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After a another cool, wet spring we worried that 2011 might be another tough vintage. Then about 3 weeks ago the temperature began to rise and the vines right along with it. We have seen significant growth this June, roughly 2 feet every 2 weeks. The estate vineyard looks healthy and primed for a banner year. Today I spent some time walking the rows, and wanted to share the experience with you. Hope you enjoy, and have a great Forth of July Weekend!
Cheers,
Mike Colhoun, Proprietor
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Kathleen Hill reports of her visit to Landmark:
Landmark Vineyards’ owners Mike and Mary Colhoun invited friends to learn about the conversion of their 11-acre vineyard facing Highway 12 from conventional to organic farming by the renowned organic farmer Phil Coturri.
Coturri explained how after a phylloxera invasion of 2004, they turned a negative to a positive and basically plowed deeper to bring more bugs and minerals to the surface and turned the vineyard to an angle so that the September sun would hit both sides of each vine equally.
Having suffered through much wine tasting research in France, winemakers Eric Stern and Greg Stach decided to favor southern Rhône reds like Chateau Neuf du Pape, planting mourvèdre, viognier and grenache, many of the vines arriving via Beau Castel and Tablas Creek winery in Paso Robles. The result is their Esprit du Rhône.
Mary Colhoun’s dear friend and chef, Carol … 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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