aglianico vines on Sunday I observed something I've rarely seen before and certainly never recounted on these pages: a row of perfect vines. Well balanced, with good plumbing. Well formed, with no mildew nor mold. These are vines we did by the book. After the first year, we pruned them back to two buds just above the ground, so that last year they sent out strong shoots we could lay down as cordons. In this particular row, we decided to train one arm, a single cordon, for straight plumbing. As these vines enter their third year now, they are picture perfect. A success story. A masterpiece. Next quest: the perfect glass of wine. On that score, I was inspired this week by Andrew Lloyd Weber. I'm dreaming of creating a "Phantom" wine, whomsoever drinks of it will experience the full power of a love that never dies. Would you share a glass?

More Trouble: Training 2nd Year Vines

The vines have been in the ground for one year. We pruned as instructed this winter; a couple of inches above the cordon wire, in the expectation of taking new shoots from below the wire and fashioning even, strong cordons. Friends, if I were doing this again, I would watch out for pruning "above the wire", especially for vigorous vines. What happened is that the new growth came in significantly above the wire, and it's difficult to bend those puppies down without breaking them off. We're wondering if we just need to top the vines and start all over? (Note: A quick call to the consultant Frank: his advice: do not top the vines; if necessary, clip the vines shooting straight up; that should force new growth below the shoot, in a more horizontal direction.) The Queen is trying Japanese gardening techniques to slowly bend the fast growing, skyward bound shoots. The vineyard consultant suggested no need to "top off" the vines again, but to cut the shoots near the base, and the bud may send forth a new shoot. I was outside at 6a.m. this morning, attempting to bend some vines, but not having the Japanese touch, broke quite a few. Friends, this is not a happy day for us in crafting this vineyard. I remind myself: patience, patience, patience. Vineyard is art. Plenty of "hoot hoot hoot-hoot" sounds, but no sign of a visitor to our owl box yet. Jerry reports that the conditions are not yet ripe for mildew (something else to worry about). The gophers have been having a field day -- as I was out of town, and the weeds are on the counter attack. That damned plastic thread in the weed whacker is no fun at all to change. Send me the weekend, please!

(We found the Aglianico vines, which are on less vigorous root stock and much "thinner" than the Tempranillo vines which are on vigorous stock -- to be much easier to train. Thank goodness!)

(Note from May 15th -- The Tempranillo vines, on a vigorous, drought resistant rootstock, have been growing like crazy -- indeed, shoots that had been accidentally broken off have been replaced, and the gaps in cordons are filling in. Things are coming along well. Alas, the pruning advice we received was right on. And, an important lesson learned: The new shoots are coming in thick and healthy. In the winter, I hesitated to cut off the weaker 1st year cordons -- but now I see that in year 2, they can be replaced with a much stronger cordon, and so I'm cutting them off, in favor of the new growth.

(Note from December 11, 2008 -- The 2nd year vines grew fairly well, mostly. There were a few where we did break off some cordons, so there are some gaps. No worries though. We'll plant some more vines in between the gaps, with shorter cordons, which should yield better fruit. If you are planning to plant your own vineyard, study the variable on spacing. We're hearing that shorter cordons produce more intense fruit, and better tasting wines. We have about 250 first year vines that we'll be pruning and training in February 2009. This year, we have let them grow "wild" without any training at all -- not one cut. Pruning will be a challenge, but the stalks of these vines are healthier/thicker than last year's first year vines. When we "top" these vines in February, it will be just a bit above the cordon -- most of this year's vines we planted 4-feet apart.)