Pruning Continues

So we finished pruning a few weeks ago.. well kind of. Reality is we prune 2x each year and we finished the first 1. The second pruning will be at the end of May and its really a crop load adjustment.

The first pruning is to take off the bulk of last years growth and leave spurs interspaced along the vine. This is Marechal Foch...the row on the left has been pruned and the row on the right still has all of last years growth. We target an ideal bud count of 5-6 buds per linear foot of trellis but because of the chance of a late spring frost we leave double the bud count on the first pruning,  so about 10 buds per linear foot at this time.

Leaving the extra buds does two things. The first is that it slightly slows the emergence of the buds in the spring. This alone, the delayed bud emergence, can help if there was a late spring frost in that buds that are not fully emerged can withstand colder temperatures. Secondly, if there is a late frost that damages the emerging buds, it usually  wont damage them all. So extra buds means a greater chance of having a normal sized  crop.

At the fist pruning we usually leave 4 bud spurs and then when we complete the second pruning we will cut that back to 2 buds. So when its all said and done we will have about 3 x 2 bud spurs per linear foot of trellis. (Image below shows the 4 bud spur)

After the second pruning and later in the summer we will remove shoots that might not have any fruit on them as well as any secondary shoots that have emerged. This could be considered a third pruning but we chalk it up to canopy and crop load adjustments. Ideally for our conditions we would have a final shoot count of 5 shoots per linear foot.

We are seeing great survival rates of buds and so far so good. Few more hurdles to go...no late frost...warm weather in June and through flowering...good fruitset..and if we get to there with little issues we just need a good dump of rain by early August and then hoping for a warm September easing into an early October harvest.

Not asking for much is it?

Pruning Time

 So a few weeks back we started our pruning. Its a time when you get the first sense of how the vines have made out through the winter.

You start cutting off last years growth and leave enough growth for this years canes to sprout from. We generally leave 50%-100% extra buds in our first go at the pruning as there is always a chance of a late spring frost that could destroy the crop.

Leaving this many extra buds does 2 things. First the extra buds slows the emergence of the new growth as the vine has to support double the crop load. Second...if there is a frost there are that many more buds on the vine that then increases the chance of a decent secondary crop. Risk management in the vineyard.

Cutting away last years growth and observing the canes shows you how healthy they are. Green tissue that extends nearly the full length of the cane is a really good sign.

Generally as the canes start to go dormant for the winter they are hardiest near the trunk and least hardy towards the tips. So its not uncommon for a good portion of the cane to die. This year with the mild winter that only went as low as -18c, there is very little die back.

Good news as we are taking cane prunings to propegate into new vines. We will be starting some L'Acadie, Vandal Cliche, GR7, Foch and Marquette. 

Heading Into Winter - Sass Jordan Style

Incredibly difficult growing grapes on the very fringes of what is considered grape growing territory.  And as far as the world goes, all of Canada is on that fringe. We have really cold winters and short summers. Reminds me of the Sass Jordan song "Going Back Again". She is singing about Montreal, but she also notes the cold, and embracing where your from, singing ...

" They say my home in the land of snow is cold

Let me tell you what it's like

Eleven months of winter baby and

Just one month of pretty thin ice "

Some of my favourite lines from one of my favorite Sass Jordan songs! But it captures a bit of the reality of Canadian winter. We are not glowing with heat or long seasons and for the most part from BC Okanagan to Ontario Niagara we are talking about a 6a/b plant hardiness zone. Exceptions are a very small area in the very south Okanagan as a zone 7 then warming as you head west towards Vancouver to a Zone 9, then near Windsor Ontario at Zone 7, and then the very south tip of Nova Scotia towards Yarmouth which may be a zone 7. Consider that California and the great grape regions in Europe are 2-3 zones warmer than these areas in Canada.

The vast majority of the wine growing area in BC and Ontario is Zone 6a/b. In a 6a hardiness zone you can expect average winter cold in the neighborhood of -20.6c to -23.3c. A 6b hardiness zone is a bit warmer with expected average winter cold in the area of -17.8c to -20.6c.  What is important to recognize is that these are averages.

Given that most of the wine grape growing area in Canada is in a 6a or 6b climate one could then expect that every 5-10 years there will be a winter cold snap that will take the thermometer down to the -25c level or colder. This temperature level is really important to note, because most of the vinifera wine grape varieties grown in Canada (Merlot, Pinot Noir/Gris etc.) are not really cold hardy and are significantly damaged at temperatures below -23c and especially so beyond -25c.

As best we can tell given local historical records and our own climate records taken for nearly two decades, we have a plant hardiness zone of 6a at the vineyard. Over this period our winter lows have ranged between -16c and -27c (last winter) with an overall average in this period of  -21.4c.

The average is important because we expect we are going to get highs and lows that are outside the range of a 6a plant hardiness zone. Our warmest winter puts us into a 7a zone and our coldest puts us into a 5a plant hardiness zone. So from our experience and evaluation of records, pretty much in any 10 year period you can expect 1 or 2 really warm winters (warmer than a 6a zone) and 1 or 2 really cold winters (colder than a 6a zone).

We planted vines in anticipations of those anomalous cold years and looking for those varieties that were at least 1 zone hardier than our location. Hence we grow hybrids such as Marechal Foch, Leon Millot, Marquette, Castel, L'Acadie Blanc, Evangeline and are adding Frontenac Blanc this year. The least hardy of these are Castel and Evangeline but they can still withstand cold to about -25c to -27c.

There are many more hybrid selections grown that can withstand these cold temperatures or colder, but overall they represent a tiny fraction of the wine grape crop grown across Canada. 

Which takes me back again to Montreal - the eastern townships rural area south east of Montreal and a small grape growing area located there. Very cold winters, Zone 4b-5b, but they have thriving vineyards that I've toured there. They embrace their location and make spectacular wine with cold hardy grape varieties suited for those locations. Perhaps a little warmer there than the winter Sass Jordan suggests but nonetheless, extremely hard winters for grape growing but its done well with varieties suitable for those conditions.

Red Grape Harvest

Had a bit later harvest for the red grapes that we took on Oct 11/12th. We were going for the extra hang time to fry to bring up the sugars on the Foch a bit and as of Oct 9 Foch was 19.5 brix. The Leon Millot was in the 20-21brix area. Foch below.

Unfortunately we had a huge rain that day as well and by Oct 10 the Foch was reading 18.5 brix and 18.25 on Oct 11 with many grape bunches swollen and splitting from uptake of water in the soil.

In the end the Leon was about 20 and combined we had approximately 19brix. Not the best numbers..19.5 or even 20brix overall is a target but the quality was good with little to no rot.

Huge thank you to the harvest crew this year with my brother Jim, neighbor Frank Raymond, and new addition - Courtney Feeney of Edgewood!

Some othet positives was the Leon is maturing amd producing more and the St. Croix produced big bunches, many in the 125-150grm size at 19brix, with low acid. St.Croix below.

White Grape Harvest

We harvested the white grapes...primarily L'Acadie Blanc and Evangeline at the end of September 28 and shipped to the winery.

Nice grapes little spoilage but the wasps and rodents took thier tool. We lost alot of low hanging fruit on the L'Acadie to skunks and Marmots and lost some to wasps on the Evangeline.

Overall nice crop and it continues to grow as the vines mature. The collective brix was 20.5 and ph was 3.1. These are great numbers for white wine.

There is a general formula used to guage juice chemistry for white grapes and its the brix x (ph x ph). The target is having the result of this formula be close to 200. Of course this is just a general guage for juice chemistry.

Using our numbers we had 20.5 x (3.1 × 3.1) which results as 197. So pretty close to 200.

Awesome weather and the best family harvest crew!

Worst Wasp Year Ever

 Well its the worst wasp year since we started growing grapes in 2008. 

Wasp on an Evangeline cluster

They love the aromatic fruity grapes and the first ones to rippen are targeted. We use insect netting in the Evangeline as they can get hit but there are so many wasps this year they are finding any little gap in the netting. And once one wasp finds the grapes they tell all thier friends.

Added alot more clips to try to close off some of the gaps but not sure if that will have much effect. ...Few more weeks to go before harvest whites, with reds in early October.

But overall the grapes are comming along...photos below

Marechal Foch (showing ripeness spectrum)

Castel

Leon Millot

L'Acadie

Sovereign Ruby

Veraison - Grapes Ripening

Historically average for the grapes to start ripening is around August 15/16 for us. Earliest is a few days into August and the latest around the 26th of August. 

We are right on target for historical averages and we are seeing the Castel, Leon Millot and Marquette showing colour and a bit on the Marechal Foch as well. Foch is typically a few days behind those others. Photo taken Aug 15 & 16.

Castel

Leon Millot

Marquette

The L'Acadie is looking good (photo below) and Evangeline is ok..it suffered some bud damage this past winter.

Crazy bad year for wasps and leaf hoppers. Been at least 10yrs since wasps were this bad...going to be "fun" at harvest as the wasps love the grapes.

Mid July - Fruit Set

As of July 13 we are seeing good fruit set on the vines with a bit less so on the L'Acadie but overall ok. We had about 3 cool and rainy days right when L'Acadie was in the midst of flowering.

The new vines are growing well and most at top wire. We should get some Marquette this year if all goes well. In the picture below the new vines are in the foreground and old vines in desperate need of thinning are in the background near the house.

Here is the older vines, below, just about to get a good hair cut. These are Marechal Foch and they pretty much send out a primary and secondary shoot at each node. So all secondary come off and we shoot thin the primary ones as well.

This time of year involves shoot thinning and positioning and weed management. While these are not particularly labour intensive it's  great to have help on these so big thank you to Jim.

Flowering has Started

It's been a relatively normal spring for temperatures with May at an average of 13c and June on target to finish the month at around 15.6c-15.8c. That's pretty much centre target for our long term normals and the vines are growing well. 

The new "baby" vines are growing well and can be seen in the distance extending the old rows. Its 3rd year for them and many have already reached the top fruit wire and are expected to have some fruit this year.

This last week we were looking at the weather data and extrapolated when flowering might occur and we figured 60-80% flowering in and around July 1-3rd based on our historical climate-flowering records.

This is good, we really need to be flowering around then, or earlier, as our season generally ends with frost the first week of October.

So in a normal year that gives us a good 90-95 days to get the grapes to ripen to harvest. We often go mid to late October before frost but we count on early October frost. That's taking it to the limit for varieties like Marechal Foch.

As of June 25 we are seeing all varieties at the front end of flowering and with decent weather this week we should be past half way flowering by July 1st. 

A bit of a surprise is how prolific with flowers most of the vines are. With the severe cold last winter I was expecting more primary damage but its not nearly as nasty as what I was expecting. They are all looking really good and hoping for warm weather through flowering and fruitset.

One observation is how many bees are around right now. We have white clover in every second row and the clover is in full bloom and irresistible to the bees. The vineyard is literally buzzing and this times we'll with the vines flowering this next week and we will see what the next few weeks bring...some photos...

Leon Millot

Marquette

Marechal Foch

L'Acadie Blanc

Castel

How Are Your Grapes Doing?

Typical question that comes up in conversation around the vineyard is how are the grapes. So far, so good is the correct answer for us right now..saying "right now" as there are so many stages of growth between now and harvest and potential pitfalls along the way - you cant really speak to a future state.

Last blog I wrote about the side by side difference between the row of Marechal Foch and Leon Millot. The photo below shows the Foch in the fore ground and Leon the next row over. The Foch was showing lots of buds pushing at this time and the Leon showed hardly any buds. Fast forward 2 weeks later and you can see in the next photo that the Leon is really pushing lots of buds now and catching up to the Foch - nice!

The Marquette came throught the winter well and should reach top wire this year and showing at least 2 flower clusters on each shoot. (photo below).

The Marechal Foch rows are looking good so far as well (photo below), most are in 4 leaf stage and on target for a "normal" spring. With average heat in June we should see flowering around the 24th of June.

The L'Acadie, Castel and Evangeline all took a bit of a hit this year. Castel the worst and requires some cordon and trunk re-growth. Having said that, they will all produce to varying degrees this year. 

Lots of snow still in the mountains yet, and really quite stunning this time of the year, with the green valleys - doesn't get old.