French 'no spray' vineyard

The No Spray Vineyard

'Viticulture in a perilous state right now, like a house with termites in the beams,' says Pugibet. 'There isn't a chemical solution to it, and organic farming isn't the answer, because metals like copper will build up in the soil over time, and have a damaging effect on the aromatics of white wine particularly. I worry that if things carry on as they are, in 15 years winemakers will be faced with a situation where certain molecules will be banned outright and they will be left with no treatments against vine disease.'

Without pointing it out directly, the article contrasts 'corporate science' and terroir.  Without grass roots breeding programs like the one described in the article, terroir is waning.

Hat tip: John Barnett
published in Decanter China

The 4 bottle announcement

On the March the 1st, during a family get together, I decided to announce the Mills Vineyard would make 4 bottles of wine in 2015.

This came up while talking to my daughter and her teenage sons.  The conversation went something like this:

Julie: How's the vineyard doing?
Me: We made 2 tablespoons of grape juice last year, but this year is going to be different.
Grandsons: Subdued laughter. 
My wife rolled her eyes.  She has been through 8 years of attempted harvests, and 2 liters of juice is the best I've done.
Me: In fact, I think we can make 4 bottles of wine this year.

I had been doing the math and already knew the dormant spray was going to help with the frost problem, but when '4 bottles of wine this year' came out of my mouth, it was a bit of a surprise.  Earlier that week, I think making one bottle was the extent I allowed my imagination to wander.

It is surprising how setting a goal will focus the mind.  I had not given much thought to wine making.  My problem was simply getting 20 pounds of fruit harvested.  Of course, saying 'we are going to make 20 pounds of grapes carries no emotion.

Happy first day of spring!

My vineyard is just starting to come to life.  The above champini will probably be the first to break bud, perhaps in 2 days.  You can already see the green leaf shapes pushing out of the red fuzzy scales.

I've been spraying dormant oil on a 2 week schedule, with 6 selected vines getting sprayed on a 1 week schedule.  It seems to be doing a good job of delaying bud burst.  Also, it seems to be differentially impacting buds such that there is a much wider spread in 'start times'.  Combined with my late pruning (no pruning done, yet), I think my chances of getting at least a few primary buds to survive the frost season (Feb 15 to April 15) is much, much better.

Based on the forecast, there is a fair chance of a freeze here on April 3 and 4th.   The forecast is for 43 and 44, but I'm often 10 degrees cooler.

Below is a record of low temps in my vineyard.  The temps come from Opossum Hollow, about 2 miles up the river.   I've spot checked my vineyard temps, and they match very well.  Out of 8 years, there was only 1 spring without a freeze between 3/29 and 4/15.  The chances this early bud will survive are low, but a lot of other buds will be fine.  Those late buds will be the ones that produce the next generation of grape seeds here.

Our lives follow the grapes

In the Cellar: Our lives follow the grapes (March 6, 2015)

Michelle Fey, lab director, talking about how the seasons of her life and the seasons of grapes parallel and illuminate each other.

Typical 1st week of March - temp 26F and falling

As I write, the temperature in the vineyard is 26 F and falling. Sleet was expected tonight, and arrived on schedule.

Last night I noticed a hole in the greenhouse roof.  I'm glad I check on the seedlings before going to bed.

searching for a 2 liter auto-vinification system

Tonight, I've continued my search for a system/equipment combo capable of turning 2 liters of grape juice into a representative bottle of wine.

from: Showstoppers From SIMEI and Enovitis

auto-vinification tank systems: automated cap management, temperature control and the handling of lees, seeds and pomace

Automated fermentation systems have a number of advantages over manual pump overs.
1.  labor savings,
2.  automated systems can deliver precise and repeatable regimens day and night
3. respond to tank temps, Brix level, carbon dioxide evolution rate, etc.
4. Cross-contamination among tanks is avoided, (line of sight guesses about pipe connections is dangerous)

DEFRANCESCHI FERMENTERS

punchdown-vs-pumpover

"Pumpovers can extract higher amounts of tannin in a wine depending on the frequency and force. Some pump over systems are basically wine sprinklers, offering a gentler extraction and some aggressively stir up the fermentation tank. For larger fermentation tanks in commercial operations, much needed oxygen comes through a pumpover device.

Punch downs, on the other hand, are a very delicate way of stirring a wine. They keep skins from getting too extracted and little to no amount of added oxygen in the fermentation. Punch downs are typically done by hand and are more popular with non-interventionist winemaking."

other pages of interest, but no more time tonight:
https://prezi.com/kikrobseu37j/mexican-wine-chain-analysis/
http://nobleroute.com/about/

An alternative view of the Loire salons:

"Everything is getting bigger. La Dive Bouteille had a spacious new home in the troglodite caves of Caves Ackerman; Salon Les Penitantes covered two floors. The dinner after Les Vins Anonymes - arguably the smallest of the tastings - exerted such a gravitational social pull that I wondered how all the attendees would ever fit in the Collegiale Saint-Martin. (I hadn't been tempted to go to this year's dinner, because I'd heard last year's event had all the organisation of the Katrina response. But perhaps I'll go next year.)"

...

" if we agree that natural winemaking favors the inherently communal concept of terroir, rather than the more individualist, auteur-focused winemaker culture that obtains in most modernised New World regions, then we should admit that European natural wine buyers, and in turn their clientele, can learn very little from the isolated examples of one winemaker or one importer."


from Not Drinking Poison in Paris

Also see:

Church wine : Tasting in Angers (Loire)

NY Times take on Loire natural wines

from: In France, Pesticides Get in Way of Natural Wines (NY Times) 

The first of the weekend tastings, Renaissance, in Angers on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, brought together producers who make organic, pesticide-free, but not necessarily sulfite-free, wines.  ...

If the Renaissance salon was the most established of the nonpesticide tastings, Les Anonymes, a short distance away, was the most radical and uncompromising...

In Saumur, about 26 miles away, a much larger group of nearly 200 winemakers from 15 countries displayed its wares in a warren of cold, damp troglodyte caves. Called La Dive Bouteille, it has become the world’s largest annual natural wine exposition, with 3,000 visitors this year....

The article lists the three largest pesticide users as the United States, Japan and France, and suggests restricting pesticide use is gaining popularity.  Despite this:

"The pesticide and big-agriculture lobbies are strong, resisting any initiative that could affect farm yields, so there is little political will to take risks. In late January, the French agriculture minister, Stéphane Le Foll, announced that a government pledge to cut pesticide use in half by 2018 would be delayed until 2025..."

...