Stormy winter

Storm Brendon

It hasn't been very cold but it has been exceptionally stormy so far this winter. Storm Brendon upended our wrought iron furniture and rearranged our patio stuff. Fortunately, I'd moved chairs, plant pots and micro croc gardens to protect them against wind damage. The gusts reached 81.5 knots which is about 90 mph or 150 kph, nothing to sneeze at. It started out SE which wasn't bad but then veered SW, a direction in which we are exposed. We were lucky not to have lost power as so many others did. Perhaps a vineyard near the sea wasn't such a great idea after all.

We had seaweed piled high and wide at the base of our driveway, which I had to shovel off the road and driveway as Alex was away. When he came home, he picked up the piles I made with the trailer and delivered one load to our gardens and one load to his mother. That's about 2 tons of seaweed, which we hear is now fetching €16-19 a kg dried.

It's very windy again today, so I haven't gone up there yet. Tomorrow should be a good day for inspection and pruning.

Good weather prompts vineyard inspection

The extraordinarily mild weather this winter has given me pause. We had a few days of frost, but mostly it's been in the teens and many garden participants are starting to grow and sprout. I'm getting worried that the vines won't get a sufficient dormant period to recharge. I'm concerned that they may start to bud before I've had a chance to prune. We've had quite a lot of wind and a fair bit of rain. I heard on the radio this morning that our climate is definitely changing with ever-increasing amounts of annual rainfall.

So I took the opportunity today to begin pruning. I first tackled the known shoots that I wanted to remove from the first 10 mature vines - anything broken or damaged, anything growing from the main trunk below the level of the trellis, ensuring that there were at least two vigorous main cordons per stem. I stood observing the vines for a long time first to see what they were doing and how I could help.

The next step will be to prune the cordons to create spurs. I'll really take my time on that.

I will next walk the entire vineyard and select the main stems on the more newly planted vines. This year, I'll be selecting who gets to grow up to the trellis from among the shoots. We need a few replacement plants which Alex mowed down.

I do love this part. It forces you to really know your vines and commune with them.

Trump's Wine Tariffs

What does wine have to do with airplanes, aside from being served in the air? Just 7 days from today, it's likely that Trump will increase the tariffs on European wines by 100%. That's on top of the 25% already levied earlier this year, all to punish the Europeans for subsidising Airbus, Boeing's major competitor. This at a time when Boeing can't deliver on its 737 Max and they are being forced to compensate airlines for their losses.

Protecting American businesses against unfair practices is certainly admirable, but there has got to be a better way, especially when it comes to a company in trouble of their own making. The American worker is going to be the one hurt by it. The American wine lobby is probably standing in line to support Trump's re-election campaign.

Oh well, more for us, I guess.

George DuBoef Dies at 86

(c) AFP

Georges Duboeuf, 'The Pope of Beaujolais' dies at the age of 86. He singlehandedly elevated a wine-producing region into a gold mine by celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau, a young wine drunk each year soon after harvest. His winery, run by his son Franck since 2018,  produces 30 million bottles of the light wine a year.

Called an ordinary wine, it was made extraordinary each year by the celebration of each year's new vintage. Light and inexpensive, we drank Beaujolai at will in the 1980s.

Most interesting is that his family has been in the winemaking business for four centuries. That's a lot of wine. RIP Georges!

Famous Ukrainian Wine?

Never heard of Ukrainian wines? Neither had I until I came upon an article about a Radio Free Europe investigation into how EU firms are sidestepping sanctions put in place against Russia after they invaded Crimea. Bastardo Old Crimea is a label of Inkerman International, making wines since 1961. "Only the best wine materials of Ukrainian and imported origin are used for production of wines. The company fully controls the harvesting, transportation, processing, fermentation and bottling of wines," the website claims. Technically, the company is owned by Ukrainian Valeriy Shamotiy but is headquartered in Sweden. Forbes estimated Shamotiy's assets at nearly $77 million in 2013, placing him among Ukraine's richest people. 

They offer labels for every segment of the market: new wines for young, vintage for older, classic for in between, sparkling, dessert and artisanal, in red, white and rose made of all the great varietals and some unusual ones. Somehow, I don't think they are all grown in Ukraine. But if we can grow grapes in Ireland, the steppes of Ukraine could certainly make some room for vineyards among the fields of grain, poppies and sunflowers.

In 2003 the trademark INKERMAN was registered. In 2011, Inkerman International AB, a  holding company with headquarters in Stockholm, was established.  In 2014, LLC INKERMAN UKRAINE was established as a subsidiary of Inkerman International AB. For almost five years after the EU adopted Crimea sanctions, his companies were all controlled by the same Swedish company. Shamotiy's Inkerman International AB is currently formally owned by three companies based in Cyprus, Finland, and Hong Kong, respectively. Inkerman Vintage Wines Factory Ltd was spun off in October 2019 in a sale to a St Petersburg-based company called Optima JSC. Inkerman International wines are now allegedly bottled in Sevastopol, Crimea for the Russian market and in Nova Kakhovka and Odessa, Ukraine for the Ukrainian market. 

A similar split into Ukrainian and Russian-oriented branches have been launched by other companies avoiding the scrutiny related to sanctions. 

According to Trip Advisor, there are at least six other wineries in Ukraine. And how was Inkerman spelled in Cyrillic before Sweden, or was it? Инкерман? It's certainly not a Ukrainian name. There's plenty of shenanigans and intrigue, but how is the wine? 

Brilliant Sunday

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, cold but not uncomfortable. We walked the donkeys from our fields down the road to their winter home in the barns at ITB Stud. They were complaining loudly and their feet were wet and cold. But when the time came, they refused to leave the field. They like it here. When Alex called to them, they finally came down the road. They know the way.

I then settled in to do some gardening, putting plants into the greenhouse, pulling weeds, and cutting back dead plants. The vineyard is almost asleep, with most of the leaves having fallen. The leaves are still on the trees in the orchard. I'll be leaving everything as is for now, though I'd like to put some natural fertiliser and mulch around the plants to decompose over the winter. I have comfrey in the garden to cut up and soak. But today started out with frost and has remained frigid. I'll wait for another day when the weather and my melancholy clear up.

Cinsault grapes

At dinner in Cru in Kinsale, Alex spotted a wine he'd never encountered before. It was a South African Tiger Horse Cinsault, labelled as coming from old vines. Cinsault is characterised by vines of 40-65 years in age or more, in vineyards that are not irrigated, resulting in 14% alcohol, berry flavour, and light translucent red colour. It is typically said to be served with escargots or stew. How they arrived at those decisions is beyond me. We liked it with seafood. It was lightly fruity, lightly chilled, and served by the owner of Cru who came by to explain his selection of this wine in person. He wanted to be certain we understood what we ordered and also offered to exchange it for something else if we didn't like it. Our experience at Cru overall was exceptional.

I looked up Cinsault when we returned home and learned that it is a grape that thrives in hot windy weather. Hence, it's often found in places like South Africa and the Rhone Valley. It is also used to make rosés in the Provence region. But apparently, Cinsault is in decline, decreasing in total acreage in vineyards all over the world. Over a ten year period from 2000 to 2010, 14% of Cinsault vines were culled from vineyards worldwide and replaced with vines that are easier to cultivate. As a result, Cinsault wines are available in relatively small quantities. A NYT article I found recommends the wines of De Martino winery. It's available in Ireland so I shall be on a quest.

This is not unlike our adoption of Viognier for white, also an old vine variety that's more fickle to grow. I like that in a wine that I am drinking but not making.