All done! For now.

Albarino, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Solaris in that order

This morning I finished tying up the last few vines. It's looking very civilised and tidy now. Actually looks like a proper vineyard. I will continue to prune back and remove some leaves to help the grapes mature. 

Once again, there was rain in the forecast that did not materialise. At least we got some yesterday. 

I was using a device that sometimes works to tie up the vines. But I do not like it. It puts plastic into the environment, wastes a great deal of that plastic and makes it take a lot longer to complete a job. The unit pulls out a swathe of plastic tape, you slide it over the vine and wire, then clamp down and it staples and cuts the plastic tape -- sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't staple, sometimes it doesn't cut, and sometimes it gets stuck inside the tool. Very frustrating. And the tool often gets stuck on the vine if it's thicker. I wasted so much tape that I had to order more. 

What I also ordered were all kinds of things for securing viney growth, like stretch mesh tape, special cable ties and a new supposedly much-improved device. We'll see. My past use of nylon stocking strips was not as effective in the vineyard because they decompose every year, and I need them to last for several years until the vines are strong enough to stand on their own. 

Anyway, happy last day of July. I must say, the weather was much improved over June. I heard today that they are beginning to harvest Chardonnay grapes in Portugal, the earliest they've ever matured by far. The heat waves on the Continent have been brutal. 

Much overdue clean-up

We did a much overdue clean-up of the vineyard this week. The weather was remarkable (ie, no rain). The vines had grown exponentially after the last rain and they sort of got away from us. The Solaris in particular grew astronomically and the weight of the growth pulled down the primaries off the stakes. Luckily, none broke. But extracting the vines from each other proved a real challenge and it took me three days to extract, tie-up and stake the vines in the whole vineyard. Definitely worth the effort. Very zen-like activity. 

I managed to get all the vines lifted up off the ground in time for Alex to mow just as the rain started. More of a drizzle really. We really need some solid rain, but the forecast for the bank holiday weekend, which had promised rain for weeks, seems to have improved -- and not to our benefit. 

The Solaris have more grape clusters than I thought initially after I had a chance to see them clearly. I cut off the parts of the vine that were unproductive and unwieldy. The young Solaris from this year will be trained as mature. 

The young Chardonnay still have a ways to go, but the 5-year-olds are looking healthy. They do not have many clusters. 

I am still really encouraged by the Pinot Noir. That 3 yo vines are so healthy and vigorous is encouraging. 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good tool for tying vines? Mine sucks.  

Last words...praying for rain! RIP James Lovelock. Gaia theory lives on!

Happy place. 

Welsh Solaris receives a 98 from Decanter

A vineyard in Wales 'Gwinllan Conwy Vineyard' scored a 98 from Decanter World Wine Awards for their Solaris 2019. I wish we had known about this vineyard when we visited Conwy a couple of years ago. That score won them the bronze medal in the prestigious competition in 2021. It builds on medals won recently at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) for their Pefriog and Solaris products. 

Montgomery Vineyard, also in Wales, produces high-quality Rondo red and pink. Their 2018 Sparkling White Seyval Blanc won a Silver medal in the IWC, with 90 points. They also make a Seyval and Solaris mix, and a Pinot Noir. Their sparkling rosé 2017 won the best wine in Wales and their still rosé, red and white wines have also received top accolades.

White Castle Vineyard won an IWC silver medal and a gold in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2021 for its 2018 Pinot Noir Reserve. Their Siegerrebe 2021 white took silver in the WineGB Awards 2022.

In fact, there are almost 30 vineyards in Wales now. Most are in South Wales but a few are in the North.  As far back as 2012, a wine from the Ancre Hill Estate in Monmouthshire, one of few vineyards in the UK using biodynamic growing, was voted the best sparkling wine in the world at the Bollicine del Mondo International Competition in Italy.

What is truly fascinating is that almost all started with Rondo and Solaris and soon moved on to other grapes, in particular Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Maybe we're not so crazy after all? What has me confused is the Ancre Hill Estates Orange Wine is mostly Albariño but why is it orange? 

So if they can make great wines in Wales, we should be able to do the same in Ireland!

Rain, finally!

I never thought I'd be hoping for it to rain in Ireland. But I have been. I've been watering the gardens daily over the past week but not the orchard or vineyard. It was getting might dry up there. Overnight, we got heavy rain -- 4.8 mm registered in Newport. It will continue to rain through tomorrow. Two days should hopefully make a big difference. 

And it's warm and humid -- almost tropical feeling. Very weird. We don't do tropical in Ireland, although I did buy a date palm at Lidl this week -- it was only €4.99 half price and I couldn't resist. It's now in the polytunnel. 

I've been watering in the polytunnel above and beyond the drip sprinkler system because it has been so dry. Of course, I did not think of watering today because it's raining outside, duh!  I'll do it tomorrow. 

Heat wave

The heat wave ended with thunderstorms in the S and E

All of Europe, including the UK and Ireland, have been experiencing a heat wave this week. Whereas the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere have shot up into the 40s, Ireland stayed in the 25 to 30C range. Thank goodness. We only hit 18.5 yesterday and 23.5 on Sunday, 25.1 on Saturday, 20.7 on Friday and 19.3 on Thursday. That was quite the change from the frigid temps before. 

We've had to water the gardens daily, but we have not watered the vineyard and the orchard. We should have because the apples are dropping from the trees. Lucky donkeys. 

We have a new bistro set in the vineyard which makes it convenient to sit and ponder the status. By and large, we've made progress in controlling the growth this year and have lots more to do, but it was still nice to take a break and go out on the water in the kayak.