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Journey to Harvest:
07/01/2010
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Journey To Harvet
 Tiny new grapes are starting to form on the vines. Photo by Daniel C. Swann Journey to Harvest - Happy Birthday, Vintage 2010! By George MacLeod, Indian Springs Ranch Recall that last month Sauvignon Blanc Chairperson Marie asked for “just six perfect days at the end of May” so that we could have a decent bloom time with a nice fruit set from good pollination. Well, it did not happen. Rain, drizzle, heavy cold fog day after day resulted in a delay of bloom time. Finally, finally, the weather broke around the third of June and we began to have the nice mild sunny days the vines wanted. Marie finally got her six perfect days! So now at the end of June, if you walk with me in the vineyard the small bunches with their newly born (about one mm.) individual grapes are everywhere. It's like suddenly having thousands of tiny new children each with the full promise of doing their part in again making a great vintage that will “gladden the hearts of men - and women too!” Happy Birthday and congratulations to you young grapes! Your journey to harvest now has direction and will pick up speed. We are featured in Travel and Leisure As if all the excitement in the vineyard with the new presence of Vintage 2010 was not enough, there is more. Thanks to all the vines and the great wineries who have been buying our grapes, and all of you wonderful readers who have been drinking our wine, the ranch and the vines have even more to celebrate. We are part of the Sonoma County feature in the nationally read magazine “Travel and Leisure.” Truly a great honor and stroke of good fortune for our county and for all of us who are featured. Look us up! We are on the “Travel and Leisure” web site. And a final good note: We have not seen any male European grape moths in our traps. We will be spraying anyway to catch any newly hatched moths because the threat is still with us. With all this good news let's now hear from Marie for the Sauvignon Blanc Vines and from Javier for the Zinfandel crowd. Marie's report Well, we are glad to be successfully past bloom time and welcome all the new tender grapes. All of our vines are happy and well into what is called the “Grand Period of Growth” where most of our canes are growing two inches a day We are not surprised to see ourselves featured in “Travel and Leisure.” Remember, our grapes were part of the wine served to President Obama at his inaugural lunch. We are glad to see Umberto out here with his spray rig spraying the awful summer weeds in our rows. We know and support the Patron and his sidekick Chuy in their move to organic farming, but the weeds this year are so gross that we appreciate a little give and take along the way. Javier's Zinfandel report We were happy to see the Patron out here this past week with two new potential customers. We hope he is going to sell more than we can produce. He does this all the time and we are used to it. But frankly he drives his son John, who is his partner, crazy doing this. We are pleased with our fruit set - very promising. We noted that young engineer out here taking our petiole samples right on time. (A petiole is the leaf stem. We collect samples of these from leaves opposite the new bunches at bloom time. Chemical analysis of these leaf stems will give a strong indicator of the chemical and nutrient needs of our vines.) An illness in the family Our famous 1941 D-2 Caterpillar that has been our faithful co-worker and companion for 35 years in this vineyard project is grievously ill. The D-2 is started by first starting a small gasoline “Pony Motor.” This unit failed a month ago and after a huge statewide search we found and installed an equally ancient Pony Motor. Our D-2 friend has had other problems - none major - but finding parts for this 70-year-old co worker has required car trips up and down California. So son John and I yesterday discussed the impossible and forbidden and emotional subject of replacing D-2 with a unit a little more recent. John's comment, “Dad, we have thought for years that we were going to have to carry you out of here in a pine wood box before you would let us discuss this subject!” Oh, well. At 89 I find this subject strangely personal! Old Patron's report With the new grape contracts and with steadily improving sales of our wines I am feeling a lot better, even though there are still plenty of 'opportunities' (AKA problems!) ahead. I have been asked to give a speech re: It has been so many years since we made any real money in the grape business why am I still doing it? One answer is in my 89th birthday the other day. I credit Marie and Javier and their 14,000 vine associates and all that implies for making all these years so pleasantly zoom by. Maybe I'll think of some other reasons! |
Recently Published:
06/01/2010 - Journey to Harvest
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