Veraison 2012
So far, this year's weather has been pretty much perfect. Lots of days in the 80's and low 90's, lots of nights in the 50's. Very few days where the highs were in the 70's, and only a few where
Topic
Vineyard
A collection of 402 posts
Compost Tea: a Power Shake for the Vineyard
By Levi Glenn
A few years back we started to make and apply compost tea in the vineyard. It was an effort to try to improve our soil, a central theme in organic farming: improve the soil and the plant will follow. Compost tea contains two important soil improving components:
Flowering 2012
Now six weeks into the growing season, it's clear that 2012 is going to follow a different path than 2010 or 2011. As opposed to being en route to a harvest roughly a month behind normal, as we were last year, we're on a normal track.
Celebrating May 15th: the unofficial end to frost season
I've been delaying writing this post so as not to jinx our progress, but I think that we're far enough into May that I can do so safely. So, here goes.
We seem to have made it through spring without any damage from frost.
This achievement
Photo Essay: Spring Cleaning in the Vineyard
Between winter's worries about rain and frost and summer's worries about ripening lies a busy but often overlooked spring season where we have about a month to clean up the vineyard. This spring cleaning mostly involves making decisions about whether to mow, disk or spade our
Budbreak Photos from around the Vineyard
Budbreak may be late this year, but now that it's started, it's happening in a hurry. After last week's cool, wet weather, it's turned warm and sunny, with the last two days in the 70s and even warmer temperatures forecast for later
A welcome dose of late spring rain
It has been a dry winter. After record low rainfall in December, we saw a brief break when one wet weekend in January dumped nearly 5 inches of rain on us. Then we returned to a weather pattern dominated by high pressure over the eastern Pacific, and the next two
The powerful impact of our grazing herd in the vineyard
As we get to know our grazing herd out at Tablas Creek, we're becoming increasingly convinced of its effectiveness. A photo will illustrate the impact. It shows the border between two vineyard blocks, on the right one that had the animals in residence for the previous five days,
New Lambs at Tablas Creek
As we've mentioned, we're moving forward with our Biodynamic program throughout the property, including additional work with compost, cover crops, and Biodynamic preparations. One of the keys to Biodynamics is biodiversity in flora, fauna and (consequently) microbes, and it is the additions to the fauna that
Viticulturist Levi Glenn and Vineyard Manager David Maduena demonstrate grapevine pruning
February is the month when the relative calm of winter ends. The days start to get longer, the cover crops explode into growth thanks to the sun and rain, and it starts to feel like spring is just around the corner. Of course, it's not, quite; it'