Tuesday 6 September 2022

Carbon footprint of winemaking

 

Source: https://www.decanter.com/magazine/climate-change-rethinking-your-drinking-467605/


Viticulture is not always an environmentally friendly proposition. There’s been more focus recently on making wine production less energy intensive, sustainable and environmentally responsible. There has been a movement to reduce fuel, water and nutrient consumption in the vineyard by introducing sustainable biodynamic practices. In the winery, efforts are underway to reduce fuel and electricity consumption, to find more environmentally friendly packaging, and improve the carbon footprint of transport.

Glass bottles are heavy, take a lot of energy to produce and use a lot a fuel to transport. They are also not recycled or reused as often as they should be. So, many people are looking at alternatives, including natural fibers like hemp, corrugated and paper with food-safe PET liners. That doesn't sound terribly good for the environment either. Yes, they are much lighter than glass and would save a lot of costs on transport. 

Garçon Wines’ Eco Flat bottle is made from recycled PET and their Flaca wine is shipped in a box that is shaped to fit in a letterbox for gift giving. Seems like a lot of waste to me, but at least it's all recyclable. 




My goal will be to make our wine bottles fully reusable, with labels that can be very easily removed. In fact, our production will be small enough to remain local so that we don't ship far and wide, we promote the local economy, and customers return the bottle to our site for refill. Kind of like milk bottles were in my childhood. I like that idea. Of course, it has to be good wine for customers to come back. 



Monday 5 September 2022

Hens and chicks in the vineyard


I found this fun fact when I was searching for information about keeping hens in the vineyard to minimize weeds and pests. It was a different type of hens and chicks I learned about. 

I thought hens and chicks (large and small grapes on the same cluster) were problematic but apparently with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and perhaps some other varieties, they are actually a benefit. Pisoni Vineyards says the higher ratio of skin to juice adds to the flavour. You learn something every day. 

But back to hens, it's all about sustainability. Some sustainable winegrowers employ chickens to graze on cover crops, insects and worms while helping to fertilize the soil. It's interesting that one farmer keeps them out of the vineyard in the Autumn so they don't eat all the grapes. It's even more interesting that chickens in the vineyard will take care of vine weevils. That's sustainability. 

So it's either Dexter cattle and hens or Alpacas and hens. I'm leaning toward the Alpacas. 

I've just found a wheely henhouse that can be rolled around the vineyard. Cool. And it's on sale. You can just lift it up and roll it to a new spot every few days. I think that would be the beez nees. 





Sunday 4 September 2022

Brix at 19!



The Rondo is getting close to harvest. The grape juice Brix tested at 19 today so the sugar content is almost there. My pH measuring device has arrived, but I didn't measure that yet. I will in the next two days. Alex hung CDs in the vineyard today to ward off the grape-thieving birds.

We had fog yesterday morning and heavy rain overnight. We have weather advisories in place for thunderstorms, and we had thunder yesterday evening but I did not see lightning. Weather conditions conducive to the spread of potato blight will develop in many areas Tuesday through to Thursday (September 6th to 8th). I suppose that means the grape crop can be affected as well. 

The apple crop this year is the best we've ever had. Pressing apple juice will be a priority for this week. So far I've made apple concentrate from the early fallen apples -- delicious, crabapple and rose hip jelly, and apple sauce. I made tomato sauce and tomato soup and need to make more sauce. The blackberries are ripe and blackberry jam will be in the making. But I need to find time to make lots of apple stuff. Plyatsok is next on the list.  But the eating apples off the big tree are the best apples I've ever eaten; their skin is dark red in colour. Beautiful!





Friday 2 September 2022

Not the same old



It seems that grape farmers are experimenting with new techniques. Take this Napa Valley grower who stacks red wine grapevines over white vines to provide shade for the lower tier. It seems that white grapes are susceptible to sunburn and the red vines produce shade. It's one way of tackling climate change. 

The next thing you know, growing them on overhead trellises will become commonplace. 

By the way, it has finally cooled down and is raining here today. The earth sighs. 

Thursday 1 September 2022

Brix increasing in Rondo



I re-tested the red Rondo grapes and got consistent readings of 17. I tried testing the Solaris but got nothing. The Chardonnay grapes don't appear to be anywhere near veraison although it's hard for the untrained eye to discern veraison in white grapes. 

It's hot again today, forecast to reach 18C, but it's much hotter than that in the sun. There has been little rainfall, but we're expecting potentially heavy rain tomorrow and daily for the next week. The Pinot Noir vines are showing stress (yellow leaves) and the Albarino is stunted in growth again. I'm afraid that when the rain does come, it will shock the grapes and dilute the juices which at the moment are delicious and concentrated. 

Rondo getting close

Pinot Noir nowhere near
Chardonnay vines showing effects of drought 



Albarino stunted

7 yo vines doing just fine


Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 31-aug-2022

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
202298.8260.467.884.0107.0148.059.2104.1n/a929.3
2021225.6147.6141.145.6113.564.159.7155.6137.0265.7183.3186.61725.4
2020139.5342.8178.225.554.7164.5187.9137.9153.4228.0206.6232.72051.7
2019146.8115.0228.5100.7112.576.682.7228.9175.5160.7148.1220.61796.6
LTA166.7126.5141.296.894.789.7100.9132.5131.5176.0170.4180.21607.1

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
20227.27.18.09.912.613.815.916.2n/a11.4
20215.06.77.99.010.413.317.516.415.211.99.37.610.9
20207.26.06.611.012.813.814.416.013.810.59.16.110.6
20196.98.47.910.211.713.116.315.513.710.37.17.110.7
LTA6.16.17.39.011.513.815.415.413.510.88.36.510.3

Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
20226.26.26.39.313.214.816.816.6n/a11.2
20213.65.06.88.210.914.317.916.315.211.38.66.610.4
20205.74.75.49.713.014.814.916.313.79.58.05.110.1
20196.16.16.88.912.213.816.715.713.59.46.25.610.1
LTAn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
2022631110756333994055551569472464843951169n/a289444
2021662013347203704569455690454884945540490224131635872353780326940
2020626310808245454619258476435374021540555255581848763195209326164
2019537810595213063764849884496074539537116264601740681674766313728
LTAn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
202213.723.047.260.677.776.080.482.0n/a460.6
20217.622.930.762.976.370.787.867.538.325.114.114.6518.5
202017.621.935.070.291.672.966.266.442.728.113.610.4536.6
201913.421.535.460.479.078.279.562.942.829.214.814.3531.4
LTAn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
202217.932.466.586.8114.5109.2111.1113.2n/a651.6
202110.932.145.489.9111.2102.0117.293.552.134.718.619.1726.7
202022.431.951.898.9130.8104.894.392.759.138.818.113.6757.2
201917.729.552.087.3111.6112.8109.688.859.939.618.917.9745.6
LTAn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for NEWPORT

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecTotal
202225623423517197633028N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
2021325247236200167792023401141872451883
2020257276275143111735531711561932911935
2019266200235165130892736671642512621892

Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.

Cumulative Rainfall Graphs

Temperature Departures from LTA