Sunday, February 26, 2017

2016 Reds in the Bottle

So we've got the reds in the bottle now. We've got four reds this year, the Foch we blogged about earlier in the year. The Castel is varietal and is really nice, the Leon Millot is varietal also. The Kuhlman Blend is just that - a blend of most of the Kuhlman varieites - Leon Millot, Marechal Foch, Lucy Kuhlman, Triompe D'Alsace, Comar Precose Noir, and Marechal Joffre and there is a bit of Pinot Noir and Regent as well.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mid - Winter Update

The winter is coming to an end and we have to check the vines to get a feel for what me may expect come spring. In particular we are looking for signs of damage due to cold.  This winter has not been particularly cold although we had a stretch of days in the -20c to -22c zone. This is a bit unusual as when we do get this cold it is usually for just 1 day.

Took a sampling of the varieties and thusfar most look pretty good. Leon Millot is among the least hardy and it is looking pretty good so far. Have to qualify the statement with "so far" because the real potential for vine damage is not only in extreme cold temperature but more often it is when we get warm temperature in the spring then a sudden cold snap.

When this happens, the warm temperature get the vines to come out of dormancy and they loose their deep cold temperature protections and the saps start to flow. If then we get a real good cold snap then that can really damage the buds. Same can happen in the fall if we get a cold snap before the vines have had a chance to get to dormancy stage.