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. 

Third heatwave hits California

Miguel Ramos, of Salem, Oregon, reaches up to pull the leaf canopy over pinot noir grapes on Thursday, July 8, 2021, to shade the fruit from the sun, at Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner, Ore. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)

People started to prepare for the third record-breaking heatwave of the season throughout the West coast. Workers in several West Coast wineries are trimming less of the leaf canopy to keep the grapes shaded and prevent sunburn.

Temperatures have soared into the triple digits in California, Arizona and Nevada. Hundreds of deaths have been recorded as attributable to the heat. OSHA adopted a heatwave standard to protect outdoor workers from heat-related illness. Oregon and Washington were among the first states to adopt the new OSHA emergency rule for employees working in extreme heat.

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, TS Elsa, which had been the first hurricane of the season, fizzled as it brought heavy rains and flooding to the US East Coast. Compared to last year, it has been a most unusually quiet season in the Atlantic. It's almost like waiting for the fuse to reach the powder keg. 

Scientists say human-induced climate change is definitely what is causing the West Coasts' disastrous heat and drought. Meanwhile, scientists also believe that anthropomorphic climate change was also at fault of the 'catastrophic' French frost that decimated one-third of the crop in Burgundy, Champagne and the Loire valley. The frost also affected our growing region and everything is about a month late  this year. 

For us, it's been an unusually cold and dry early summer, so the grapes still have not flowered. But everything started growing exponentially last week and the grass definitely benefited from its first trim in a while. Alex is getting used to the new Kubota UTV which purrs along quietly at slow speed. The mower machine is separately petrol-powered and very annoyingly loud. I hope the one we ordered is more environmentally friendly. But now that we have this UTV, Alex has mowed the vineyard, the field, and even deployed the lobster pots using the UTV to deliver them to our boat, Moytura. And the benefits are already evident. 😎