Gale yesterday

 

It blew, it rained, and it blew some more all day yesterday while Craig worked his butt off digging last year's donkey poo and straw out of the shed and spreading it on the vineyard floor. I hope it's decomposed enough to not be toxic. If it's okay, it should start to correct some of the soil deficiencies. I'll have to order minerals to supplement. The max wind speed recorded at Mayo Sailing Club was 78 knots. 

The winds decimated the leaves on the vines so it appears the Pinot Noir will not have enough support to ripen sufficiently. The brix reading is 12, not high enough. But I am encouraged enough to believe that accelerating warming will one day get us over the line. It is also probably too late to collect leaves to send to Teagasc for disease analysis, but I will pursue this next week.