About Albariño

Most Vitis vinifera cultivars are hardy in Zones 6 or 7, meaning healthy vines can survive temperatures from zero to minus 10°F. The European Union has grouped wine production not by hardiness but by three major categories: A, B and C with C subdivided into four subregions. Zone A is the coldest and it's where Ireland would fall into. Zone C is the warmest and C I and C II is where northern Spain fits.

The orchard below the vineyard

The orchard is doing well, too. For the first time this year, we have fruit on every tree. We missed the cherries and gooseberries, but we have apples, crabapples, pears, and plums. The peach tree died last year.

What a difference a week makes

We arrived back in Ireland on the 28th of July having spent June and July on our boat sailing the Iberian peninsula from Galicia in Spain to the Algarve in Portugal and back. It was the sunniest, driest summer in Ireland while we were gone. There were days when the temperature reached 30 degrees we were told, and a drought had parched the land. Indeed, when we returned, Ireland had its first rainfall in months and the grass was brown and dry. The house sitter did not water in the vineyard. Naturally, it's been raining and cold since we returned, but that's another story.

The grapevines seemed to like the weather. They are fruiting profusely. Although the grapes are small, there are plenty of them for the first time since we planted the original vines five years ago. All of the new vines survived the drought without watering, too. Some even have grapes in their second year. They weren't told they weren't supposed to fruit yet.

Storm Hector tore through Ireland last night

The vicious storm brought winds of 90 km/hr, the highest tides in living memory, and left 35,000 without power. That means salt spray would have doused the vineyard. We're not there to survey the damage, but our neighbours have posted pictures of their leveled gardens. We shall see. In any case we shall rely on our superpowers to restore all.

Seen at a restaurant in Lisbon. 

With translation...

Flower buds have formed

After several days of warm weather following a solid rainfall, the vines have gone bananas developing clusters of tiny flowers. The bees have been busy in the orchard next door, so hopefully they'll move on to the vineyard next. How exciting. Now we're settling in for two months of watching and waiting and hoping. Our first crop perhaps?

What a difference a day makes

Well I went out to the vineyard after publishing my post this morning and contrary to my earlier report, every single one of the 4-yo red Rondo vines had leafed while the white Solaris still had only one leaf. It's a wonderful time of year.

Happy days

Sweet greens

Even the young vines have come alive

Sudden greening

Leafing!

The first leaves opening on the Solaris vines

Rondo getting close on the 8th May.

I've been going up into the vineyard and taking pictures of the buds daily for several weeks. When everything was flowering in the orchard, not a vine had yet leafed in the vineyard. Slowly, ever so slowly, I watched as the leaves unfurled in a most sluggish way. Then yesterday, after several days of sunshine, the first leaf appeared - it was the 8th of May and it was on the white grape vine. Seems very late. The ones on the Rondo reds was almost there, but the first leaf was definitely open on the Solaris white.

I walked the field and made note of how everything was doing. The four-year-old vines are robust with strong buds. The newly planted vines are of two natures: one is robust and bursting to leaf, the other is barely surviving. In fact it looks like four of the 50 Alex planted last year are dead.

The chardonnay's don't look great so far either. They have buds, but small ones and some canes are black and look dead. I'll give them a little time to wake up still, but it appears that my experiment has revealed their fate. The cold snap we had and the prolonged period of below normal temps has taken its toll. Climate change does not equate to global warming. Not yet, not here anyway. Maybe something unusual will happen and I'll be saying, "Hmm, that's funny." Those are usually the best words in science, and after all, this is all an experiment, though uncharacteristically unscientific for two ex-biologists.

On the 26th April they were this far along.