This is the great and generous crowd that joined us in lifting up Chardonnay Row 1 after the strange "micro-burst" storm that passed through in July. As always you all are the best.
Monday, February 21, 2011
2010 Vineyard Summary
2010 Vineyard Summary
Late winter and early spring started with winter pruning, re-tying and bud rubbing as usual. In the process of our bud rubbing, unusually warm weather and some good rains settled in and prompted quite rapid and substantial shoot growth. Shoot thinning progressed, however the substantial vigor had us a bit behind on proper thinning. We had developed a fairly aggressive spray program for this year starting a bit earlier, and in our first couple of sprays during early shoot growth, we were concerned about getting adequate canopy coverage while we caught up with the shoot thinning. Shortly after bloom, we had the shoot thinning under control and we were extremely careful about the timing of spraying during pre-bloom and bloom. In June and July, weather remained relatively dry to almost drought conditions. With these conditions, we were just beginning to consider irrigating our 2nd year vines in rows 18 and 19 when some moderate rains helped us out.
In mid July, we had a weather event that local authorities considered a “micro-burst.” Extremely high winds passed across the Chester River and through Piney Grove causing substantial damage including snapping some of our older and larger (42” +/- diameter) trees in half and knocking over our entire row number 1 in the vineyard. The trellising and posts in row number 1 were the only remnant from our father’s initial vineyard begun in approximately 1995. The remainder of the vineyard rows (2 – 18) stood firm with the newer driven posts. Fortunately, the vines in row 1 although laying down appeared undamaged and with the help of some great volunteers we were able to stand the row back up and support it temporarily to last until we could later replace the older posts after winter pre-pruning is complete.
As compared to the previous year, we had very minor issues with mildews and other rots. We attribute this to the dryer conditions and our more aggressive spray program. Insect damage that we were
aware of was primarily from Japanese beetles and bees. We held off using any insecticides until absolutely necessary and left our canopy tops a bit high to offer some sacrificial foliage. Eventually we did add one application of malathion which seemed to cut back the ongoing damage substantially. Deer damage was also fairly minimal this year. We attribute this to our fantastic vineyard dogs, Max & Casey. Their presence and activity in the vineyard allowed us to minimize the use of expensive chemical deer deterrents and resulted in substantially minor damage (considering past years) to fruit after verasion and through to harvest.
Fruit crop was also substantial this year. Our approximately 3 acres of Chardonnay is divided into 19 rows, of which for 2010, rows 1-10 were in their fifth year; rows 11-17 were in their 3rd & 4th years; and rows 18 & 19 were in their second year. In 2007 before we realized the devastating potential for deer damage, the substantial deer heard on the farm enjoyed almost all of the harvest in a very short amount of time. In 2008, with more precautions for protecting fruit after verasion, we harvested approximately 3.5 tons. In 2009, due to the extremely wet conditions, we achieved only approximately 3 tons, but fruit quality was still quite high. In 2010, having dropped all but two clusters per vertical shoot for the older vines, and all of the fruit on the second year vines, our early projections for 2010 suggested that we would be able to harvest somewhere between 5 and 6 tons. Reviewing fruit conditions we found that acid levels were dropping relatively quickly, while average brix readings were rising slower than expected. Field brix readings were between 22 and 23.2 when we scheduled our harvest for September 12. In the end, we had a bit of rain a few days before harvesting more than 7 tons while leaving some additional fruit on the vines which provided us an opportunity to use the remaining fruit to process a couple of our own small trial batches (not for sale) Final readings thanks to Pat at the Port of Leonardtown Winery were: PH @ 3.79; Tannic Acid @ .429 and Brix @ 21.6. In all, this was an extremely good year for us at Piney Grove. Each year we learn more and more and hope to better our performance in caring for our vines. We had hoped to expand our vineyard by another 10 acres by now, however that has been delayed while we work through settling with family members on the purchase of the farm after the passing of our father, Hap Lieber, a little more than a year ago.
Thanks to all for your fantastic support and encouragement as we learn and learn and learn.
Late winter and early spring started with winter pruning, re-tying and bud rubbing as usual. In the process of our bud rubbing, unusually warm weather and some good rains settled in and prompted quite rapid and substantial shoot growth. Shoot thinning progressed, however the substantial vigor had us a bit behind on proper thinning. We had developed a fairly aggressive spray program for this year starting a bit earlier, and in our first couple of sprays during early shoot growth, we were concerned about getting adequate canopy coverage while we caught up with the shoot thinning. Shortly after bloom, we had the shoot thinning under control and we were extremely careful about the timing of spraying during pre-bloom and bloom. In June and July, weather remained relatively dry to almost drought conditions. With these conditions, we were just beginning to consider irrigating our 2nd year vines in rows 18 and 19 when some moderate rains helped us out.
In mid July, we had a weather event that local authorities considered a “micro-burst.” Extremely high winds passed across the Chester River and through Piney Grove causing substantial damage including snapping some of our older and larger (42” +/- diameter) trees in half and knocking over our entire row number 1 in the vineyard. The trellising and posts in row number 1 were the only remnant from our father’s initial vineyard begun in approximately 1995. The remainder of the vineyard rows (2 – 18) stood firm with the newer driven posts. Fortunately, the vines in row 1 although laying down appeared undamaged and with the help of some great volunteers we were able to stand the row back up and support it temporarily to last until we could later replace the older posts after winter pre-pruning is complete.
As compared to the previous year, we had very minor issues with mildews and other rots. We attribute this to the dryer conditions and our more aggressive spray program. Insect damage that we were
aware of was primarily from Japanese beetles and bees. We held off using any insecticides until absolutely necessary and left our canopy tops a bit high to offer some sacrificial foliage. Eventually we did add one application of malathion which seemed to cut back the ongoing damage substantially. Deer damage was also fairly minimal this year. We attribute this to our fantastic vineyard dogs, Max & Casey. Their presence and activity in the vineyard allowed us to minimize the use of expensive chemical deer deterrents and resulted in substantially minor damage (considering past years) to fruit after verasion and through to harvest.
Fruit crop was also substantial this year. Our approximately 3 acres of Chardonnay is divided into 19 rows, of which for 2010, rows 1-10 were in their fifth year; rows 11-17 were in their 3rd & 4th years; and rows 18 & 19 were in their second year. In 2007 before we realized the devastating potential for deer damage, the substantial deer heard on the farm enjoyed almost all of the harvest in a very short amount of time. In 2008, with more precautions for protecting fruit after verasion, we harvested approximately 3.5 tons. In 2009, due to the extremely wet conditions, we achieved only approximately 3 tons, but fruit quality was still quite high. In 2010, having dropped all but two clusters per vertical shoot for the older vines, and all of the fruit on the second year vines, our early projections for 2010 suggested that we would be able to harvest somewhere between 5 and 6 tons. Reviewing fruit conditions we found that acid levels were dropping relatively quickly, while average brix readings were rising slower than expected. Field brix readings were between 22 and 23.2 when we scheduled our harvest for September 12. In the end, we had a bit of rain a few days before harvesting more than 7 tons while leaving some additional fruit on the vines which provided us an opportunity to use the remaining fruit to process a couple of our own small trial batches (not for sale) Final readings thanks to Pat at the Port of Leonardtown Winery were: PH @ 3.79; Tannic Acid @ .429 and Brix @ 21.6. In all, this was an extremely good year for us at Piney Grove. Each year we learn more and more and hope to better our performance in caring for our vines. We had hoped to expand our vineyard by another 10 acres by now, however that has been delayed while we work through settling with family members on the purchase of the farm after the passing of our father, Hap Lieber, a little more than a year ago.
Thanks to all for your fantastic support and encouragement as we learn and learn and learn.
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