Vineyards Update for April 21, 2020
Growing grapes on the High Plains is new every season for us even after doing it for over a decade. Some years the crops are abundant and the next the yields are sporadic. No matter what the season brings our way, we spend hours training the vines to produce the best quality fruit to ultimately make the best wine for our friends to enjoy and celebrate with. Here is a glimpse at the 2020 crop of just three or four of the twenty or so varieties that we grow.
Here is the Malvasia Bianca at Dandy’s vineyard.
Actually that is one Albariño vine in front of the Malvasia Bianca. Not much growth on the Malvasia Bianca. But the Albariño looks interesting.
Even as we are seeing leaves, we have to check the buds to see if they are actually fruitful buds or not. The Dirt Farmer spends days walking the vineyards and inspecting the growth.
We will keep watching, but the growth is slow here.
There are some buds there though.
Just not as many as we would like to see.
On to a variety with more growth. Here is the Petit Verdot that I showed you a couple days back with the “bonus canes” left on to allow for a few more buds to develop. It is growing nicely.
Notice the buds on the bonus canes, the extra sticks that the pruners left on the plant that they would normally have cut away. Our vineyard consultant Fritz Westover gave us that suggestion. He has a great web site and learning opportunities if you are interested in growing grapes yourself.
There are so many buds here that we may have to fruit thin some for optimal fruit quality. We want enough buds, but not too many. That is why we need the trained eyes of our Dirt Farmer and Fritz to tell us how best to take care of the vines.
Now we will take a look at another vineyard. Our vineyard over by our winery is our oldest vineyard. Here you see the first few rows of Gewürztraminer and then the rows of Viognier.
If you like Viognier, the prospects do not look too good in this vineyard.
We do have over 30 acres of Viognier, so I’ll take you to check some of those vineyards next week. There is some hope, as you see a few buds coming along.
Yes, I guess it is that little bit of hope that keeps us all going.
Blessings,
Betty
