Brrrrr, the big chill has arrived

Sunset today - so early. This was at 4:17.

Until today, November has been exceedingly mild. The mean temperature was 10.3 degrees for the month through the 20th, which is more than a degree warmer than last year. Last year at 9.1C was 2 degrees warmer than 2019 and a degree warmer than the prior two years (8.3C). Lots of flowers have been blooming right through the month, including amazing roses. Bees have been flying right through to this morning. Alex put up a lovely gate to the Apiary and made a cute sign for it.

This afternoon, it turned bitterly cold. We are to have about a week of arctic chill and Friday we will have a gale. They are saying that it may drop below zero at night but as there is no precipitation in the forecast until Wednesday at the earliest, there is little likelihood of snow. We will have little cloud cover so we may yet get frost. That would be welcome as it might kill off some of the pests and coax everything into dormancy. 

It was a beautiful Autumn, with lots of colour. Most of the leaves have now dropped, the donkeys are in the barn, and the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular. But we did not get to see the lunar eclipse as there was too much cloud cover. We even had enough leaves remaining that we had to rake them today. 

The wine is doing well; the bubbling has slowed down. Time to rack the white in particular. The yeast has settled nicely at the bottom of the demijohn. The red is taking longer to settle but it has more volume.

The mushroom kits have stopped producing so I put one out by the alder trees above the 'Avenue' and the oyster mushrooms I put out by the beech tree in the opposite corner. Hopefully, there are enough spores left to populate edible mushrooms in our 'forest'. 

Beautiful Autumn colour this year. 

The leaves didn't get blown off or burnt.

Vineyard today.

Polytunnel goodies.

Roses still blooming

Mushrooms in the fallen leaves

Cosmos finally bloomed - in November

Poppy this morning

Hesperantha or Schizostylis - not sure which.

Sunrise Sunset Times of Newport, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Location: Ireland > Co. Mayo > Carrowbeg (Fergus) >

Timezone:

Europe/Dublin

Current Time:

2021-11-21 16:57:56

Longitude:

-9.5463685

Latitude:

53.8852758

Sunrise Today:

08:19:00 AM

Sunset Today:

04:29:50 PM

Daylength Today:

8h 10m 50s

Sunrise Tomorrow:

08:20:44 AM

Sunset Tomorrow:

04:28:38 PM

Daylength Tomorrow:

8h 7m 54s

The new gate to the apiary path

World wine crop down dramatically in 2021

It was a really bad year for Italy, Spain and France, which account for 45% of the world's production. Frost during flowering , wet spring and early summer brought mildew, and it was followed by months of drought, causing low yield but high quality. Germany, Hungary and Romania had better weather and higher yields so the EU will still account for about 58% of total yield. 

The Southern Hemisphere recorded its highest yield ever following relatively favourable climatic conditions everywhere except New Zealand, whose yield was down 19% on last year’s but was of exceptional quality. Frosts and cool weather during the flowering season were factors in the drop in NZ. The Southern Hemisphere accounts for about a quarter of all production. 

Meanwhile, China dove into the wine business about a decade ago and was growing exponentially when the Chinese government decided to regulate the industry and cut production quotas by 50% for this year. Overall global wine production was below average for the third year in a row. What is most worrying for the wine industry is that most of the factors involved in the declining yield can be traced to climate change. The long-term consequences mean business unpredictability, crop failures, displaced populations and damaged ecosystems wrought by heat waves, drought, extreme rainfall, flash floods, wildfires and pests.

Most of the wine grape growers are already adapting to the changing conditions. They say vines are extremely adaptable. Maybe we are not so stupid after all. 

Vineyard helpers

Charming alpacas

We are considering getting some assistance of the furry type for the vineyard. We've been looking at what other people have done and it's becoming a popular practice among regenerative farmers. Some of the animals employed in vineyards include miniature sheep to mow the grass and weeds, chickens, ducks and geese to control the insects, and even raptors to control the birds and the vermin. But I'm leaning towards alpacas and Alex is leaning towards Dexter cattle. Both are relatively small animals and wouldn't be able to reach the grapes. We'd have to wait until the vines are fairly woody so they wouldn't eat the vines themselves, but we're almost there. There is experience with both in vineyards already, so either would work.

We could raise the cattle naturally, letting them suckle their young as long as they wished. They'd be happy and we'd perhaps take a little milk. The alpacas would provide wool. Both would provide manure for natural fertilizer. Both are gentle animals with good dispositions that basically take care of themselves. 

I like this idea. We already have bees to pollinate and cats to keep the rodents under control. 

Diminutive Dexters

https://www.corkbilly.com/2014/09/camus-farm-and-its-delicious-dexter-beef.html 

http://www.cookingisfun.ie/items/2014/colm-mccans-wine-diary-organic-biodynamic-natural-wines

https://rainwaterrunoff.com/dexter-cow/

https://www.naturawines.com/outdoorphins/alpacas-and-wine/ 

https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/you-wont-believe-whats-guarding-these-13-wineries 

https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/sheep-and-llamas-provide-very-efficient-services-for-central-coast-wineries/Content?oid=2941423

Last rows to tie up

My assistant Ghost surveying the vineyard

Today was as beautiful weatherwise as yesterday was not. Alex was out on the bay with the Oyster Coop spat survey. After visiting his mother and bringing her the paper and mini stollen, Ghost and I ventured into the vineyard to continue the tying up and cleaning up. 

We tackled the Albarino row first. As it turns out, it really needed attention. I think a reason why it did so poorly is that the pink ribbons were attached at the base of the vine, then covered over with the protective plastic wrap which was further sealed with black tape. The pink plastic ribbon inside the sealed protective wrap was rotting the wood. In several places, I had to extract the plastic from the bark. I hope we don't lose more vines. But they are now free of plastic and secured with very flexible and breathable nylon ties.

We then finished the row of Chardonnay vines and tackled the final row of Solaris. I came away with a bag of plastic, making sure to remove all shreds from the land and vines. 

It was starting to get a bit darker just then when Alex arrived back from the survey. I showed him what was happening and we both had a good learning discussion. I hope the vines will recover and are not too stressed. 

I need to go back again the next nice day and walk the rows to see what I missed, as I know there is much I didn't see when I was working intensively to get it done. Brown tape on brown vines is hard to see. I plan to remove all plastic so it doesn't break down into microplastics in the environment. 

Pink plastic ribbon inside protective plastic, tape removed

Pink ribbon cutting into the vines

More badger evidence

First verified regenerative agriculture wine

I covered regenerative viticulture in a previous post, but I just came across this article which explains the different methods of growing vines brilliantly. Essentially, it's about farming the soil, not the crops. If the soil is complete and healthy as it was intended by the earth, then it takes care of the things growing in it by itself. It stays in balance and everything coexists happily. 

When the soil is tilled for monoculture crops, its basic structure is unrecoverably altered. The fungi are disturbed, the insects and microorganisms die off, the composition is changed by the addition of nutrients and foreign composts, herbicides kill supporting plants, and so on. It becomes artificial and unsustainable. So the Monsantos of the world just keep selling you more stuff to replace what's missing and kill what takes over. 

If you left what was already there and healthy and introduced a few new species that work hard to join the neighbourhood, then you have a chance of true sustainability without needing additional support. That makes sense to me. It ties in with the idea of permaculture, which was introduced in the book One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, first published in the late 1970s, which I just ordered.

The hardest thing about regenerative farming is that few understood what to measure and how to measure it to define what's actually regenerating. That's why it died out when first introduced. In comes an NGO, the Savory Institute, that implements holistic grassland management and saves 30 million acres, and they find the resources to measure results. Called Land to Market, it's a certification system that applies a scientific protocol to deliver a verified seal of approval. 

The first wine to come from a certified regenerative farming vineyard, Mariah, has just hit the market. It was certified by the Land to Market EOV protocol which "scientifically measures regenerative outcomes on the land." Land to Market is the world’s first outcomes-based verified regenerative sourcing solution for meat, dairy, wool and leather - and now wine. The Land to Market Verified seal has attracted some of the world’s leading consumer packaged goods companies, apparel brands and retailers - naturally searching for ways to impress sustainability on consumers. To see the full list of Land to Market members, visit http://landtomarket.com. 

CO2 capture during fermentation

As our wine was bubbling away, the COP 26 conference was getting underway and climate change was being discussed everywhere. Alex and I had just been talking about the potential benefits of regenerative agriculture and joking about selling carbon credits, when he said, "Of course, the process of making wine is not carbon neutral." 

Hmmm, I thought. Right. Fermentation gives off CO2 but how much? Certainly, 4 demijohns aren't going to break the bank and we can absorb the CO2 created with the sequestration of carbon on our land. We'll plant another tree or ten. 

And then I saw an article today that one winery has started capturing and storing the carbon from fermentation tanks. God, are we on the cusp of something pretty amazing! The technology exists and is being applied to brewing beer, where the carbon can just be put back into the liquid for carbonation. So it can be adapted to winemaking as well. And now it has been.

The Trefethen Family Vineyard has adopted carbon capture technology and is conducting an experiment to see how it works in winemaking. Earthly Labs' "CiCi" is a carbon capture system designed specifically for brewing. It captures CO2 from fermentation, transforms it into a liquid, purifies it and stores it for reuse. This is the first winery using this system. Other wineries use other systems. 

Although winemaking doesn't involve huge volumes of CO2, the pollutant-free CO2 that is produced forms in a way that makes capture pretty easy. Apparently, every year, someone in a winery dies of asphyxiation so there are safety reasons for removing the CO2 as well. Capturing, removing and storing or selling the CO2 could turn winemaking into a negative emissions industry. 

So many people are experimenting with sustainability issues, that a nonprofit called Port Protocol has been formed to keep track of initiatives. Visit the Porto Protocol website for practical content on all subjects related to climate solutions and sustainability in viticulture and vinification. 

Smart Viticulture is a very interesting consulting firm that is a member of the Porto Protocol. 

Hotter, wetter and more extremes

Pinot Noir year 2 looking good

How climate change is forecast to impact Ireland ...

Senior Met Eireann climatologist Keith Lambkin told the Irish Times that the average temperature in the State has increased by about one degree C over the last 120 years. By 2050, we are to get slightly more rain but in patterns that differ from today. Honestly, they already differ from when I first started coming here 20+ years ago. We are to get wetter Autumn and Winter and drier summers. Moreover, the rain will fall in heavier amounts rather than in the showers alternating with sunshine that we used to get. It's why we're associated with so many rainbows. 

There always have been severe weather events and always will be. But the UN's WMO issued a report in concert with COP 26 which indicates that the events are becoming more extreme and are clearly associated with man's actions. To better predict these events the WMO is launching the Global Basic Observation Network, strategically placed in areas that do not currently have extensive meteorological observation capacity. 

Today, the cold arrived and it is certainly wet up in the field. The donkeys were complaining so I brought them carrots. They complained even more loudly. What a difference a day makes. The leaves have started dropping quickly. Autumn is clearly here.  The days are getting noticeably shorter. And daylight savings time has confused my sleep-wake cycle. Now I count the days until December 21. 

We worked in the vineyard again, tying up vines, clearing grass and removing plastic ties. I got the Pinot Noir row done. The vines are looking really good for the most part. A few are weaker, some are more robust, but overall they are doing great, much better than the Albarino planted at the same time.

Yesterday I made grape juice from the remaining white grapes at Ross House. It's delicious without even adding sugar, the grapes were so sweet. Our wine continues to bubble away, so I am hopeful. 

And just for the heck of it, yesterday's delicious chicken pot pie with oyster mushrooms I grew in a mail-order kit. It's always something.