Viticulture in Ireland: chardonnay

Showing posts with label chardonnay. Show all posts

Sunday 31 October 2021

Back to work

The clocks changed this morning and we had forgotten to reset our alarm. So we were awake earlier than the rest of the world. The EU had voted to stop the clock changing nonsense, but deferred due to the pandemic. Bah-Humbug.

The forecast was for heavy rain in the afternoon and evening so I got out to the vineyard right after breakfast. There was a 4 yo Chardonnay vine down with its support broken at the base. I didn't think we'd had much wind overnight. I called Alex and he immediately came up to pound in a fence post and secure the vine. It's fine, thank goodness. Then he went down to the shore to bail boats in between rain bursts.

The land is so wet and there was evidence of new digging by the badger. I am tying up the new growth, removing the pink ribbons, and replacing tape with stretchy nylon ties. I got the Rondo-Chardonnay row done just as the rain started and the midges attacked. Boo-hoo. It was only about 11:00 am. Ghosty came to complain about the rain and to get me to return to the house. But I managed to secure the loose Solaris vines on the horizontal supports on the way down.

At least I got the most important row done. The 2 yo Chardonnay vines had grown quite a bit and might have been whipping in the wind. Plus the pink ribbon was now very tightly bound to the vines. We lost three vines, two possibly because of the pink plastic ribbon and electrical tape. I'd like to replace those three, plus some of the others that didn't make it.

It's raining very steadily now. It's going to be a very soggy Halloween, which we just learned originated in Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. So far it looks like a very mild and wet October, but I'll report the monthly figures tomorrow.

Oh and all the wine containers have started bubbling again. Very good news.

Badger holes

Badgers like grubs

Chardonnay on the right,
Solaris on the left

A rather terrified self-isolating introverted pumpkin
this year.

“Rathcroghan, the Irish Otherworld & the Home of Halloween”

Saturday 30 October 2021

Storm damage

Rainbow means rain

Last week's storms dumped a lot of rain and brought gale-force winds. Because the vines are still with leaves, they must have been whipping around because a number of the support posts broke at ground level. So Alex bought small fence posts which he pounded into the ground behind the old supports and secured the supports with attached vines to the posts. The ground is very wet but soft so it was easy to get the posts in.

View of the vineyard from the East

I went up in the afternoon to tie up any loose vines using strips of nylon stocking. I also cut off the excess of the primary vine so it wouldn't whip around in the wind. They had grown quite a bit. I would have liked to have pruned more but this is not the right time to do that. Luckily the rain held off.

I spotted a couple of issues that I will need to continue to take care of tomorrow. First, the pink ribbons that Alex tied onto the vines were constricting the vines as they grew fatter, like a girdle, creating indentations like waists. So I have to remove all of those urgently. Second, we had used electrical tape to secure the vines to the poles and that was, unfortunately, damaging the branches at the point of contact or killing them altogether. So I have to replace all of those.

Autumn in the vineyard is lovely

On the positive side, the 4 yo Solaris vines had more small grape clusters than I thought and they are now very sweet. Interesting that the birds haven't found them. The two small clusters of Chardonnay grapes on one of the 4 yo vines are still hard and not ripe but I have hope. The roses we planted at the end of each row and along the fence are still blooming. Two pink, one climber dark pink, and yellow tinged with red at the entrance.

Chardonnay grapes

The donkeys are in good shape and the vineyard cat is frolicking but complaining about being ignored. Plus there are signs of a badger digging. They like grubs so it's a natural form of pest control, as long as they don't take an interest in eating the vines. I hear and periodically see pheasants in the field and we have the occasional visit by a fox and a pine marten. Our rewilding and natural approach seems to be working. This time of year we get beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Today, I am feeling blessed.

Fiery dawn

Morning pastels

Sunrise

Pink rose as an indicator of mildew

Ghost watching the donkeys

The donkeys watching me

Heavy cloud cover coming in

Saturday 25 September 2021

Remaining grapes

We left behind the grapes that had not yet ripened when we were picking. I went up to check if they were ripening as we've had weird weather the last few days. Misty and rainy. Wouldn't you know, that most of the grapes were gone. Cheeky birds must have had a feast. I thought the CDs would be keeping them away but the most stripped clusters were right next to a CD. Interestingly, the best remaining grapes were by the heron statue.

So I am very glad we harvested when we did. Yet the grapes that are still there are substantially bigger than they were when we harvested. Juicy and delicious. And the Chardonnay are still not ripening.

Oh and our gas-powered mowing beast has finally arrived. In time to store it for winter.

Thursday 23 September 2021

Chardonnay update

First-ever Chardonnay cluster

Our four-year-old chardonnay vines (5 of them) produced one cluster of grapes. I checked them today and they are definitely not ready yet.

There was a bird firmly ensconced in the Rondo vines busily eating up the grapes we had left behind as not ripe enough. Clearly, they are ripening now.

It was a beautiful sunny day but was supposed to be cloudy and wet. I picked rosehips and cooked them with some fallen apples to make rose hip jelly tomorrow. It's flowing through the drip bag as we speak. Next week it will serve to separate the liquid from the must of grapes.

Meanwhile, I tried to pick blackberries for jam today but the berries have mostly succumbed to some fungal disease. Awful. In past years, they were amazing.

At least there was a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly visiting

Tuesday 17 August 2021

The vines are growing

Looking neater

Suddenly, everything started growing exponentially. The mild temperatures, gentle rain, and light winds produced ideal conditions. The vines shot up and out making it difficult for Alex to mow. When I started tying the vines up to the supports, I found two issues:

Some of the heavier vines, mostly 4-year-old Solaris, had broken the top tape that was holding them to the supports and were drooping in half. Fortunately, none had broken.
The electrical tape we were using had killed the primary shoots on the newer vines (Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Albarino) from the area of the tape down to the stock.

Dead primaries killed by tape

I knew the Albarino were not doing as well as the others and was disappointed, but I had not noticed that the shoots we had taped to the supports had actually died. The remaining vines were stressed and therefore stunted. Three Albarinos and three Chardonnays were completely dead.

I next cut up strips of nylon stockings to tie the vines with. That's a trick I learned from the woman I bought our first house from. It was a great way to reuse something that had reached its life limit. They are soft and stretchy.

As I tied up the vines with the new strips of stockings, I removed the tape and excised the dead wood. I am very sad that we were actually killing the vines without realising it. I hope they can recover. We need to get those overhead trellises built.

Surprise! Tiny Pinot noir grapes on one vine.

Solaris grapes getting plumper

The audience

Friends getting a tour

Saturday 27 March 2021

Getting close to bud burst awfully early

Snow (#sniachta) on Croagh Patrick, bees active in the hive, cat climbing trees, vineyard coming to life. Things are happening in County Mayo. Disappointingly, the Albarino are the only vines that don't look good.