The organic vineyard at Tablas Creek

I can't improve on this much:

"We believe strongly in wines of terroir -- the French term best translated as "somewhereness" -- and choose our vineyard and winemaking practices to maximize our chances of expressing our terroir in our wines."

Tablas Creek> Vineyard

Tablas Creek goes on to describe four core practices.  Since I've been working in and searching for calcareous soils, their first core practice grabbed me:

"To produce our wines, we use four core practices:
A Carefully Selected Site with Calcareous Soils"

Our location here in Glen Rose is, in large part, calcareous clay.  Given the limestone cliffs here, it should come as no surprise.  We are on the north bank of the Paluxy River, so we get maximum exposure to the sun.  I am constantly surprised by the variation in the balance of sand and clay.  Moving 10 feet can dramatically change the mix.  Parallels can be made between the Texas hill country and the southern Rhone valley, but Spanish parallels we have yet to discover are probably stronger.

On the importance of calcareous soil:
On the importance of calcareous soil:
Tablas Creek Vineyard Blog: Why Limestone Matters for Wine Grape Growing

The second core is a bit harder for me to accept: the importance of "authentic clones" from Beaucastel, France.  I can sympathize with the intent.  I'm not sure how 'authentic clones' provide 'somewhereness' for a California vineyard. In my view, the vines that are ideal for a given place are the result of being bred for that place.  Europe has achieved a certain degree of perfection in this when one considers what and where European varieties are grown.  Here in Texas, there is no way to make such a claim.  The only grapes that are perfect for Texas already grow wild here.  Plant a European vine here in Glen Rose and it will not be long for this world.  I doubt that I'll be around when Texas has bred a wine grape perfect for North Texas and the Hill Country.  It will take a hundred years.  Hopefully, we can contribute something towards that end, though.

The third core principle is 'Stressed Grapevines' (1600 to 1800 vines per acre).  That is approximately the density that has happen by accident here.  The idea is to enhance cluster size and characteristics by increasing competition for limited water and nutrients.  Add to this dry farming, and the 'time' and 'place' is bound to appear in the wine.  We are entirely on-board, here.

Last is hands-on organic farming.  This means cultivating beneficial insects and cover crops, not just grape vines. It means composting and compost tea.  It means the farmer is part of the ecosystem and will return to the dirt just as surely as last years canes. That is more than an individual issue, it implies something about the family, the neighborhood and the travelers that visit.  Just how this all relates to machines is something I've yet to work out, but this farmer has done enough trench digging by hand.

Local wine grapes, circa 1991

I came across a memorial post for Del Taebel by Les Constable.  Del Taebel passed away August 31, 2012.  He was from Eastern Europe, and taught at UTA.  In 1985 he planted a one acre vineyard in Wise County near Sunset, TX. He grew Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling and tried very hard to grow Chardonnay. Vineyard was called Cross Timbers.

Sunset is about a 2 hour drive north of here..  He called it Cross Timbers which is also the name of this area.

In 1991, he and Les Constable made wine from Cross Timbers grapes.  Les was so impressed he went on to start the remarkable Brushy Creek Vineyards.  

Prior to the ban on commercial wine making during the Prohibition era (1920-1933), there was interest in grape growing and wine making, but the 'majority' culture was oddly puritanical.  Based on comments by Munson around 1910, North Texas teetotalers were already making wine makers hide their activities.  North Texas seems to have taken the lead in advocating Teetotalism between 1880 and 1910.  Between 1933 and 1985, 52 years, few in North Texas tried to do much with wine grapes.

 Del Taebel, thank you!

references:

K. Austin Kerr, "PROHIBITION," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vap01), accessed November 25, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TOFGA's class at Rose Creek Farms

Yesterday (Nov 3, 2012), I attended Rose Creek Farms' "Farmer Education Series" presented by the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (TOFGA).

Mark Chapin of Chapin Farms - Crop Rotation & Pasture Management
Pamela Klein Johnson of Rose Creek Farms  - Poultry Management and Farm Tour
Lynn Remsing - Equipment Demo - Gnismer Farm Equipment
Pam Klein Johnson - Certified Naturally Grown Program (CNG)
Jay Mertz - Soils and Compost - formerly of Rabbit Hill Farm
Trish Percy - Marketing and Land Availability and Resources - TOFGA

 Pam and Ronnie assist Lynn with the farm equipment demo.

 The demo continued with some actual weeding with the ECO-weeder

 and a little demo of running plastic liner.

Les Constable's Brushy Creek Vineyard was only a mile or two away from Rose Creek, so I stopped there on the way home.  We had a great conversation about grape breeding and organic growing.  

 It was inspirational.  Today, I took Trish Percy's advice and made a lot of changes to this website.  I also contacted CNG and asked for infomation about getting the vineyard certified.

Icewine test #1

We had a freeze this morning. I got a 29 degree measurement in the vineyard with a house thermometer. Opossum Hollow had a 24 degree low. The car reported 31 in the driveway and 35 on Chalk Mountain.

Considering all these measurements, the vineyard air temp was probably around 31. The lower temperature readings were due to exposure to the sky.

About 3/4 of the vines are now in the 'toasted leaf' stage. Surprisingly, the other 1/4 look like they will shrug off the freeze and keep going until something more significant blows through. In one set of Bridlegate x Mourvedre, 6 vines were all toasted, but the one on the end look fine. In other cases, the vines sharing parents had about the same percentage of leaves toasted. In general, the more cordifolia in the vine, the better it's chances of surviving this morning's freeze.

Anticipating the freeze, I decided to harvest my one berry still hanging and call it a 'Texas icewine' test. There has to be a first. When actually doing it, the exercise was more practice than anything else. It really wasn't cold enough for icewine. There was frost on the grass, but the berry wasn't noticeably frozen. The brix was only 20, which was about what I would have expected without the 'freeze'. 5 or 6 hours of air temperatures in the twenties would probably freeze the groups, but I wonder how often such an event is the first significant freeze of the year?

Hipolito's visit

By chance, Hipolito came over this morning to talk to me about grapes. Anthony, Hipolito and I had been talking before Mass a few weeks ago. Anthony told Hipolito he needed to see my vineyard. Of course, I said come over whenever you want. He had been over 10 years ago and knew where we live. This morning, he decided to visit. Of course, I was at the office. We saw each other tonight, anyway, at the Knights meeting. Hipolito has 4 vines he is nurturing. He wanted to know how to prune them the right way. I laughed and said that nothing I do is the 'right way'. We talked for about 15 minutes. What a great day!

Checked the vineyard for frost damage. Little or none visible.

We had some frost this morning. The weather station a couple of miles up the road has a low of 31.8. I've got a great place to breed grapes.

I became interested in growing wine grapes while in high school and briefly attended UC Davis. Wine growing didn't take root, though. In 1996, my wife and I moved from Dallas to Glen Rose and I started working on our 6 acres of woods and limestone. In 2005, I planted my first set of grape vines. Within 2 years, they had all died of Pierce Disease and salty well water. At that point, I found Jack McCunn on the Texas Wine Grape Growers list and took his suggestion to stick to varieties with North American genetics. Despite his help, the spring of 2009 had a devastating late frost in April. Growing vines on the banks of the Paluxy river, where cold frosty air collect, my vines were particularly hard hit. A friend up on the ridges above me was unscathed, though. I realized I was trying to grow grapes in the world's worst location: PD pressure, salty well water and high probability of late frost damage.

A few weeks later, still rocked by the violence spring had wrought on my vineyard, my wife and I were exploring some backroads near Clairette. I happened to see a stand of cinerea in full bloom. The vines were next to a bridge over a creek and, being at the bottom of a valley, should have been wiped out like my own vines. Seeing them was a huge surprise. I realized my vineyard was a perfect spot to breed improved cinerea. All the problems would just serve to make better vines. From that point on, I've wanted to grow improved cinerea and create a great native Texas wine here in Glen Rose. The photo of me here was taken on that day. I'm standing in front of those vines. The vision I have is more than just a great wine, its a life style. Perhaps the simplest image of this lifestyle I can share is this. Imagine a 'friends and family' October grape stomp of freshly harvested Glen Rose grapes. As I write in 2012, that isn't possible. Wine grapes in North Texas ripen during the heat of August, and unless you can get it done between 6 and 7 AM, no one wants to go outside.