Viennese wines?

I must admit, I never thought of Vienna as a wine-producing region. Certainly one of luscious pastries and exquisite coffees, but not wines. Nor did I see any vineyards or wineries when I was there, notably in the 1980s, which of course is 40 years ago. Things change in 40 years, don't they? There are about 400 individual vineyards in the city, covering some 700 hectares.

Their production figures are pretty staggering. The annual yield of wine in Vienna averages 20,000 hectolitres. And all of the wine is sold for immediate consumption locally in the popular wine taverns called Heuriger. 

What a curious model. I wonder how I missed that when I was there. Oh well, it was a business trip, I was very young, and I didn't speak German. 

Wine not?

We processed the grapes by hand and got half a bowl of white and a big pot full of red. They were delicious by the way!

We crushed the grapes with the Mouli and got a glass full of green juice from the Solaris, which we drank. We got a jar full of must from the Rondo which Alex topped off with a little water and some yeast dissolved in 3/4 cup of boiled lukewarm water. The must is thick and we couldn't put it in a 5L demijohn, so we used my 2L apple cider vinegar jar and it promptly overflowed overnight. We then spilt it into two jars with plastic pull-on lids which let the air escape. 

The only good news is that the Brix measurement by reflectometer is precisely 20. 

How do farmers do it year after year?

Disappointing harvest

Shrivelled grapes

We couldn't harvest yesterday because Alex had to show Ross House with little notice. We had a lot of commitments this week, and I hadn't looked at the grapes in two days. I thought it would give more of them a chance to reach a brix of 20 as they were hovering around 19 three days ago. 

When we started picking the Rondo this morning, it quickly became apparent that we'd had a crop failure. Without rain for so long, in those two days, most of them turned into raisins.  I was gutted. We only had a few good bunches. Very tasty, but hardly enough for a bottle or two. 

A good bunch

The full harvest of Rondo.

Meanwhile, the Solaris also reached veraison. We picked what was there -- so little for the number of vines -- but our yield was barely half a bucket. Lots of hens and chicks but really tasty and sweet. Most were from the younger vines not the older ones. I just don't understand what went wrong. There was no early frost or major storms. 

You can see the damage to the foliage caused by the drought. The only good news is that the birds didn't eat all of the grapes. Our strategies must have worked:

• Kites flying overhead
• Heron on the ground
• CDs fluttering around the vines
• No bird food in the garden for the last two months
• Cats prowling far and wide

Curiously, some of the vines are flowering again. They are really confused by this late warmth and sunshine. 

Flowering Solaris

Flower buds on Rondo

Vines suffering from drought

The Pinot Noir is encouraging 

Veraison is beginning

Chardonnay still hard as a rock and sour

Veraison not evident

Hens and chicks

No transparency

Visiting honey bees

The vineyard vista is still magnificent

Farming during anthropogenic climate weirdness is going to be a challenge. 

Time for harvest

 

The Brix reading for the Rondo clusters tested ranged from 19 to 22, with 20 being ideal for reds. It will be time to harvest in the next day or so. We'll end up with two harvests again as some of the bunches have not started turning yet. 

The Solaris tested at 15 so it has a way to go. The Chardonnay is not close yet but the Pint Noir has started veraison. Very interesting. The leaves on the vines are turning brown and dropping as the heat and lack of rain continue. 

We are tracking hurricanes, Danielle and Earl, in fear of potential arrival here this coming weekend and next. Danielle has just been downgraded to a tropical storm but two new depressions have formed off the Cape Verdes with a high likelihood of strengthening. 

Chardonnay

Solaris

Solaris

Pinot Noir

TS Danielle and Hurricane Earl

Social Media

I finally managed to get the account up on Instagram. I really should have had a ten-year-old do it. Would have been much faster and easier and done professionally. It took me the entire morning and lots of revisions. I almost deleted the account and started over, but it would take a month for it to be deleted. So I persevered. 

This is a QR code that will get you to the page easily they say. First I need to populate it with content. And I cannot get dlvr.it to work. Pshaw!

Climbing high for climate change

The new vineyard in Sant Sebastià dels Gorgs, Spain. Credit: Gemma Sànchez

An interesting article in Decanter profiles a vine nursery in Spain that is growing grape varietals grafted onto tall rootstock vines to elevate them high off the ground. It looks to like they form palm-tree-like tall vines. The article also talks about the overhead trellises used in Galicia. 

They claim that the roots of any vine top out at 37 cm. This newly planted unique vineyard has trunks at 80cm in height. They claim many benefits including: ‘…better resistance to drought, faster forming of the vines in trellises, keeping fruit away from animals that would eat it, not needing trunk protectors when cleaning up vegetative growth and eliminating excess secondary shoots.’

In earlier experiments, they found that height did indeed make a difference with 90cm vines pushing out maturation by four days over those at 60cm. They also have lower planting density. We've done all this by instinct. How curious! 

I would think that taller vines would lead to deeper roots and less need for water, more resilience to drought. As they have just planted the vineyard in 2022, it will be a few years before we see the real results in yield and quality. We'll have to see. 

Carbon footprint of winemaking

 

Source: https://www.decanter.com/magazine/climate-change-rethinking-your-drinking-467605/

Viticulture is not always an environmentally friendly proposition. There’s been more focus recently on making wine production less energy intensive, sustainable and environmentally responsible. There has been a movement to reduce fuel, water and nutrient consumption in the vineyard by introducing sustainable biodynamic practices. In the winery, efforts are underway to reduce fuel and electricity consumption, to find more environmentally friendly packaging, and improve the carbon footprint of transport.

Glass bottles are heavy, take a lot of energy to produce and use a lot a fuel to transport. They are also not recycled or reused as often as they should be. So, many people are looking at alternatives, including natural fibers like hemp, corrugated and paper with food-safe PET liners. That doesn't sound terribly good for the environment either. Yes, they are much lighter than glass and would save a lot of costs on transport. 

Garçon Wines’ Eco Flat bottle is made from recycled PET and their Flaca wine is shipped in a box that is shaped to fit in a letterbox for gift giving. Seems like a lot of waste to me, but at least it's all recyclable. 

My goal will be to make our wine bottles fully reusable, with labels that can be very easily removed. In fact, our production will be small enough to remain local so that we don't ship far and wide, we promote the local economy, and customers return the bottle to our site for refill. Kind of like milk bottles were in my childhood. I like that idea. Of course, it has to be good wine for customers to come back. 

Hens and chicks in the vineyard

I found this fun fact when I was searching for information about keeping hens in the vineyard to minimize weeds and pests. It was a different type of hens and chicks I learned about. 

I thought hens and chicks (large and small grapes on the same cluster) were problematic but apparently with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and perhaps some other varieties, they are actually a benefit. Pisoni Vineyards says the higher ratio of skin to juice adds to the flavour. You learn something every day. 

But back to hens, it's all about sustainability. Some sustainable winegrowers employ chickens to graze on cover crops, insects and worms while helping to fertilize the soil. It's interesting that one farmer keeps them out of the vineyard in the Autumn so they don't eat all the grapes. It's even more interesting that chickens in the vineyard will take care of vine weevils. That's sustainability. 

So it's either Dexter cattle and hens or Alpacas and hens. I'm leaning toward the Alpacas. 

I've just found a wheely henhouse that can be rolled around the vineyard. Cool. And it's on sale. You can just lift it up and roll it to a new spot every few days. I think that would be the beez nees. 

Brix at 19!

The Rondo is getting close to harvest. The grape juice Brix tested at 19 today so the sugar content is almost there. My pH measuring device has arrived, but I didn't measure that yet. I will in the next two days. Alex hung CDs in the vineyard today to ward off the grape-thieving birds.

We had fog yesterday morning and heavy rain overnight. We have weather advisories in place for thunderstorms, and we had thunder yesterday evening but I did not see lightning. Weather conditions conducive to the spread of potato blight will develop in many areas Tuesday through to Thursday (September 6th to 8th). I suppose that means the grape crop can be affected as well. 

The apple crop this year is the best we've ever had. Pressing apple juice will be a priority for this week. So far I've made apple concentrate from the early fallen apples -- delicious, crabapple and rose hip jelly, and apple sauce. I made tomato sauce and tomato soup and need to make more sauce. The blackberries are ripe and blackberry jam will be in the making. But I need to find time to make lots of apple stuff. Plyatsok is next on the list.  But the eating apples off the big tree are the best apples I've ever eaten; their skin is dark red in colour. Beautiful!

Not the same old

It seems that grape farmers are experimenting with new techniques. Take this Napa Valley grower who stacks red wine grapevines over white vines to provide shade for the lower tier. It seems that white grapes are susceptible to sunburn and the red vines produce shade. It's one way of tackling climate change. 

The next thing you know, growing them on overhead trellises will become commonplace. 

By the way, it has finally cooled down and is raining here today. The earth sighs. 

Brix increasing in Rondo

I re-tested the red Rondo grapes and got consistent readings of 17. I tried testing the Solaris but got nothing. The Chardonnay grapes don't appear to be anywhere near veraison although it's hard for the untrained eye to discern veraison in white grapes. 

It's hot again today, forecast to reach 18C, but it's much hotter than that in the sun. There has been little rainfall, but we're expecting potentially heavy rain tomorrow and daily for the next week. The Pinot Noir vines are showing stress (yellow leaves) and the Albarino is stunted in growth again. I'm afraid that when the rain does come, it will shock the grapes and dilute the juices which at the moment are delicious and concentrated. 

Rondo getting close

Pinot Noir nowhere near

Chardonnay vines showing effects of drought 

Albarino stunted

7 yo vines doing just fine

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 31-aug-2022

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	n/a				929.3
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	265.7	183.3	186.6	1725.4
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	54.7	164.5	187.9	137.9	153.4	228.0	206.6	232.7	2051.7
2019	146.8	115.0	228.5	100.7	112.5	76.6	82.7	228.9	175.5	160.7	148.1	220.6	1796.6
LTA	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a				11.4
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	11.9	9.3	7.6	10.9
2020	7.2	6.0	6.6	11.0	12.8	13.8	14.4	16.0	13.8	10.5	9.1	6.1	10.6
2019	6.9	8.4	7.9	10.2	11.7	13.1	16.3	15.5	13.7	10.3	7.1	7.1	10.7
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a				11.2
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	11.3	8.6	6.6	10.4
2020	5.7	4.7	5.4	9.7	13.0	14.8	14.9	16.3	13.7	9.5	8.0	5.1	10.1
2019	6.1	6.1	6.8	8.9	12.2	13.8	16.7	15.7	13.5	9.4	6.2	5.6	10.1
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm² for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	6311	10756	33399	40555	51569	47246	48439	51169	n/a				289444
2021	6620	13347	20370	45694	55690	45488	49455	40490	22413	16358	7235	3780	326940
2020	6263	10808	24545	46192	58476	43537	40215	40555	25558	18487	6319	5209	326164
2019	5378	10595	21306	37648	49884	49607	45395	37116	26460	17406	8167	4766	313728
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	13.7	23.0	47.2	60.6	77.7	76.0	80.4	82.0	n/a				460.6
2021	7.6	22.9	30.7	62.9	76.3	70.7	87.8	67.5	38.3	25.1	14.1	14.6	518.5
2020	17.6	21.9	35.0	70.2	91.6	72.9	66.2	66.4	42.7	28.1	13.6	10.4	536.6
2019	13.4	21.5	35.4	60.4	79.0	78.2	79.5	62.9	42.8	29.2	14.8	14.3	531.4
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	17.9	32.4	66.5	86.8	114.5	109.2	111.1	113.2	n/a				651.6
2021	10.9	32.1	45.4	89.9	111.2	102.0	117.2	93.5	52.1	34.7	18.6	19.1	726.7
2020	22.4	31.9	51.8	98.9	130.8	104.8	94.3	92.7	59.1	38.8	18.1	13.6	757.2
2019	17.7	29.5	52.0	87.3	111.6	112.8	109.6	88.8	59.9	39.6	18.9	17.9	745.6
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2022	256	234	235	171	97	63	30	28	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	114	187	245	1883
2020	257	276	275	143	111	73	55	31	71	156	193	291	1935
2019	266	200	235	165	130	89	27	36	67	164	251	262	1892

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Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.

Open data

Cumulative Rainfall Graphs

Temperature Departures from LTA