Pruning into the New Year

After the pruning

Alex pruning the Rondo vines

I'll be staying with my niece in January to help out after the birth of her second child so we took the opportunity to prune the vines today. It was a fine dry day and mild, too. We've had a high pressure centered over Ireland for about a week now and it's been very gray but dry and uncharacteristically mild. The weeks before were drenched by torrential rains. The land was flooded all around us. Lucky for us, our land is sloping. The roses have not ceased blooming, the grass is growing and many plants are budding due to the mild weather. We may even have a New Year's daffodil. I was worried that the grapevines might not be dormant, but they did seem to be.

The Rondo and Solaris vines are doing well and are quite robust except one Rondo. They took severe pruning. The chardonnay vines are looking very nice and were easy to prune and stake.

The one-year-old Solaris vines were very easy to prune. Two of the 50 had been cut by the strimmer when Alex last cut the grass. Two others looked possibly dead. One was missing. So Alex will order five to replace those. The vines were inconsistent in growth. Some were quite long while others remained very small. Could be due to the dry summer.

We've decided to complete the row that has the chardonnay test vines with more test vines. Alex wants red, but I don't want Rondo, so we're looking for short season reds to try. My money is on Pinot Noir, but we'll see. He has also ordered Albariño vines to plant on another section of field. The plantation expands.

Another season comes to a close. Happy New Year to all.




From GuildSomm 



"Good examples of how average growing season temperatures define suitability are found with three common cultivars: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir is typically grown in regions that span from cool to lower intermediate climates with growing seasons that range from roughly 57-61°F (14.0-16.0°C), such as in Burgundy or the Willamette Valley. One of the coolest of these is the Tamar Valley of Tasmania, while one of the warmest is the Russian River Valley of California. Across this 4°F (2°C) climate niche, Pinot Noir produces the broad style for which is it known, with the cooler zones producing lighter, elegant wines and the warmer zones producing more full-bodied, fruit-driven wines. While Pinot Noir can be grown outside the 57-61°F (14.0-16.0°C) growing season average temperature bounds, it is typically unripe or overripe and readily loses its typicity. In contrast with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay is one of the most flexible and forgiving cultivars, producing a range of wine styles across a wider range of climates. Chardonnay can be grown in relatively cool climates (~57-61°F; ~14-16°C), creating an elegant, crisp style that is flavored more by apple, pear, and fig; in warmer climates (~61-65°F; ~16-18°C) it produces a bolder style with more peach to honey notes often enhanced through oak barrel ageing. On the other hand, Cabernet Sauvignon is an intermediate to warm to hot climate cultivar with growing seasons that range from roughly ~61-68°F (~16-20°C) (e.g., Bordeaux or Napa). An example of a region near the lower climate limit for Cabernet Sauvignon suitability is Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand while one of the warmest at the upper climate limit is in Robertson, South Africa."

Pulling grass from around the plants.

The village Christmas tree raft ...