Vines in Tipperary & Meath

 

We were in Nenagh for a wedding and had the very great pleasure of later visiting a vineyard started by Tom Starr there. Tom and Mary had visited us some months ago and now we were returning the visit. He's got a row of vines outside and two polytunnels planted with various vareties, nonw of which are Rondo or Solaris. His vines are doing spectacularly well in the polytunnels. Much like us, he is doing it as proof of concept and experimentation not for profit. Very nice man. 

It was very hot over the weekend. It hit 28C in Nenagh on Saturday and everyone was sweltering at the wedding. Today, Monday, we are to reach close to 29C in Mayo and no rain in the forecast until maybe Saturday afternoon. They are saying it could stretch through next week when our family is coming to stay with us from the USA. 

Meanwhile a Dutchman has announced a €4 investment in a Slane vineyard where he has planted 36,000 vines across 13 hectares on the 100-acre Fennor House estate along the River Boyne. They expect to be producing 90,000 bottles by 2029. 

Paulus Willem Heemskerk at Fennor Estate in Slane, Co.Meath, where the Dutchman has invested in a vineyard.

Gamay outdoors

More Chardonnay

I finished tying up and pruning the oldest five Chardonnay vines. It was a bit of a puzzle but we managed. 

I saw only one bunch of chardonnay buds. That's disappointing but the Pinot remains encouraging. 

Some of the leaves are showing a discoloration which is either red mites or a mineral deficiency. Will have to investigate next week. 

Ghostie was a big help and the donkeys came to see what I was up to. They were no worse for their ordeal with the farrier. I think they are getting used to Matthew who is a godsend.

Pruning the Chardonnay

Today, I tackled the Chardonnay row as it needs structure at this point (and the Solaris are daunting with their extraordinarily vigorous growth). I cajoled and tied vines in desired configurations. I did not see any grape flower clusters on any but one, which was covered in them. That vine, however, has red tendrils, stems and shoots. I suspect it's not a Chardonnay. I was so excited when I saw that at first. And then to realise it's different broke my heart. Let's hope it's not a Concord. Perhaps it's a genetic variant of Chardonnay that will be perfect for our climate....Vitis vinifera 'Daria'. 

The Rondo is already making little grapes, and I couldn't find a flowering Solaris. It's going to be an interesting season. 

I also pruned the cherry trees today, as we got the only 2 remaining cherries on the two trees. There were perhaps 20-30 when I last checked, but I guess the birds got them all despite the kite flying overhead like wild. Bummer, but at least I got them pruned. Let's hope I can bring them back from the brink.

I have 5 remaining Chardonnays to prune, the oldest 5 we planted maybe 8 years ago. I hope they'll have some grapes on them. 

Growing from the base of a Chardonnay. 
Very different leaf shape. 

Pruning the Pinot Noir

The weather has finally turned toward summer, days later than it reached the east and south coasts. While the farrier was with the donkeys, I finished pruning the row of Pinot Noir. A few of the vines are struggling but some are very vigorous with lots of flower buds. Let's hope they flower this week with the heat and set their fruit.  Whether or not they reach maturity and ripeness remains to be seen, but its very exciting. 

In addition, one Chardonnay vine has loads of tiny flower bud bunches. If they have flowers and sets, too, I'll be in heaven. I'll work on pruning the Chardonnay next. It's not doing as well as the Pinot Noir.

Meanwhile, southern Europe -- Spain, France, Italy and Greece are on fire, as is the US east coast. I'll never complain about the cool temps again. It was hot in the vineyard today. At one point, I could see the fog roll in over Croagh Patrick, low-lying at first, and then it obliterated the view of the Holy Mountain altogether. Never came our way.

A new Mayo vineyard

Today we visited Brendan Edgeworth's new vineyard in Aghagower. It was just planted this year atop a one-hectare plot Brendan inherited from his uncle. He is rewilding most of the land but cleared a small plot to plant a vineyard. He's got many ponds dug on the property, surrounded by tall trees. 

Brendan lives in Australia but comes to Ireland twice a year and plans to spend several months here each year when his wife retires. He and his friends came to visit our vineyard last week. They were finally convinced he's not crazy. He thinks his wife still thinks he is. So do we, and that's how we like it!

Pruning is time consuming

Alex has been pruning for weeks now. I started with the old vines but then didn't manage to get back to it until yesterday. I started on the Pinot Noir yesterday as the vines finally have a good number of inflorescences. Not flowering yet, but enough growth to need pruning. As I got excited about possibly having Pinot grapes this year, I took to that row with enthusiasm. 

The first four vines were really encouraging with many flower bunches and lots of excessive growth. They have very predictable patterns, with two bunches on most fruiting shoots, possibly with a third minor one on a tendril and, if not, then a tendril with a leaf. The tendrils on some were massive. I counted 3-4 leaves past the two bunches and removed the third minor bunch or tendril with leaf. I tried to identify potential new cordons and tie them down. 

By the 5th vine, the flowering had subsided, and by the 6th, there were none and parts of the primary cordons were dead. I got as far as the 7th when the vineyard got a bit damp. Strange weather we've been having. The east is having a heat wave -- 25C, while we are having cool drizzly days. Today was quite humid so we have to keep a lookout for mildew. 

Alex bought SB Plant Invigorator on Andrew's recommendation. I researched its mechanism of action as I didn't like the idea of spraying with something that kills all the major pests and tackles mildew effectively, plus acts as a foliar nutrient. But it seems legit. The SB Plant Invigorator is a combination of nontoxic biodegradable surfactants that work mechanically to stifle pests. Very effective against mildews. It also strengthens the foliage for max photosynthesis. Sounds fruitful. So I guess we'll try it. 

Now I have to make Dolmas, Greek stuffed grape leaves. I have a recipe that I'm already modifying. 

We have this week, and then we go to a wedding in Neenagh, after which we have family coming to visit from America. Happy 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

 

More visitors

Brendan, who has a small vineyard he recently planted with Rondo in Aughagower, came to see us again this week with four friends. We walked the land and talked about how to naturalise and how to prune vines. I showed them the winery operation and offered Bredan the use of the equipment when he eventually gets a crop. They were very nice gents. We'll be going over to visit Brendan before he returns to NZ on Wednesday. 

I'm trying to get the monthly data for June analysed, but the Met Eireann website's Monthly Data page is not working. I did write to them to ask if they're having a problem. We apparently have another heatwave on the way, but it doesn't feel like it at the moment. The US East Coast is burning up with temps into the 100s and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence events being cancelled. 

Alex sprayed the vineyard preemptively today. We had signs of early mildew infestation. He used an "organically approved" mix of  4g potassium bicarb, 2g Curenox, 1ml Castille soap per litre as directed by Andrew Watson. Let's hope it works. Now we have to get cracking on the pruning.