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Journey to Harvest:
10/01/2008
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The harvest winds down
As we reach the end of September our harvest is nearly complete. The Sauvignon Blanc appears destined for a vintage year. The rest of our Merlot has been picked – what there was of it that is. Volume was about a third of what we typically harvest. All of our cordon pruned Zinfandel has also been harvested, and there we experienced nearly a 40% decrease off expected yield. All this budget number crunching is tedious, but when you are in the grapes business, and get your total annual paycheck on a single day, the shortage of revenue can cast a shadow over all of 2009. It does not make us feel better that vineyards all over Sonoma and Napa Counties are encountering similar light harvests. But if you are a lifetime optimist (a prerequisite for any farmer) you can find some bright spots in all of this. Let’s have the reports of Marie and her Sauvignon Blanc Club and Javier and the Zinfandel team. Marie’s Sauvignon Blanc Report “The vivacious vines of the Sauvignon Blanc club again delivered a crop of marvelous grapes with flavors and aromas of pineapple, apricot and melon. Fruit acids and sugar levels were right on target, and the bunches were just beautiful with no defects. We even delivered 25 percent more by weight than what the gloomy Patron and vineyard manager Chuey expected! Can I help it if our yield was 30% below the huge tonnages forecasted by some? Of course not. Maybe next year they will ask us vines what we think the crop yield will be. “Enough of all that. We vines are delighted to have vintage 2008 safely at the wineries, and are already working on our 2009 crop. Chuey has been giving us lots of water and is promising more fertilizer. This is critical in that with every gondola of our fruit leaving the vineyard, critical nutrients leave with it. These must be replaced if we are to do our work in 2009. Now is the season when we shift our focus to growing more roots and moving resources from our leaves and canes down into the vine structure, so we’ll be ready for spring time demand. And just one more item – all of our vines are sick and tired of hearing how great Javier and his head pruned vines are doing. Chuey has promised that he will try a new and promising pruning technique in one of our blocks for the 2009 harvest. He and the patron tried it out on six of our vines this year with great results. And our advice to the complaining patron and manager Chuey is “Get over it! Let’s get ready for 2009.” Javier’s Zinfandel Report  “We admit that we were disappointed in the size of our crop from our cordoned members. Obviously some improvements will have to be made for the 2009 season. But we have some really super news about our new head pruned section.“Recall that several years ago we radically changed the way about 25% of our Zinfandel vines were pruned. This is the first year that we can begin to see the potential of this change. And the results are astounding and better than any of us could have expected. Read these numbers: Number of bunches per vine – up 18%. Average weight per bunch – up 32%. Pounds of fruit per vine – up 40%. Yields per equivalent acre equals 3.8 tons, well within high fruit quality levels. The only difference is that because of the extra yield, the head pruned vine section will not be ready to be harvested until two weeks later than the other zinfandel vines. Frankly, we don’t fully understand these really splendid results. It might take us three or four more harvests for all to become clear. Interestingly, we would point out that this method of head pruning is the same that the early Italian growers of the nineteenth century used with their zinfandel and is often associated in the marketplace with super premium zinfandel wines. So, preliminary opinion of the Zinfandel club is “two thumbs up for head pruning.” That is, it would be if vines had thumbs. Patron’s Report Thank you, Javier, for your cheerful and positive report. We needed that! And Marie was right, we have already started planning and taking actions to prepare for the 2009 season – fertilizer plans; possible addition of new vines to increase production; modification to our irrigation system; changes in some of our pruning; and replacement of some of our vineyard trellises. And you will not be surprised to hear that we’re planning visits and consultations with our banker. Readers and friends – Journey to Harvest for vintage year 2008 is now complete. That means it’s time for the old Patron, Chuey and his men, Marie, Javier and their vine clubs, to all go into our so called ‘dormant’ season. I hope you enjoyed following this year’s Journey to Harvest as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. We will all return in January, 2009. Owner, Indian Springs Ranch and Vineyards Email: george@kenwoodpress.com |
Recently Published:
09/01/2008 - Harvest Time in the Valley of the Moon
08/15/2008 - Journey to Harvest
07/01/2008 - Journey to Harvest – Bloom time problems
06/01/2008 - Journey to Harvest
05/01/2008 - It’s springtime in the vineyard
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GP2020 Housing Element Hearing 11/20/2008 |
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Oakmont Current Events Forum 11/21/2008 |
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Hike Annadel 11/22/2008 |
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Annadel Hike 11/22/2008 |
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Public solar and night observing 11/22/2008 |
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55th Annual Free Thanksgiving Dinner 11/27/2008 |
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Oakmont Current Events Forum 11/28/2008 |
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25th Annual Holiday Open House 11/28/2008 |
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25th Annual Holiday Open House 11/29/2008 |
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Kenwood Community Club Dinner Dance 12/06/2008 |
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Hanna Boys Center holiday bazaar 12/07/2008 |
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Oakmont Concert Series: Axel Strauss and Friends 12/11/2008 |
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Big Heart Luncheon 02/11/2009 |
