Glyphosate bans

Whereas growers in Napa are forming a society that refuses to use glyphosate (Round-Up), The EC has just approved the continued use of glyphosates for the next ten years. WTF EU?

Winemaking in Albania

Duka Winery and Vineyards

High in the mountains of northern Albania, warmer temperatures and extreme weather have ravaged the unique local grapes that make the region’s popular wine. 

Rising temperatures, hail, and disease have taken their toll on the Shesh, Kallmet, Vlosh and Puls grapes that make the region's delicate red and white wines and floral rakis which are traditionally distilled by women rather than men. Most of the damage has been caused by mildew fueled by a hot and stormy spring followed by excessively high temperatures and drought, killing off most of his grapes.

Albania has some 11,000 hectares of vineyards, producing 190,000 to 195,000 metric tons of wine a year, according to official figures. Most of the vintners are opposed to planting genetically modified grape varieties designed to weather adverse growing conditions. 

Winemakers around the world are grappling with whether to replant their vineyards with different varieties or move their vineyards to more temperate regions. Even France with its appellation controller will have to adapt or fail.  

Ukrainian film about winemaking wins award

 

A Ukrainian film about winemaking -- Wounded Land -- wins the top prize at the Most Festival in Spain. It started out being about vineyards and winemaking in Ukraine, focused on the vineyard named Heart of Wine in Ukrainian. But the Russians invaded before the film was completed and it took on a different character. War and wine -- it's hard to comprehend how the latter can exist in the presence of the former. 

Articles about Ukraine's vineyards:

• How Russia's War on Ukraine threatens decades of winemaking progress
• Inside Ukraine's wartime wine industry
• 10 wineries & vineyards in Ukraine that you shouldn't miss
• Ukraine's wine industry ravaged by war

Storm Debi on its way

 

We have an orange warning nationwide for rain and thunderstorms. Met Éireann issued a Red wind warning for the middle of the country, possible F10 in places. Each of the models has something a little different so we'll just have to see. 

Meanwhile, Iceland is bracing for a large volcanic explosion, having hundreds of tremors over the past couple of days. If that erupts, we'll have ash coming our way with the transatlantic storms. Flights are likely to be disrupted and ash may coat the landscape. Oh joy. 

Post Script 13/11/23:  We fared well whereas Galway did not. We had lots of rain. They had rain, flooding and wind damage. Many homes are without power today. Feeling lucky and blessed. 

Autumnal morning

 Sometimes I just have to pinch myself to assure myself that I am not dreaming. I love it here. 

Autumn in the vineyard

 

It's truly autumn in the garden and all the leaves have fallen off the vines. We are tempted to start pruning but the rule of thumb is that January is the time, around St Vincent's Feast Day. 

The roses are still going strong and today is comparatively mild. Yesterday we had nasty squalls with hail and thunder much of the day. They came on suddenly and really dumped when they did. The sky was quite dramatic all day long, with giant black clouds silhouetted against brilliant sunshine. When it hailed, the polytunnel was very loud. 

The ground is saturated and standing water is everywhere. We can't even walk the land, and it's quite early for that condition. It's good the donkeys left last week.

Sunset's burning trees

St Vincent whose feast day is 22 January

Sunrise this morning

Stunning sunrise

Cottage roses back in bloom

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey...

 

Now for the quiet season. Waiting for the cold while the wet passes through. The leaves are down in the vineyard and many of the trees. Storm Ciaran took care of that.