Wooly Mowers.

I spotted these hard working sheep on the Silverado Trail as I was driving home from work. These ruminating ovines must be the ultimate in a low emission, vineyard management programme.
This is quite a trendy practice these days. It satisfies the tree huggers and your vineyard gets fertilised at the same time.
Of course, none of this would be possible without a good Border Collie in charge of the whole operation. The Vinodogs could learn a lesson, or two, from this industrious poochie.

What a difference...

...ten days makes. Look at my Orange muscat, isn't it fab? The mid to high 70 degree temps, we have been having, have really helped the vines flourish. You can see two little flower clusters at the apical end of the growth...they will be the two bunches of grapes this cane will produce. I love grapevines.

Even more budbreak.

As I was pruning our Cabernet sauvignon today I noticed that the Pinot grigio vines have woken up from their long winters nap. Everything is getting off to a good start. Even our table grapes are experiencing budbreak. The Cab, hopefully, is another two weeks away from pushing out it's little, fuzzy buds. Which is just as well as I am only half way through pruning. We have a few baby Cab vines that were put in last season and they are actually ahead of their older siblings. They were replanted for a number of reasons; gopher root-attacks, poor graft unions, Vinodog 2 blight, etc.
Cab pruning is hard work. There are so many tendrils, it is taking me forever to get last years wood off the trellis wires. I definitely prefer pruning Syrah.
Of course I stop what I am doing, now and then, to play tug of war with V2 as she tries to abscond with a cane. I stand still and watch the antics of the dozens of ladybirds that seemed to have populated the vineyard in the past few days. I pause, now and again, to observe the migration of Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui.) They flutter, from the south-east corner of the property to the north-west looking, for all the world, like a convoy of dancing flowers. I last witnessed this phenomenon about two years ago and they look so pretty I just have to delay my pruning to admire them.
I'm not usually so easily distracted, but there really are just so many good things to amuse me. The Cab will all be pruned eventually. Honest, Vinomaker.

An unmitigated good book.

My pruning was interrupted today by the Vinodogs heralding the arrival of the mailman. He handed me an ordinary looking brown package, too large to fit in the roadside mailbox. On closer examination it turned out to be a Royal Mail package from Thud.
The one redeeming factor of having a birthday away from home, and family, is that birthdays are prolonged, as stuff just keeps showing up in the post. Which is fine by me, I love to eke out any celebration.
So, what was inside I hear you asking with bated breath? It was a copy of a wonderful book: Unmitigated England. The author, Peter Ashley, has done a fabulous job of preserving English ephemera. A must have for anyone who loves England...even an ex-pat like Vinogirl.
The pruning was forgotten. I made myself a mug of Earl Grey, opened a snack pack of mini Hobnobs, sat down, and read, and smiled. I smiled a lot.

The sweet pea that has run wild.

It is just so pretty in Napa this morning. Warm, sunny and very spring-like.
My cover crop looked so stunning, by where I was pruning, that I had to stop and take a picture. Life is good.

More budbreak.

The first thing I had to do when I got home from the winery today was to put a stop to an excavation project in the vineyard. V1 and V2 seemed intent on digging their way to China. Dogs and gophers, they just don't mix! But my trudge up the hill was not in vain. I noticed budbreak in our Syrah. Yea...and nay! Again, one word, frost!
Hopefully Mother Nature will be kind this year. I doubt it somehow. The past two nights we have been serenaded with our neighbouring vineyard's fans, their method of frost protection. The frost season lasted 6 weeks last year. We eventually become used to the noise of the fans, as we do every year.
You can see in the picture that the infant Syrah leaves have a very definite pink tinge compared to the Orange muscat, (Cabernet sauvignon even more so), but all in all, baby leaves look much the same. They don't look quite like "homicidal fried eggs" as all babies looked to P. G. Wodehouse, but they are awfully similar.

Happy Birthday, to moi.

Yes, today is Vinogirl's birthday. In spite of the fact that I am getting older...I...LOVE...BIRTHDAYS. Anybody's, not just my own.
It looks like Vinomaker invited 'The Widow' to my celebration. I think she might be a surprise guest, but I found her in the wine fridge so I invited her out for a drink. Let's get this party started!
First though, I have to put on my new, lime green Hunter wellies and have a wade through the creek with V2.
Oh...and Happy Birthday John Toshack.
Vinogirl loves birthdays.

Muscat is busting out all over.

In between stacking firewood and helping Vinomaker chip the Syrah prunings, I had a quick peek into the Orange muscat block to see if anything was happening. Lo and behold...budbreak. Hello to the genesis of the 2009 vintage.
Now I just have to worry about frost.

...Ego deputo.

...and here is a vine I prepared earlier. Actually, it is the same vine but I have given it a new 'do'. This vine is not an ideal model, the positions are a little low, but it will improve with subsequent years. Every vine is different from the next and each vine offers a new challenge.
V2 is happily chewing away on a cane I cut from the trellising wires. My little mulching mongrel.

Veni, vidi...

Happy first day of spring!
I had a bit of a sleep in this morning but I was out pruning before the sun came up over the eastern Napa hills.  I pruned for most of the day, accompanied by the Vinodogs, and I am happy to say the Syrah is done. All the Syrah, that is, except for a few odd vines that need special attention.
The vines in Vinoland are head trained and cane pruned - meaning a 2 bud renewal spur and an 8 bud fruiting cane on each side - although there is one, short experimental row of Syrah that is cordon pruned. Cane-pruning is a slightly more labour intensive way of pruning but in the long run it makes for better fruit.  Ergo, good wine.

Spring is almost sprung.

The past couple of days have been spectacular weather-wise. It is amazing how winter has just suddenly disappeared. Sure we could get nasty frosts through April here in Napa, but for all intents and purposes, winter is over.
My daffodils are all but finished and my tulips, short-lived at the best of times, are about 75% done. My irises have just started blooming. A large Valley Oak, (Quercus lobata), to the north of the house has large, swollen buds and even a few immature leaves. Spring doesn't even officially begin until tomorrow.
Nicest of all the early spring surprises around here, for me, is the recurrence of my cover crop from three years ago. My field peas, (Pisum sativum), are dotting the vineyard with their happy, purple and lilac flowers. The sub-clovers I planted last autumn don't seem to be making an appearance just yet. Thank goodness for the self-seeding prowess, and nitrogen fixing capacity, of these little legumes. The peas were easy on the eye as I pruned today. My babies look so pretty.
Of course V2's early mowing protocol, (with her never resting jaws), will mean there will be less self-seeding next year!

Head above the rest.

Hidden in this mess of mustard is a head trained vine. I do not know the varietal although I could find out as Vinomaker knows its dad. Just look at it. Brilliant! I love head trained vines. Look at the permanent structure. Cast your eye over the pruning work needing to be done. Fantastic!
The grapevine is...a vine...quelle surprise! It will twist and turn its way up a tree, or anything taller than itself, in order to reach the top and...the sunlight. Truly head trained vines give little support to the actual vine except for their own established trunk. The pruner maintains an almost cartwheel-like structure on which the fruiting spurs are renewed each year. Fabulous!
The main advantage is that it is an extremely cost effective way of training. No stakes, no trellising, and in the case of a dry farmed vineyard, no costly irrigation system. The disadvantages are many. For example, greater instances of disease, heightened pest management issues, and it's bad on your back at harvest time...but like high heels, from adversity comes great pleasure.

Happy Birthday V1.

Yes, Vinodog 1 is celebrating today. She is 11 years old...or 77 in human years. The old girl is getting a little slower these days...and of course she now needs reading glasses.
Happy Birthday V1!

True Wine Lover 5.

It is hard for me to give the French credit for much of anything. However I must doff my cap to, the one and only, Louis XIV. If not for his penchant for an obscure Hungarian dessert wine, the rest of us would not be able to readily enjoy a snifter of fine amber coloured Tokaji. Thank goodness he made a point of pouring it at his court, thus initiating a fashion for this varietal that Vinogirl would eventually benefit from.
Last night brother Thud cooked a fabulous goulash for family OTW, Vinomaker and me. We paired it with several truly wonderful Napa Cabernet sauvignons. For dessert we had a wonderful Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonoyos, (accompanied by a Key Lime pie).  It was delicious.
I am not going to review this varietal, just recommend that you drink it from time to time.  It would be worth your while.  Even Pope Pius IV quipped: "Summum pontificem talia vina decent!"  Worthy indeed.
So, vive le Roi Soliel...or at least his taste buds.

Good wood.

Today I started to prune. Finally! Vinomaker probably thought I was never going to get started.
I didn't prune a lot, I had school in the morning after all. I did all of our Orange muscat and a few of our Syrah vines. Even though I procrastinate every year, once I get started I thoroughly enjoy myself.
I love the decision making involved in pruning. Each vine presents a different challenge. I stand back, assess the plants vigour from the previous season, and prune accordingly. Each vine is an individual. Each vine demands that I recognise its potential. Each vine rewards me at harvest time.
You can see in the picture above that the pruned wood of the two vines look different. The redder wood is the Orange muscat. Vines also vary in the hardness of the wood. For instance, I always get blisters when I prune Cabernet sauvignon vines. Cab wood is so hard in comparison to other varietals.
In the picture you can see some powdery mildew scarring on the Syrah wood. A sign that our sulphur protocol may need adjusting this year. Furthermore, you can see that I didn't lose any fingers, at least not this time.

That damned, illusive pimpernel.

Today is Vinomaker's birthday. Whoo hoo!
He's 29, or so he says. (The only thing that is 29 around here is the highway that runs north/south on the west side of the valley.)
The Vinodogs bought their dad a hat each which was very sweet of them. He got some other great gifts too, including a weather station from Family OTW.
The best pressie though, was a University of California book called 'Weeds of California'...1800+ pages, in two volumes, of every weed you could ever wish for. Or maybe not.
There are some pretty weeds, like Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), blooming in the vine rows right now. However, there is one that I know only by its foul odour which is not dissimilar to dead, rotting fish. Lovely.
I can identify most other weeds in the vineyard but seeing as new ones seem to appear all the time, this publication will come in very handy. Train-spotting at its finest.
Happy birthday Vinomaker!

Think twice, cut once.

It's raining. It's windy. I could put on my raincoat and wellies and go outside and start pruning, and maybe I will later today, but for now I have decided to stay put and service my pruning shears.
As I have mentioned before, pruning is the most important thing that one can do to grape vines. It stands to reason then that the equipment used should be in tip top condition. I prefer to use Felco pruners but any brand of pruning shears need to be cleaned, sharpened and oiled quite frequently. This will ensure that the pruning cuts are clean, the pruner can work fast and, in the process, doesn't end up slicing through a digit. (Leather gloves are a good idea too).
I'm an OK pruner, but I am not very fast. I would not have stood a chance in the contest that was held last Thursday. The 8th Annual Napa County Pruning Contest attracted the best and fastest pruners in the valley. It's amazing to see these field workers make their way through a vineyard, almost locust like, leaving trimmed vines in their wake. It's back breaking work and I take my hat off to the men, and women, who make it possible for me to enjoy a glass of wine. It's a bit of an art and not everyone is good at it. I acknowledge that there are vineyard managers who oversee operations and wealthy vineyard owners who make the planting of the land to vines possible in the first place. However, it is the pruner who has that one on one interaction with the vine and determines the crop yield and quality of the fruit. Without great fruit a winemaker cannot make great wine. I, for one, am glad that the pruners get a little recognition for the essential work they do.
For a long time, I have wanted to throw down my pruning gloves and challenge somebody, such as ex-ambassador Katherine Hall, to a pruning contest. Vinomaker thinks this is mean spirited of me, but I think it is highly unlikely that she knows anything about viticulture. I am positive she would not accept the duel anyway and even if she did, I'd win gloves down. I'll just have to be satisfied with sticking to drinking wine from producers who actually know what is going on out there in their vineyards.

Just because 4...

I determined that I would begin pruning today, but it was raining. So, whilst I should have been out tromping around the vineyard with my wellies on, I decided to put on my new boots and go shopping instead. Wine shopping that is. Life is good.

Speaking of hoity toity...

...Vinodog 1 sometimes gets ideas above her station, but I love my little mustard queen anyway :)

Cut the mustard.

If indeed the mustard in the vineyards of northern California was first sown by Franciscan monks more than 200 years ago, it is one of the most enduring cover crop success stories ever, at least in the Napa Valley.  Due to the unusually warm January we experienced, (and the high 60's low 70's temps we have now), the field mustard (Brassica campestris) is out in full force.  It looks beautiful, contrasted against the the still dormant, skeletal looking vines.  So beautiful in fact that it inspired a whole festival dedicated just to it.  The Napa Valley Mustard Festival, in it's 16th year, attracts the well heeled of the valley's society doyens...the rest of us just live and work here. Ho hum.
There are far superior choices of cover crops that could be planted in the vineyard.  Brassicas in general can prove to be a little problematic.  For instance, B. campestris, can attract green peach aphids (Myzus persiae) that build up on the mustard during winter and early spring.  Although these aphids do not affect vineyards, they may disperse and carry diseases to other crops.  Not good.  So vineyard managers, cut the mustard, sew some subterranean clovers to smother it out and let the hoity-toity find another weed to celebrate instead.