Category Archives: Vineyard Report
Bud Break
On March 15th the sheep left our vineyard after a month of hard work. One more week would’ve been ideal, but the vines were beginning to swell. Three days later the buds began to break. First to break was Grenache, followed by Syrah. The Counoise and Viognier were roughly 10 days behind. The last to break was Mourvedre which just started this week.
Bud Break ushers in a new growing season, and the start of frost watch. Vines in their dormant stage can withstand fairly low temperatures. However, once the vines show signs of life we must be protect them from sub-35 degree weather. Freezing temps are common in the Spring, typically occuring between 5-7am. When our vineyard weather station sounds the alarm, our cellar master rolls out of bed and activates the sprinkler system.
Pruning
This year we changed our pruning technique to a form of Cane … Read more »
Technical Vineyard Report
by Viticulturalist, Mayacamas Olds
Vineyard Covercrop
The covercrop is primarily composed of Filaree, Minors Lettuce, Common Chickweed, Persian Speedwell, Mallow, Common Groundsel, some Bur Clover, oats and Calendula. Many of the plants are already blooming and seed will be set in some cases early. The “covercrop” is lush and performing well. It will produce a good amount of biomass for the soil.
Sheep
Sheep have been brought in to help control covercrop plants. With the help of a herding dog, they move through the vineyard “mowing” down the lush covercrop. The blocks the sheep have been in, look really good for the most part. They are not eating much of the Calendula, but they seem to be doing a really nice job of getting the cover crop down. This is great for frost protection issues.
The sheep are getting very fat off of the covercrop and both … Read more »
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