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.

UK to adjust taxation of alcoholic beverages

BBC reports that GB will institute higher taxes on drinks with higher alcohol content. They expect this to bring attention to English wines. White wine taxes are to decrease. Red wine taxes are to increase. What am I not getting? And why doesn't vodka change?

But the UK government's plans to reform alcohol taxation might not apply in Northern Ireland due to the protocol. The protocol keeps Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods. As a result, EU excise duty rules continue to apply. The EU sets a minimum tax rate for alcoholic drinks but member states can apply tax at a rate higher than the minimum. But they may make a deal with the EU on this issue. So, northerners will shop for higher alcohol content drinks in the south and Irish Republicans will cross the border to get cheap British wines in the north. 

How is this an important post-Brexit issue to address? 

Anyway, this weekend the EU and US have agreed to eliminate the whiskey tariffs in response to Trumps's steel retaliation trade war. But the Brits will keep theirs in force it appears. 

October stats are in

Met Eireann has reported the complete figures for Newport through 31 Oct 2021. We got more rain in October than in any of the previous four years. Our air and soil temperature was warmer by far than any of the previous four years. Our annual averages are climbing steadily. We've had massive showers all day and a subtropical storm called Wanda has used up the last name of those established for the 2021 season and is wandering around the Atlantic west of the Azores.  

Today, COP 26 is underway to address the reversal of climate change. I'd say we are going to see accelerated change as we all talk about it for the 26th year in a row without doing anything about it. In fact, a new report issued by the WMA has indicated that sea-level rise has doubled in the past decade and extreme weather events can now be linked to human-induced change. 

 

MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 31-OCT-2021

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	265.7	n/a		1355.5
2020	139.5	342.8	178.2	25.5	54.7	164.5	187.9	137.9	153.4	228.0	206.6	232.7	2051.7
2019	146.8	115.0	228.5	100.7	112.5	76.6	82.7	228.9	175.5	160.7	148.1	220.6	1796.6
2018	274.6	155.6	86.2	94.3	70.4	65.9	58.6	179.1	148.3	140.9	172.6	201.0	1647.5
LTA	166.7	126.5	141.2	96.8	94.7	89.7	100.9	132.5	131.5	176.0	170.4	180.2	1607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	11.9	n/a		11.4
2020	7.2	6.0	6.6	11.0	12.8	13.8	14.4	16.0	13.8	10.5	9.1	6.1	10.6
2019	6.9	8.4	7.9	10.2	11.7	13.1	16.3	15.5	13.7	10.3	7.1	7.1	10.7
2018	5.9	4.6	5.5	9.1	13.1	16.1	16.1	15.0	12.4	10.9	8.3	8.1	10.5
LTA	6.1	6.1	7.3	9.0	11.5	13.8	15.4	15.4	13.5	10.8	8.3	6.5	10.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	11.3	n/a		11.0
2020	5.7	4.7	5.4	9.7	13.0	14.8	14.9	16.3	13.7	9.5	8.0	5.1	10.1
2019	6.1	6.1	6.8	8.9	12.2	13.8	16.7	15.7	13.5	9.4	6.2	5.6	10.1
2018	4.4	2.9	4.0	8.2	13.1	17.4	18.4	15.1	12.1	9.6	6.6	6.6	9.9
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

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” 

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