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Journey to Harvest:
07/01/2009
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Journey To Harvest – Exit merlot
For the last three or four years our merlot vineyard has been the problem child on our ranch. Overplanting by optimistic growers and wine makers, a huge crop in ‘05 that is still affecting demand, and to add insult to injury, the adverse comment “…anything but merlot…” by one of the actors in the movie “Sideways” have, along with the current recession, all combined to make Merlot grapes in oversupply. Over the past few years we have been barely able to sell our merlot by literally getting down on our knees and begging our grape clients to take our small tonnage so these beautiful grapes would not wither on the vines. This year all our entreaties failed and we finally came to the conclusion that we would not be able to sell the ‘09 crop. None of our grape clients would even talk to me about it. And of course I asked our vineyard manager for help. “George, I already have 120 tons of unsold merlot grapes. No way!” What to do? For a grape farmer when you cannot sell your grapes there are several options: abandon the vineyard and move back to the city, remove and replant with another variety, or graft a new, more saleable variety to the existing vines. Earlier this month we elected to graft over most of our merlot to our very popular sauvignon blanc. This required us to cut off the upper part of each vine leaving only about a 30-inch high trunk with no remaining foliage. We bought sauvignon blanc bud wood – six to ten inch pieces of dormant canes harvested last winter and kept under refrigeration by local supplier Nova Vines. Three or four days later our professional grafter Oscar Robledo Alfaro arrived. Oscar is a traveling vineyard technician, a grafting specialist who goes all over Napa and Sonoma Counties grafting new varieties to old vines.  Photo by Jay Gamel Sauvingon blanc canes provide buds that are then grafted onto existing rootstock. The buds are already starting to grow into new canes that will produce fruit next season. The technique and quality of work is astounding. He uses a razor sharp knife to cut off desirable buds from the dormant bud sticks. He will fill his mouth with a dozen or more buds, go down on his knees next to each vine trunk, make a T-shaped cut on the vine trunk and peel the bark cut open, take a bud from his mouth, fit it into the vine bark opening so that the cambium layers match, tightly tape in place with elastic white tape, one new bud on each side of the vine trunk, then move to the next vine. Oscar makes it look so easy as he moves rapidly down the vine rows and will complete grafting of some 300 vines each day. Later another crew will come in and place milk cartons over the grafted areas so that the new sauvignon blanc buds are temporarily protected from hot sun. In two to three weeks the newly grafted buds will begin to grow and by the end of summer will have produced long and vigorous canes that will produce a small amount of sauvignon blanc fruit next season and be in full production by the second season. Oscar’s success rate is 95 to 97% of the newly inserted buds growing and producing. And for all you merlot fans, we saved some six hundred vines so that we will have enough merlot grapes to make wine for you and for ourselves. Lunch in the vineyard I went out one day at lunch time to take Oscar some more bud wood. In the middle of the late merlot block he had dropped the tailgate of his pickup, set up a small portable propane stove and was preparing his lunch. He had a large skillet reheating pre-cooked rice, beans and chicken. Then on the other burner he was heating tortillas. He invited me to join him for lunch and handed me a hot tortilla. Who could refuse? Those hot tortillas rolled around chicken, rice and beans in the middle of the vineyard were a true gourmet treat! Some days this difficult vineyard business is just a pure delight. Our Journey co writers, Javier of the zinfandel vines and Marie of the sauvignon blanc are sulking because of our harsh treatment of the merlot vines and refused to submit copy for this issue. But even without them we can still say the vineyard is thriving with great promise for a good harvest. The lake report Our weed consultant told me that the weed rapidly growing across our lake is Azzola. The plant is a mass of tiny individual weeds a few millimeters across and about two to three centimeters of root length into the lake. They propagate very rapidly and without attention will completely cover the lake in a few weeks so that it appears as normal brown vineyard soil. The best way to control them is to physically skim them off the lake. Then you can apply an aquatic herbicide to kill the remainder of the weeds along the lake edges. Continual attention is required all season. Azzola has long been present around lake edges but normally has an insect enemy that keeps it in check. But for some unknown reason the Azzola insect enemy is not present this year. Hence this widespread and rapidly growing aquatic weed is now prevalent in many of our county lakes. All is not total gloom. The weed is rich in nitrogen and makes a great mulch. In addition it crowds out other lake weeds and algae so that beneath the two- or three-centimeter layer the lake water is crystal clear and perfect for irrigation! But it’s a disaster for ranch grandchildren, swimmers and boaters. Some vineyard owners have just accepted the weed’s benefits and done nothing. But our lake for years has been the center of ranch summer life as well as the source for our vine irrigation water. We will fight to keep our lake clear! Owner, Indian Springs Ranch and Vineyards Email: george@kenwoodpress.com |
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