2018 Fall in the Vineyard

Well here it is mid-September and I am left wondering where the summer went. The big heat of August was masked by the surge of smoke that engulf the area, blocking out the sunshine when it was needed the most. While there were notable fires in the area, we were thankfully spared from any major destruction. The smoke did, however, set us back in the vineyard.  We do need to get some fall sunshine to our sugars up. Last year we were harvesting fruit at this time.  As of September 12, are Brix readings are as follows:

WHITES

Siegerrebbe: 16 brix. Large cluster with large berries
Harvested Sept 19 at 17 brix

L'Acadia Blanc: 17 brix. Loose cluster and medium size berries
Sept. 29: 19.5 brix

Chardonnay: 11 brix. Medium size clusters and berries
Sept 29: 16.5 brix

Osceolo Muscat: 16 brix. Loose cluster, but large with medium berries
Sept. 29: 19 brix

Madeliene Angevine 16 brix. Medium to Large berries and large cluster
Harvested Sept 19 at 17 brix

Madeliene Sylvaner 15 brix. Large clusters and berries
Harvested Sept 19 at 17 brix

Epicure: 17 brix. Loose clusters with medium berries
Sept. 29: 18 brix

Petite Milo: 20 brix. Medium size clusters and berries.
Harvested Sept. 29 at 21 brix

Amiel: 17 brix - Large clusters and berries
Harvested Sept 19 at 17 brix

RED

48-05-83: 18 brix. Medium cluster and berries
Sept. 29: 18 brix

Labelle: 15 brix. Loose clusters, small berries
Sept. 29: 17.5 brix

Baco Noir: 17 brix. Medium cluster and berrie.
Sept. 29: 19 brix

Leon Millot: 20 brix. Medium bunches with medium berries
Sept. 29: 20 brix

Pinot Noir:16 brix. Loose medium size bunches with medium berries 
Sept. 29: 17.5 brix

While our numbers are down somewhat from 2017 at this time, the fruit all looks good and healthy. we have had another great year at controlling powdery mildew and keeping the birds and wasps at bay.  I will keep checking the Brix as September rolls along and will post a final blog comparing the 2017 numbers.

Happy crushing.

Update Sept. 29 2018

I have updated the final numbers for brix counts. I do not suspect things will get better this year. Numbers are a bit down from last year, but overall not terrible. Now it is just a matter of getting the fruit picked between the rain!

Summer 2018

Well it has been a bit of time since our Spring post and as we head into our final growing season, it has proved to be challenging.

We have been hit with another hot and dry summer so keeping on the watering has been key. Maybe not as bad as last year and none for the vines are under any visible stress and the fruit all looks nice and healthy, but still very dry. Lately the smoke from the BC forest fires have made the sun disappear. Aside from the poor air quality, making it difficult to be outdoors, the smoked out sun is going to delay our fruit ripening. We have all been busy pulling leaves and pruning trying to expose the fruit as much as possible to aid in the ripening process.

As of Aug 18 some of our vines are going through Veraison. The Leon Millot, LaBelle and 48-05-83 are all well into color change and are ready to net. A few of the whites are just starting to change - Siegerrebe and L'Acadia Blanc notably.

Bird netting on Leon Millot

Veraison on Leon Millot

Spring 2018

Here we are entering our final year of research and the vineyard is really shaping up with nice 5 year old vines. It has been a slow start to the year (in case you forgot, we still had snow on the ground  a few weeks back!) but that slow start has been off set by some unseasonably warm weather and we are actually right on par - or even slightly ahead- with 2017!

This year we said goodbye to Auxerrois, Zweigelt and Regent. Auxerrois was just too susceptible to mildew and never really produced the fruit we had hoped for.  Zweigelt and Regent, while healthy looking vines,  again it never generated into fruit production and were proving to be just too much work for so little joy.

As for the rest - as of May 14 this is where we stand:

Osceolo Muscat

Whites 

48-05-49 (Amiel) Epicure: were ranging from bud to bud swell.

Siegerrebe

Osceolo Muscat, Petite Milo, L'Acadia Blanc, Madeleine Sylvaner; Chardonnay,  Siegerrebe, Madeleine Angevine: All varieties had achieved bud burst and had shoots ranging from just burst to 1 cm.  





Reds:

 48-05-83, Pinot Noir:  these were at the early bud swell stage.  


Baco Noir, Leon Millot, LaBelle, All varieties had achieved bud burst and had shoots ranging from just burst to 1 cm. 

Leon Millot