Vandal Cliche Grape

We have been experimenting with Vandal Cliche for several years and it has proven itself at our vineyard time and again.

This grape was created in Quebec by Joseph Vandal and Mario Cliche to match the harsh winter climate and relatively short growing season there. It definately has winter hardiness and does well even to -30 to -35 celcius. Like the cold Quebec climate I have seen it proven to be grown in climates such as Edmonton, Alberta as well. It is also pretty good at with standing fungal pressure and we have never experience fungus on this grape. Its a pretty big producer at about 100 grams/clusters and 2 per shoot. We crop this one at 5-6 shoots per trellis foot.

It can ripen to 20-21 brix and easily does so at our site at 1000+ degree days celcius and 150 frost free days and it has high malic acid so ML fermentation is usually needed.  Those who have produced this grape for years and make wine from it commercially suggest it is best harvested early, around 16-17 brix. Apparently this grape accumulates more labruska notes as it matures.

So if one were to harvest this grape at 16-17 brix, for our location, this is at about 130 frost free days and about 900 degree days growing. On September 14, 2019 at the vineyard it was already showing 16 brix. In 2018, it was 17 brix by September 10th.  It may be a really good white grape for shorter season locations with harsher winter climates. 

Ive tasted a few of these wines made from Vandal Cliche and they are very nice, crisp, citrus and neutral, but again - nice. Thank you Mr. Vandal and Mr. Cliche.  See link for more info on this variety.

Grape Splitting

One of the things that can happen with some grape varieties is that they are prone to splitting. For those varieties that experience this it happens during the ripening stage and often after a big rain.

As the grapes ripen there are a number of things that happen that collectively can converge in disaster for grapes prone to splitting. First off as the grapes ripen they swell with juice and the skin softens. This is also the same time of sugar accumulation and acids drop in the juice.

The biggest issue is the on-set of bunch rot or sour rot from fungal pressure that a avails itself from the split in the grape skin. This often occurs after a big rain as the vine takes up the moisture and transfers it to already swollen grapes...the result is some of the grapes on the bunch can split open.

Ravat 34 with split grape in centre of the bunch

So this is where the problems start as the same conditions that contribute to the grapes splitting..that is the rain and associated high humidity and cooler weather are the same conditions that spur on the growth of bunch rot and sour rot.

Once the grape splits open, the opening invites the mold spores to grow in the low acid high sugar environment in the ripening grape.

Hard to stop without fungal spray but some cultural practices like shoot thining and bunch area leaf removal are known to help by allowing better air flow and sunlight around the bunches.

Ravat 34 is prone to this, and Colmar a bit as well but less so. So we pull the leaves ftom around the clusters when they start to ripen.

Ravat 34 with leaf removal around clusters

September 2019 Grape Ripeness

So far so good, as of September 13 the grapes are ripening well and on par with most years. As usual we could just about be harvesting the Evangeline and Seyval Blanc as both are looking good. The Marquette is not far behind followed by Triompe D'Alsace, Leon Millot and Marechal Foch. Here is what the sugar numbers look like so far...with z few photos as well

Leon Millot - 17 brix
Marechal Foch - 17 brix
Ravat 34 - 14 brix
L'Acadie Blanc - 17 brix
Marquette - 19 brix
Petite Milo - 18 brix
Evangeline - 20 brix
Colmar - 18 brix
Triompe D'Alsace - 17 brix
Lucy Kuhlman - 19 brix
Cayuga - 14 brix
Pinot Noir - 15 brix
Castel - 18 brix
Sovereign Ruby - 16 brix
St. Croix - 16 brix
Vandal Cliche - 16 brix
Seyval Blanc - 19 brix

L'Acadie Blanc

Leon Millot

New Grape Vines From Grape Seeds

Every so often I see that some of the grapes that have dropped from the vine end up growing into vines. This is often how new varieties of grapes have emerged over the years.

Grape vines are of course the offspring of two different grapes types and the offspring carries genetic components from both parents. When breeding grape vines the breeders will have hundreds if not thousands of seedlings that emerge from crossing two grape vines. The grapes that result from the cross are then planted and those that grow are raised for a few years to see what genetic components they carry. 

Each seed represents a different potential grape vine and often grapes from the same cluster on a vine will produce entirely different grape vines when the seeds grow into vines.

We often see small vines starting to grow under the established grape vines in a row. They usually dont amount to much as they are over taken by weeds or if they get too big we pull them out.

However, have a look at the small grape vines growing in the picture below, you can clearly see the difference in leaf colour for the seedlings growing side by side that have emerged.  These seedling came from grapes that fell off of the Marechal Jofffre vines - probably from the same cluster.

Marechal Joffre is a cross between 101-14 MGt and Goldriesling.  The genetic traits that these  sibling vines are showing already are very different. It would be interesting to see what type of grape they produce. Marechal Joffree is a blue grape but perhaps the grapes from one of these seedlings could be green. The Goldriesling is an old vinifera and if you could see the leaf tips of the light green vine it does have more of a vinifera appearance, however the leaves are less of a vinifera appearence.

We may keep a few of these around just to see what happens with them.

Leaf Pull to Expose Grapes

One technique that is often applied to grapes is to remove leaves around the clusters of the grapes. The idea behind this is to expose the grapes to sunlight, and to improve airflow to lower the potential for fungus or rot.

Leaf pull is usually done at veraison, when the grapes begin to ripen and this usally involves removing the first 1-2 leaves on a shoot. These are the leaves that will be closest to the clusters.

Veraison started about August 8 at Arrow lakes Vineyard with the Evangeline softening and the Triompe D'Alsace and Foch starting to turn from green to red. And with that, we did a preliminary leaf pull around the Ravat 34. Bottom photo is Triompe D'Alsace starting to ripen.

Arrow Lakes Vineyard Biodiversity

Arrow Lakes Vineyard is located in a unique area of Britsh Columbia not only for its climate but the spectrum of wildlife and insects.

We usually get significant rainfall right up until July which lends to old growth tall cedars. They call this area the interior rain forest and some of the old cedars are hundreds of years if not 1000+ years old with trunks 10-20 feet across. Pockets of theses old cedars can be found from Edgewood all the way to Revelstoke. 

Biodiversity in this area is amazing with the spectrum of wildlife including; moose, elk, mountain cariboo, cougar, grizzly and black bear and more. Our 7' fence keeps the big animals out but one of the unique creatures that make thier home in the rock piles around the vineyard are the northern aligator lizard as seen below. They and the garter snakes are great for keeping the grass hopper populations down. The spiders and preditory wasps also help keep the other insects in check. 

There are giant black 7 inch slugs and toads the size of your hand...not sure how they fit in to the ecosystem, but they are interesting.

We have tried to preserve the natural habitat as much as possible, incorporating the vineyard into it, rock piles included, and the local creatures are enbracing it as much as we are.

Summer 2019 Looking Good

July has not been smokin hot. In fact there has been hardly any smoke and forest fires are down too which is a relief. Its been a bit cooler than the past few years - about 1 degree cooler than average. Still we are on target for a 19c average for the month and thats ok. Lots of rain too and high humidity to go with it. We have not had to irrigate at all and the vines are loving the moisture.

Generally, the cooler temperature and extra moisture brings on the fungus pressure. Think about what happens to a grass lawn when you get several days of rain - the grass loves it but you also get mushrooms popping up like crazy. For grapes this the fungus grows on the leaves and grapes and destroys the crop.  So far no fungal pressure on our vines but most of our vines have some natural fungal resistance.

We have a few vinifera like pinot noir and siegerrebe and they can be impacted by fungus but no sign of fungus yet.

So far fruit set was good, we have great moisture in the ground and no fungus.  Now we could use some normal temperatures and sun for the rest of the season. In particular, we could use the heat in the ripening season in September.

Here is some grapes as of July 19

Castel

Leon Millot

Ravat 34

Evangeline

Marquette

Bloom and Fruit Set 2019

So June was a bit above normal with an average temperature of about 16.7c. Our normal for June  is 15.9c. We have also had lots of rain so the vines are lush and healthy and there are no sign of fungal pressure. 

This brought the vines into flowering around June 20th starting with the Kuhlman varieties and Castel and ending with Evangeline. By the looks of things the fruit set is good. Some photos from June 28 below;

Castel

Marechal Foch

Ravat 34

Evangeline

Vines are Maturing

So four years ago we planted a block of Marechal Foch. Its in a new area that we cleared next to the original test vineyard. When we cleared the land it was noticeable that the new land was significantly more fertile than the sand we were growing in on the test vineyard.

So now going into season 4, many of the Foch vines are producing well. Of particular interest is the fruitfulness of the canes in the new area vs the original test vineyard. In the original test vineyard the Foch produces reliably with canes having usually 2 clusters per shoot and occasionally some shoots have 3 clusters per shoot.

In the new area approx. 50% of the canes have 4 clusters per shoot and the rest have 3. The rare exception is 2 clusters per shoot. This differs strongly against the Foch in the test vineyard. Foch with 4 flower clusters below;

It tells us a few things...that we could add more ammendments to the test vineyard to try to bring that production up and that we anticipate a bigger crop (Lbs/Trellis Foot) in the new area than what we have been use to.

Flowering is about 1-2 weeks away and we hope for sunny weather in this period. We will see what the fruit set is like by early July and that will help us confirm crop level.

Bud Break 2019

Absolutely love this time of year. Snow capped peaks surround the vineyard, morning mist comes down off the mountains and flows through the vines, and you get the first good look at what this years crop may be. For somethings like crop load  adjustments or soil inputs, it can take two or more seasons before you can see the effects. So in that respect, you get to see if what you did a few seasons back, worked they way you wanted it too.

Bud break was at the usual time this year dispite the cool weather right up into the second week of May. In fact some local areas got a touch of frost in the first week of May. But its been normal temperatures since then and its astonishing how quick the vines grow once the soil has warmed up. In just 1-2 week the vine can move from wooly tips to full leaf.

So we just finished the first round of shoot adjustments (removing extra shoots) to ensure we have a proper crop load. We will go at it again in in July once the vines have flowered and we have fruit set and we can further guage crop load.

As of May 24, the Marechal Foch is off to a great start and some canes are at the 5th leaf, most are around 3-4 leaves. The Ravat is similar with some at 4th leaf and most in the 2-3 leaf stage. Triompe D'Alsace and Evangeline are just getting going and are at 1-2 leaves - they are always the katest. Foch rows below;

With the heat forcast in the next few weeks those later varieties will be catching up quick and we can expect mid June flowering.