2013 Vintage: Red, White, and Rose'

We had a good year for the grapes in BC and from them produced three wines this year.  We have a red Leon Millot varietal, a blended white, and a St. Croix rose'.

The wines are young and have been cold stabilised and cleared but they will have to cellar for some time to mature.  Out of the carboy they were all nice, however, the St. Croix rose' needs about 6 months of cellar time but can be drank early.  The Leon Millot needs about a year in the cellar, and our trade mark "Arrow Lakes White" blend needs about 1-2 years.

In a months we'll open the St. Croix rose' and a month later the Millot, then the white after to see how they are developing.

Leon Millot Crush and Pess 2013

The Leon Millot fro the vineyard in BC were nice this year and after crush the juice was 21 brix and 3.2 ph.  Nice parameters for making wine.  One thing that is great about this grape is the juice is very highly coloured and after 3 days fermentation on the skin I pressed the must and the wine colour is very dark already.  The new wine press from Musca wine supplies worked great.

We're going for a lighter fruity wine this year as part of the experiment of growing the grapes is also experimenting with styles of wine that the grapes can make.  The

Evangeline Grape

We've have the Evangeline growing for a few years now and this year we got to see how it performed.

This grape is a cross between Seigerrebe and St. Pepin.  It was created in Canada in Nova Scotia and it is as early as Seigerrebe, has the beautiful muscat flavouring but is cold tolerant to about -31c and has some disease resistance to both powdery mildew and downey mildew.

It is very  vigorous grower and put up huge canes this year on our vines.  The clusters are long and loose and the berries are the biggest of all the varieties we grow - about double the diameter of Marechal Foch.

This variety is the latest to break bud and to flower but among the earliest to ripen.  This year it flowered on July 3-4th and we picked them about 65 days later on September 8th at 18 brix and 2.9ph (see it pictured here on Sept 8th).  Had to take them before the wasps did.  We left a few bunches on the vines and the wasps didn't find them and on October 5th we recorded 21-22 brix and 3.3 ph.

This grape is fantastic, it is already growing (not commercially) in Nova Scotia and should be considered for marginal growing areas like Vancouver Island, south interior BC (West Kootenays) and (East Kootenays) especially where cold winters, short seasons, and late spring frosts are an issue.

Great Grape Harvest for 2013

We had a great year for growing this year and despite the 8 week drought in late September to mid-September the vines did great.  We had about 1030 C degree days growing. 

They have had 5 full growing seasons in the soil now and must have good roots, especially in the Ravat 34 and Leon Millot that have been around the longest.

The wasps were the biggest factor in Harvest and they took virtually all the Lucy Kuhlman and Colmar Precoce Noir.  These are among the earliest grapes we have.  However, the Evangeline (KW96-2) is really early and we picked it on September 8th at 18brix and 2.9ph as we did not have enough wasp netting to cover them.  They are among the the latest to bud out and the latest to flower and the earliest to harvest with giant juicy bunches of grapes.  We left a few Evangeline bunches in hopes that the wasps would miss those and then we could see the numbers at full ripeness.

Some of the numbers we got this year harvested Oct 5 as follows;
Variety                                          Brix             PH
Leon Millot                                    22               3.2
Ravat 34                                         18               3.0
Acadie Blanc                                  19               3.0
Petite Milo                                      22               3.1
Evangeline                                      21               3.3 
Castel                                              22               n/a
Foch                                                21               n/a
Triompe                                          21               n/a

Wasps Destroying the Grapes

The early grapes, high sugars and heat are the perfect conditions for wasps to invade the vineyard.  Usually we don't have this issue as the grapes are just coming into ripeness and high sugar as the cold weather is approaching.

This year is an exception and the wasps were destroying the grapes.  Fortune would have it that i still had the old nets that i started with from Kootenay Covers.  They have small aperture openings that do not let the wasps or larger insects in.

Instead of putting out the bird netting I put out these nets instead and hopefully it will keep the wasps away. Thus far they had nearly taken all the Lucy Kuhlman grapes.  I swatted a few of them and they are all full of grape juice, and they are easy to hit as they are so full of juice as to be barely able to fly.

Unfortunately in this case the vineyard has grown and I did not have enough of the Kootenay Covers netting to cover all the vines.  What was interesting is that once I covered the all the grapes I could, the wasps then went on to locate other grapes in the vineyard that were still exposed and began to eat those ones - even those that normally would not have attracted them as they are not yet quite as high in sugars as the Lucy Kuhlman.

Grapes Looking Good Sept 2013

With excellent heat the vines are really far ahead in terms of ripening the grapes this year. 
Here is where we are at for Brix as of Sept 8, 2013
Grape              Brix     PH
Castel              15
Leon Millot     17        2.8
Evangeline       18       2.8
Ravat 34          12
Foch                 15
Lucy Kuhlm     15
Triompe            16
Acadie               14
Colmar              16
Petit Milo           16

Here is some pictures;
Ravat 34

 

Leon Millot

Evangeline (this was a smaller cluster, most are a lot bigger than this one)

Grapes Starting to Turn Colour August 18th

Here is Leon Millot on August 18th showing the berries are just at the front end of starting to turn colour.  This photo is from my neighbors yard, who also have Millot growing.  Unless we were to get an early frost this is excellent as in a normal year we'd have another 40-50 days of the growing season left. Can only hope.

We've been really struggling for rain this year.  We''ve only had about 1.5 inches of water since the first week of July, however, its raining today and looks like we're in for at least an inch over the next few days.  Been smoking hot also, and will likely have a 20.5c or 21c average for August - again about as hot as we've ever had it. If we get a normal September/October were in line for 1000-1100 degree days growing.  The vines are showing a lot of water stress, so a few inches is in order forsure.  

Grapes Comming Along Well August 2/13

We had a great month for heat in July average about 20.5 degrees making it about the hottest July in 6 years of recording.  The grapes are really doing well and have filled out, some are moving to bunch closure but are being held back by the lack of moisture.

Here is Leon Millot

Here is Ravat 34

Vineyard Expansion

After five years of growing we have both a picture of the climate, soil, and what vines work and what do not. When we started out we wanted to plant a vineyard with Leon Millot, Castel and Acadie Blanc and we know now that the Castel does not like our sandy soil.  On the other hand the Leon Millot is doing quite well, remarkably so considering we've virtually applied no fertilizer or soil amendments to our 85% nutrient void sandy soil.  Interesting is that I've read several accounts that the Kuhlman varieitiees like the sandy soil, so for reds we've got lots to choose from including the Leon Millot, Foch, Lucy Kuhlman, Joffre, Triompe D'Alsace, and Colmar Precoce Noir.

Two and Three summers ago we opened up the area to the east and the west of the vineyard to see the lay of the land and if it was suitable for grape growing and discovered that we have approximately 4 acres of land suitable for grape growing.  We've also another 1-2 acres on other parts of the property, but for now this area remains forested.

This summer we are beginning to prepare the land we opened up for planting of approximately 0.5 acre of Leon Millot for next year 2014 and perhaps another 0.5 acre for 2015.  We are looking at 4-5 foot spacing and 7 foot between the rows - similar to what we've used in parts of the experimental vineyard (4x7).

We are also liking how the Foch and Acadie is working out and are looking ahead to potential plantings those varieties in the next few years however in all cases we're moving into the use of fertilizers and soil amendments to bring the vines into heavier production earlier.  Presently we are 5 years in with the Leon Millot and are obtaining approximately 200-250 grams of grapes per row foot - target is 1 lb per row foot.

We are beginning to add fertilizer this year in a relatively small amounts but already we've seen the vines take off more than other years. The challenge is now balancing the annual fertilizer amounts giving them just enough to get the enhanced growth and at the right times.  Last fall we added fertilizer to the ground after the vines went dormant, we added some at pruning time and again at bud break.  We'll not add any more until dormancy for this year.

Bloom Time at the Vine House 2013

We had above normal temperatures for May at an average of 13.5c and average temperatures of 15.5c for June and this has pushed all varieties into an early flowering season.  We were a week early for bud break and that has carried over in to at least a week early for flowering as of June 29th.  Last year we had the coolest May June in the past 5 years and flowering didn't occur until the 10th-14th of July.  Having said that after the cool beginning we had normal heat over the summer and an average September and still had the best juice chemistry on the grapes.  So given the earlier start this year that should help things along even more - will just keep the fingers crossed for some mid summer rains.

The vines are looking great, with the Leon Millot and the rest of Kuhlman's doing well (Foch, Lucy Kuhlman, Triompe, Colmar, and Joffre). Petite Millot is also doing well as usual and the Acadie blanc is comming along. The Evangeline is maturing and were getting a few more cluster and the Ravat 34 looks good with nice growth but again you have to stay on top of the the buds as the secondaries over populate the growth very quickly.  Seyval Blanc is finally comming along and the Vandal Cliche and St. Croix is looking good for second year plants.  Castel is still struggling on our soil (which is very sandy) and Regent (winter die back) just doesn't perform at our location, nor does the blattner varieties, cabernet Foch (grapes don't mature) and cab-Libre (grapes don't mature, winter die back).

Here are the various flowing picture as of June 29th.
Leon Millot

Foch

Triompe D'Alsas

L'Acadie Blanc

 

Evangeline (KW96-2)

Ravat 34

Bud Break 2013

The warm winter has been followed with a warm May, at least fro the first two weeks that have averaged about 13.5c.  With the warm weather we've got bud break on some varieties at least a week ahead of normal. We have also been able to see what varieties are looking well going forward in to bloom and what varieties don't seem to do well at our site.  Again Petite Milo is most advanced, followed by Lucy Kuhlman, Acadie, Foch, Leon Millot, and Colmar.  The Ravat is slower to emerge and it appears that it is just the way this vine grows and probably gets this from its Chardonnay parentage.

The varieties that are doing well are Leon Millot, Ravat 34, Acadie Blanc, Evangeline, Lucy Kuhlman, Marechal Foch.  St. Croix and Vandal Cliché look like they are going to be good but are only into year two.  The varieties that were not sure about yet are Marquette, Castel, Joffre, Triomphe, Baltica, Seyval Blanc, Colmar Precoce Noir.  The varieites that are not performing well are Regent, Zweigelt and Pinot Noir.  We also had Agria a few years back but it performed poorly - a lot like Regent.

Here are some of the varieties as of May 19th, 2013.

Ravat 34 (2 clusters|) compare to last year this time http://houseofvines.blogspot.ca/2012_05_01_archive.html

Petite Milo (2 clusters) compare to last year this time http://houseofvines.blogspot.ca/2012_05_01_archive.html

Acadie Blanc (3 clusters)

Evangeline (1 cluster)

Colmar Precoce Noir (2 clusters)

Leon Millot (1 cluster here, usually has 2 clusters)

                              If we get by the next week without a frost were are well on our way.

Spring Pruning - Vine Health 2013

Did the first round of pruning in early April this year - should have been in March at the latest but time and weather were a factor.  Remarkably we haven't had any snow on the ground in the vineyard since the early part of March and already the weeds are coming up and making a go of it.  We also had a stretch of warm weather at the end of March where the day time highs were touching 20 c.  

So it should not have been to much of a surprise that when I did the pruning that the canes were bleeding already.  I checked the data logger and this has been the warmest winter we've had since we started taking winter temperatures.  The coldest weather we had was -18 one night and there have been a lot of obvious freeze thaw events when day time temperatures exceeded 5 to 10 c and night time then would dip down to between -5 and -10.  We also had very little snow with barely 2 feet of cover through most of the snow pack season.

The freeze thaw events and the vine stress experienced by some vines last summer have combined to cause significant damage to the canes of some varieties.  Most notably the Colmar and Triomphe suffered the greatest cane and bud damage.  Interesting they are from the same parental cross.  In the same row the Lucy Kuhlman and Marechal Foch suffered less with the Foch doing better between the two.  The winter should not have been very hard on the Foch but the water stress leading into winter did not allow the vines to prepare for winter very well.

Having said that virtually all other varieties have come out from the winter in good to great shape.  The Ravat 34 again is tremendous and the Leon Millot has the best survival rates that I've seen since I planted them. 

Castel looks good and was already into scale crack.  The Acadie, Petite Milot and Evangeline also look good and the Marquette and St. Croix were superb.  On the other hand the Vandal Cliché has died back to the ground on many of the vines and yet this vine is supposed to be hardy to -35c and my vines are young.  Again, I expect the freeze thaw cycles may have had a big effect on this variety also.

Marechal Joffre again had some die back along with Regent, Seyval Blanc, Pinot Noir and Zweigelt but again these varieties had varying degrees of stress going into the fall.

The oldest of the vines, the Ravat and Leon Millot did excellent and they are now 5 years old with well developed root systems and this effect on their winter survival is evident.  As the other vines mature I expect the winter survival rates will improve.

With any luck we'll have bud break the 3rd week of May (normal) and no late spring frosts.  In any event we double prune and have left a little over double the bud count for the vines.  If we do experience a late frost, then hopefully we'll have enough remaining buds to produce a decent crop and otherwise well prune back the rest of the buds 1-2 weeks after bud break.

Ravat 34 wine - vintage 2012

We have had some success with the Ravat 34 grape at our location over the past 4 years.  Year over year this variety has produced well.  It sets fruit well each year except the 2012 year where we had the extreme high temperatures during flowering.   Generally speaking this variety struggles to exceed 19-20 brix and it is strong, vigourous and disease free - no spray required at our site.  At our location, the grape needs about another week of warm weather to ripen better than what we usually can produce however, even at 14-15 brix this variety already shows strong varietal flavour.  Under 15 brix there is some slight herbaceousness - green pepper, but very slight.  More ravat info here

Usually when we pick this variety we find that the must brix is at least 1 brix higher than the brix on the vine.  This year when harvested the Ravat 34 in early October it was showing about 14.5 brix on the vine but in the tank the brix was nearly 16.  The must also showed 1.1g/ltr T.A and the ph 3.0.

The grapes were crushed and pressed, 25ppm potasium MBS added, chaptalized to 20.5 brix from 16 brix, and fermented with KV yeast until dry at about 22 degrees celcius.  After about 10 days primary fermentation had nearly slowed and the wine was transfered from the fermentation vat into a carboy to finish secondary fermentation again at 22 degrees celcius.  The secondary fermentation took another 10 days and the wine was racked and another 25 ppm potassium MBS added. 

The wine cleared quite fast and it was cold stablized for 4 weeks at temperatures between 0 and -6 celcius and significant tartaric acid crystals precipitated out of the wine.

In the glass, the wine is very nice, honey dew and slight pear aromas, clean tasting, lemon grass with very very slight herbaceousness.  Of the most common white wines in production it most closely resembles Sauvignon blanc.  This is somewhat at odds with it's parentage which is Chardonnay x Berliandi.  What ever the case this is a really nice wine.