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Journey to Harvest:
08/01/2009
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Journey to Harvest – The owner’s shadow
It is a common saying among grape growers that the best vineyard fertilizer is the grower’s shadow, and it’s my experience that this shadow is longest and sharpest with the first sun after dawn. The vines have recovered from the previous day’s heat and stress and look their best. I may see a few yellow leaves here and there, telling me that a vine is thirsty. The ends of the canes can tell me if the vines are still growing or if they are now throwing all their energy to ripening the grape bunches. And of course I can see and inspect the bunches for the coming harvest. As of this morning, July 20, the Sauvignon Blanc bunches are still an opaque emerald. And the Zinfandel bunches are still all green. With both varieties the individual berries have now grown enough so that they touch each other. I take out my pocket knife and carefully slice open a berry or two to inspect the seeds within. Though still green, they are now too hard to easily cut, signaling that the first stages of maturity have begun. By next week the Sauvignon Blanc berries may have started to become a hint translucent. As they get riper they turn an incredible translucent golden green, and light up like magic when the near-horizontal dawn sun’s rays strike them. I have wasted countless mornings trying to catch this with my camera. Forget it! Impossible! At the same time I will begin my annual search for the first purple Zinfandel grape to show. They are not actually purple at this time (more of a faint pink-lavender), but these early sightings are an exciting signal that this year’s journey to harvest is making excellent progress.  Photo by Katie Perkins A grafted Sauvignon Blanc bud grows from an old Merlot vine. No morning walk would be complete though without discovering several leaks in the literally miles of black plastic drip lines that make up our irrigation system. Raccoons and foxes have discovered that if they bite into one of these lines they can create their very own fountain, with generous water for themselves and their families. What is more, there are thousands of drip emitters that when working perfectly provide eight or nine gallons of water per week to the thirsty vines. My son John and I believe that even when we work really hard and have every emitter dripping and all the raccoon bites repaired – before we could get back to the shade on our patio for a cold beer there would be at least two raccoon fountains and a dozen failed emitters. That’s farming for you. Magic: A new vineyard is born Recall from last month’s column that we cut the tops off most of our Merlot vines and grafted each of the remaining trunks with two Sauvignon Blanc buds. Well, as if by magic, almost all of these buds have burst into hyper-action. Where only a few weeks ago there were rows of naked Merlot trunks, there are now small but rapidly growing Sauvignon Blanc vines. Within a few weeks we will be able to see the green of this new vineyard. The big job at the moment is to remove the sheltering milk cartons without breaking the tender new shoots. To get the scale of this project, remember there were a thousand naked Merlot trunks. Our grafter inserted two buds on each of these trunks, and there are no more than a half dozen buds that did not ‘take.’ So now we have a thousand new Sauvignon Blanc vines that will bear us a small crop next year. Indeed magic! And now a word from our Vine Committee Chairmen: Marie’s Sauvignon Blanc Report We were literally horrified last month when you so casually beheaded most of our Merlot associates. But when we found out that you were going to graft them with Sauvignon Blanc and that the result would be two and a half more acres for our committee and with that we would then have almost twice the acreage of Javier and his Zinfandel crowd of toughs, your decision took on a new light. Javier’s Zinfandel Report I am happy to report that we are at bunch closure and that we have a really nice crop. Our bunches are a little smaller but nicely formed and well distributed. We doubt if the Patron will have to do any thinning. The Zinfandel committee, however, would like to lodge a complaint with management. We understand that you, and your great vineyard manager Chuey, have been moving us toward becoming a fully organic vineyard. We recognize the quality advantages this means for capturing the true terroir of our vineyard. But isn’t there something that the management team can do about the gross willow weeds that have taken over at our feet? They’re disgusting besides using up scarce water! Since you stopped your old herbicide program, the weeds think the promised land has arrived! OK, complaint filed. We know that you and Chuey have a combined 60 years of experience doing what’s right for the vineyard. We’re confident that you’ll break the code and solve this latest challenge too. Owner, Indian Springs Ranch and Vineyards Email: george@kenwoodpress.com |
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