A chronicle of our preposterous journey to grow wine grapes and make wine in the west of Ireland, where the mountains come down to the sea along the Wild Atlantic Way.
Friday 26 April 2024
Worst European wine harvest in 62 years
Tuesday 16 April 2024
Albariño bud burst
Albariño |
Finally, the Albariño vines that are still alive have burst with life! We've lost quite a few of the 25 vines we planted, but it's nice to see that some survived. They are not thriving like the others, but they live.
Interestingly, the Chardonnay are the most vigorous leafing this year, while the Solaris are well ahead of the Rondo. The Pinot Noir are waiting for warmer weather to show their foliage. The Solaris buds are the most robust of all.
Albariño |
Pinot Noir |
Chardonnay |
Solaris |
Mr Ratty and Mr Rabbit discussing the new season |
Monday 15 April 2024
Short season grapes
Whereas British vineyards are switching to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, it appears that Canadian provinces are moving to Gamay, the predominant grape grown in Beaujolais. As Gamay is another short-season grape variety, perhaps we should be planting some of that as well to replace the Albarino.
Well, maybe we won't be planting anything more given the shite weather we've been having. Unrelenting wind, unrelenting rain. As of yesterday, we've had 89 mm of rain, close to the 96.8 mm LTA. I'd say that today we will have reached the LTA and the month of April will prove to be a washout. The poor farmers haven't been able to plant their crops nor let their animals out on the land.
At least we won't die of thirst.
Sunday 14 April 2024
Leafing!
The Rondo has started to leaf, while the others remain just cracked open. The weather has sent us relentless wind and showers on and off. Will it ever be nice again?
Thursday 11 April 2024
A morning of solace
This morning, it did not rain. It felt like the first time in forever. This evening it bucketed. When will it ever end?
I managed to get out and do some weeding in the veg garden. Took away a giant load but you cannot even tell I did anything at all. So frustrating.
Ghostie and I took a walk through the vineyard. The Rondo and Solaris are coming along but no leaves yet.
Last week had some interesting events in the USA including a total eclipse of the sun and lightning strike on Lady Liberty. Not my thing anymore. I'd rather watch the grapes grow.
Monday 8 April 2024
Two days of Storm Kathleen
The wind blew but thankfully the rain didn't overwhelm. There were showers. The wind didn't blow that hard. The strongest gust was 78.3 knots. But it kept going and going. And it blew the water straight into Clew Bay on one of the highest tide dates of the year. So of course we were home-bound for several hours. I barely made it home in time. The water was actually coming in at a very rapid pace. White breakers were crashing on our driveway.
The next day, I walked up to check for damage in the vineyard and was pleasantly surprised. No obvious damage. The vines had not yet leafed, and the Albarino was finally looking reasonably good with swollen buds. Phew!
Solaris |
Rondo |
Pinot Noir |
Chardonnay |
Albarino |
Tuesday 2 April 2024
Climate stats for March
Met Eireann reported the figures for March today and it's not an April Fools joke. Although it felt cooler than normal, the temperature was higher than the long-term average and consistent with the past few years. And although it felt much wetter than average, total rainfall was actually not far off the long-term average - for us. For the South and East, March was one of the wettest on record. Perhaps it's the pattern of rain that's changing.
On a trip to Cork last weekend, it was freezing when we visited Spike Island. Yet the overall climate of the earth is changing and fairly rapidly causing scientists to worry. None of the models can explain the excess heat in the oceans and in the air.
Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 31-mar-2024
Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT
Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 125.7 | 197.5 | 152.5 | n/a | 475.7 | ||||||||
2023 | 183.2 | 91.6 | 188.4 | 121.1 | 48.5 | 77.9 | 206.8 | 139.8 | 142.4 | 144.7 | 209.6 | 293.8 | 1847.8 |
2022 | 98.8 | 260.4 | 67.8 | 84.0 | 107.0 | 148.0 | 59.2 | 104.1 | 97.3 | 233.9 | 187.5 | 154.6 | 1602.6 |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 6.1 | 7.9 | 7.9 | n/a | 7.3 | ||||||||
2023 | 6.6 | 8.0 | 7.6 | 9.9 | 13.3 | 17.4 | 14.9 | 15.8 | 15.2 | 11.9 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 11.4 |
2022 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 8.0 | 9.9 | 12.6 | 13.8 | 15.9 | 16.2 | n/a | 12.2 | 9.4 | 5.2 | 10.7 |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 4.2 | 6.5 | 6.5 | n/a | 5.7 | ||||||||
2023 | 5.2 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 9.1 | 13.7 | 18.6 | 16.3 | 16.3 | 14.7 | 11.1 | 7.6 | 6.7 | 11.1 |
2022 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 9.3 | 13.2 | 14.8 | 16.8 | 16.6 | n/a | 11.5 | 8.4 | 4.4 | 10.4 |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 7248 | 12401 | 23032 | n/a | 42681 | ||||||||
2023 | 6245 | 10639 | 21429 | 37277 | 55732 | 58473 | 41797 | 36857 | 29338 | 16225 | 8326 | 4411 | 326749 |
2022 | 6311 | 10756 | 33399 | 40555 | 51569 | 47246 | 48439 | 51169 | n/a | 15988 | 7869 | 6167 | 319468 |
2021 | 6620 | 13347 | 20370 | 45694 | 55690 | 45488 | 49455 | 40490 | 22413 | 16358 | 7235 | 3780 | 326940 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 15.4 | 18.2 | 36.0 | n/a | 69.6 | ||||||||
2023 | 14.3 | 20.9 | 33.0 | 56.4 | 83.3 | 100.6 | 70.1 | 64.4 | 50.1 | 26.1 | 14.2 | 14.7 | 548.1 |
2022 | 13.7 | 23.0 | 47.2 | 60.6 | 77.7 | 76.0 | 80.4 | 82.0 | n/a | 27.2 | 17.2 | 9.2 | 514.2 |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 20.2 | 25.4 | 51.9 | n/a | 97.5 | ||||||||
2023 | 18.8 | 28.2 | 47.6 | 81.6 | 118.2 | 137.1 | 99.5 | 89.1 | 67.8 | 35.5 | 18.4 | 19.0 | 760.8 |
2022 | 17.9 | 32.4 | 66.5 | 86.8 | 114.5 | 109.2 | 111.1 | 113.2 | n/a | 37.0 | 22.0 | 11.4 | 722.0 |
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 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 293 | 221 | 234 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2023 | 275 | 210 | 246 | 171 | 85 | 18 | 39 | 26 | 53 | 118 | 203 | 237 | 1681 |
2022 | 256 | 234 | 235 | 171 | 97 | 63 | 30 | 28 | N/A | 103 | 185 | 320 | N/A |
2021 | 325 | 247 | 236 | 200 | 167 | 79 | 20 | 23 | 40 | 114 | 187 | 245 | 1883 |
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.
To view the Weather Events for Public Works Contracts data, select a station first, then click the link just below the map.