Diurnal Fluctuation and Degree Days

DDG or degree days growing is widely accepted as a measure of a locations ability to ripen a crop of grapes. There are few other measures as well including the LTI (latitude/temperature index) and calculation of the mean monthly temperature of the warmest month. However, in most of the reading I’ve done DDG is most widely used and also accessed when comparing what varieties will mature in a given number of degree days. For instance, one document on grapes varieties grown in British Columbia describes that you need at least 850 degree days growing and 135 frost free days to grow the earliest wine grapes in BC. It goes on to state that 1000 degree days are required to grow mid-season varieties.

Degree days for different crops are calculated to different base temperatures. For grapes the base temperature is 10 degrees celcius because generally speaking, grapes begin to grow in the spring once the average daily temperature is 10c. There are some hybrids that begin to grow at temperatures a few degrees cooler but again 10c is the general rule. Other crops like corn use 5 degrees celcius. Degree days for a particular day are calculated by taking the average of the sum of the day time high and the day time low and subtracting 10. If your day time high was 26 and the day time low was 12 the average for the day would be 19 (26 + 12 = 38, divided by 2 =19). Then you’d subtract 10, which leaves you with 9 degree days growing above 10c for that day.

You can easily do this for each month as well. For instance if the average daily high for the month was 24 and the average low for the month was 11, the monthly average would be 17.5 (24 + 11 = 25, divided by 2 = 17.5). Then you subtract 10 from the average which leaves you with 7.5 degree day for each day of the month. So if this were July, with 31 days, you add 7.5 degree days for each of the 31 days in July which would give you 232.5 degree days growing above 10c for the month.

So really what we are calculating is how much heat above the 10c base was accumulated over a particular time period. This is important, specifically  “above 10c”, especially if you are in an area that is prone to night time lows below 10 degrees celcius. Temperatures below 10c have a negative impact on the growth, development, nutrient uptake of a grape vine. Research has shown that when a vine is exposed to temperatures in the 5c-10c range the growth slows and has a negative impact on the vines ability to metabolize carbon dioxide and on the photosynthesis ability. The effects will have a further lingering/lag effect even as day time temperatures return to above 10c which in turn causes a lag time in vine development and grape maturity.  Photosynthesis is best in the morning, so this lag time inhibiting photosynthesis at this time of day is detrimental to growth.

So if you examine temperature profiles for two locations the degree day accumulations may appear the same however, the locations ability to ripen grapes may be better in one location than the other as the day-night (diurnal) temperature swings are less. For instance a location with a monthly average day time high of 24 degrees and monthly average nigh time lows of 14 degrees would have a monthly average of 19 degrees. This location with the average night time lows of 14 degrees would be expected to have few nights with temperatures below 10c. Another location with monthly average day time highs of 28 degrees and monthly average lows of 10 degrees would have the same monthly average of 19 degrees. However, this location would be expected to have several nights with temperatures below 10c and with it one could expect some negative impact on growth and potentially to ripen grapes a few days later than the other site. In fact, scientists who study the effects temperature on vine development often use degree day hours to calculate the accumulation of hours rather than days above 10c as this can be a more accurate assessment of accumulated heat.  Of course there are so many other factors as well, wind, hours of sunshine etc., so this is simply a generalization.

But this does become important when one considers that 850 degree days growing and 135 frost free days are required to ripen the earliest grape varieties in BC. If you get 850 degree days but the development and ripening is delayed most mornings due to cool night time lows then one may need more than 135 frost free days to ripen the grapes - perhaps 140 instead. With this in mind one has to remember the principals of frost avoidance not only to safeguard from frost but to help ensure an optimum vineyard mesoclimate. Clearing trees so cold air can drain away, short mid row cover or none at all, and wind breaks to deflect cold air entering your site can not only stave off frosts but can raise the average night time temperature and possibly improve the vineyard conditions throughout the entire growing season.

Sunset Ridge Vineyard in Nakusp

There are others in the Arrow Lakes valley that have a keen interest in viticulture and the best example of this that I know is the Sunset Ridge Vineyard in Nakusp (see link on the links section of the blog). Sunset Ridge is a bed and breakfast run by the Scott family in Nakusp and they have established a small vineyard on their property. The vineyard is approximately 1 acre with just a little less than that planted at this time.

The owner, Jody Scott has had an interest in growing grapes for sometime and while there was really no other vineyard template to follow in this area he has shown he can grow very nice grapes.  He quickly found that the area around Nakusp and the Arrow Lakes Valley would be classified as cool climate viticulture. Scott did some research on cool climate viticulture and found some interesting results from grape vine trials being conducted in Washington State near Mt. Vernon. He also spoke to industry experts on Vancouver Island (also a cool climate viticulture zone) and decided on some varieties of grape vines to try at his location.

He planted his first vines in 2007, these were Marechal Foch and Seigerrebe and has since added several varieties to his vineyard including;
-Foch (own rooted,planted in 2007,2008)
-Siegerrebe (own rooted, planted 2007,2010)
-Pinot Noir ( various early clones ,(own rooted 777 and 777 on rootstock 101-14, clone 667 on 3309,clone Pinot noir Precoce on SO4 for vigor),planted 2007,2008,2009.
-Pinot Gris(on 3309) planted 2008
-Gewurztraminer(on 3309) planted 2008.
-Auxerrois (own rooted)planted 2008.
-St. Laurent (own rooted) 2008.
-Gamay (own rooted) 2008
-Zwiegelt (on 101-14,SO4)2009
-Ortega ( own rooted,on 101-14,SO4) 2009.
-Chardonnay(own rooted)2010.
-Cab Libra (0n 101-14)2008.
-Labelle (own rooted,on 101-14)
-48-05-83 (own rooted ,101-14)
-Petit Milo ( on SO4)2009.

As you can see from the pictures below, his vineyard is doing great. In the spring of 2010, Scott took specialized courses in viticulture through the Okanagan College, where he received a Certificate in Vineyard Management. A introductory level course of vineyard management is comming to Nakusp in March 2011 (click here for details).

Scott believes his degree day accumulation falls between 875 and 1000 and extrapolates this from local and regional data sources. These are conservative estimates and the degree days may be up to 10% more than this. The rainfall at this location is approximately 12-14 inches between April 1st and September 30th and the frost free days are estimated at between 150 and 160 days.

He pulled his first crop of Marechal Foch and Seigerrebe in September 15th, 2009. The Foch had a brix of 22 and ph of 3.2 and the Seigerrebe came in with brix of 20 and ph of 3.7. This year was much cooler and later and the Foch was picked a month later on October 16th at a brix of 20 and ph of 3.3 while Seigerrebe was picked ten days later on September 25th at brix of 19 and ph of 3.2.

In the next few years Scott will be getting a clearer picture of how the other varieties perform at his location.
Scott believs there is potential for expanded viticulture in the Arrow Lakes valley from Nakusp on through to Edgewood (60 km south of Nakusp). Recently Scott and Jerry Botti of Burton (25km south of Nakusp) pioneered the Arrow Lakes Grape Growers Society (ALGGS) to provide a forum for those interested in viticulture in this area to collect and share ideas. The ALGGS is also looking to conduct research by way of further grape vine trials in the region and to define the climate in general in this area as well as variations in climate with the valley region.

Jody Scott can be contacted about the Arrow Lakes Grape Growers Society at;   jbscott(at)telus.net

Viticulture Course in Nakusp - March 2011

The Selkirk College in collaboration with Okanagan College are offering a five (5) day course on vineyard management practices.  This introductory level course titled "Cool Climate Viticulture: An Introduction" is being held March 30th-April 3, 2011 (Wednesday to Sunday) 9 am - 4 pm at Selkirk College in Nakusp. 
Contact: Chris Faint (Coordinator, Selkirk College) at 250-265-4077 for further details.

This course will cover the topics of;
*The Grapevine - Grapevine phenology. Annual growth cycle of the vine. Stages of development.
*Grape Varieties & Rootstocks - Species of vines for viticulture. Popular grape varieties, their characteristics and strengths and weaknesses. Considerations when selecting a rootstock. Grafting.
*Vineyard Year - The major vineyard tasks from a management perspective.
*Site Establishment & Propagation - Cool climate considerations and its effect on the vineyard. Site selection. Preparing a site. Methods of propagating grape vines.
*Pruning & Trellising - Aims, timing and principles of pruning. Types of pruning systems. Determining yield through pruning. Choice of training and trellising systems.
*Soils & Nutrition - Suitable soil characteristics for viticulture. Soil nutrition and fertility. Soil management. Cover crop management. Grapevine nutrition.
*Irrigation - Principles of irrigation
*Canopy Management - Canopy microclimate. Canopy management techniques including shoot thinning, bunch thinning and leaf plucking. Assessing the canopy.
*Pest & Diseases - Major pest and diseases affecting grape vines and methods of prevention and control.
*Wine Quality - How quality wines start in the vineyard. Methods of harvesting. Analysis of grape composition and quality.

Field Trip to a local vineyard in Nakusp

Cost: $649 per person

The course is usually offered over a period of several weeks in Kelowna or Penticton this makes attending this course difficult for those who live in the interior.  This is the first time such a course has been offered in Nakusp so if you are at all interested in this topic, or starting your own backyard or commercial vineyard, you absolutely should not miss this course.

2010 Growing Season Snap Shot - Cold Year

The year started off warm in April but checking bud survival rates found the Leon Millot at about 35-40% and the Ravat 34 at about 90-95%.  While the winter had not been very cold, the hard frost (-9) in early October 2009 did much damage to the buds that were not yet into dormancy.  The canes did ok on both the Leon Millot and the Ravat 34.

The vines started budding out the first week of May, however cold weather was in store for May (average 11 c) and the vines really didn't budge much more until the second or third week with bud break officially May 21/22.  Unfortunately this was followed with an unseasonal cold and frost to -3 and -2 on the nights of May 24/25th consecutively.  This killed off the few Leon Millot buds that we had and most of the Ravat 34 buds as well and virtually no crop this year on them.

June (average 15.4) was also cool and while flowering usually takes place the last week of June, it didn't start until the 7th of July.  Normal temperatures from then on would then place harvest for the Leon Millot at about September 30th and the Ravat at about October 5.

While temperatures improved in July (18.5 average) and August (19.0 average), the night time lows were lower than normal and averaged in the 7-9 degree range.  This dampened the growth in the nights and would serve to push back the expected maturation of the grapes later into October.  There was virtually no rain from July 7th until August 8th however, the vines did well.  Much need rain came in August and sporadic rain into September was all the vines required.  The rain from May 1st to September 30th was about 11-12 inches, with most of it at the front end of the season (8 inches in May and June). 

September was average (13.0 average) and we experienced moderate heat in the day and average day night temperatures for our site.  However, while the nights were again cooler than normal it did not set the matuaration back further than what was already expected.  We also received over 2 inches of rain this month.

The grapes were tested on the 24th of September and both the Ravat and Leon Millot were showing brix in the 14 range.  Target levels for Leon Millot is 20-22 brix and ravat is 18-20 brix.  These varieties accumulate their sugars quickly then level off and this means they needed at least another week to get to minimum sugar levels in the 17-18 brix range.  A few notes here about the Ravat 34, even at 14 brix, this variety was beginning to show varietal flavours.  Also, when nearly all varieties across the Okanagan suffered noteable damage to primary buds due to the early freeze in October 2009, the Ravat 34 came through with virtually no damage.  This alone is remarkable see photo on left;

As is turns out, the next three weeks were quite nice and there was another 30-35 degree days accumulated in October until the hard frost hit on October 15th.  This frost is about 2 weeks later than we normally expect (October 1st). From May first till the hard frost in October we accumulated about 870 degree days at 10c base, this is our coolest year yet.  All across the Okanagan and interior of BC the conditions were less than optimum for growing grapes in 2010.  Talking to one commercial grower they say they have not had such a poor year since the 1980's.  Another grower picked their Pinot Noir at 21 brix on Sept 25 last year and at 18 brix this year on October 15th.  While it is not nice for anyone in the business of vinticulture to experience a poor growing year, this year proved valuable for us to see how the varieties would make out in a below normal year.  Hope that this is as below normal as it get for our site.

Planting Grape Vines in Spring or Fall

All of our vines we have started from cuttings. They are usually 2 or 3 bud cuttings about 8" to 14" long. We have had great success with propagating the vines this way in the spring. We've even started vines with 1 bud cutting no more than 1.5"-2" long with some success. However, once the vines are growing well and the roots are taking hold in the 4" x 4" propagation pots, the next step is to decide when to plant the vines into the ground.

We've planted our grape vines in the spring and in the fall. Those we have planted in the spring are transplanted from the propagation pots to the vineyard when the soil and air temperature are warm and frost danger has passed. We do this usually in June. These vines have to be nurtured and you have to ensure they are kept watered, weed free, pest and animal free and to add nutrients as they need them. By the end of the season they usually have grown several feet if not 5 or 6 feet high. Many have reached the fruit wire height of 5 feet by the end of the season. However, we often get enough cane die-back in these first year vines to knock them back to the ground or within a foot of it. The following year they send out new shoots from the base or from buds that survived near the base and these will make cordon height by mid summer.

We've also planted vines in the fall, usually mid to late September when the vines would be headed towards dormancy. In this case we transfer the vines from the propagation pots to larger 1 gallon pots in the spring. We grow them in the 1 gallon pot all summer and this way we can control the growth a little better as we know exactly how much water they are getting, we can easily keep all weeds and pests away, and we can control the nutrients as we know exactly how much is reaching the roots. In the fall we plant the vines out in the vineyard and they will have a huge root ball by then that is too tight from being confined to the 1 gallon pot. So as we plant it in the hole we stretch out the root ball a bit. In the spring we find that the canes die back to the ground or close to the ground. However, because of the massive root ball the vine has, we have seen that these vines usually have excellent growth in the spring on the one main shoot (trunk) that we allow to grow.

Perhaps the greatest reason for us to plant in the fall is that there is a cost saving on the irrigation equipment if we do a fall planting and a uniformity in growth of the vines the following year. Right now in the experimental vineyard we have a drip style irrigation system that works ok but some plants receive more water than others. With growing the vines in the pots all summer they can be watered with a garden hose very quickly when it is needed, they all get the same amount of water, and there is virtually no cost to this. Those that are planted in the spring and irrigated have variations in their vigor and growth rate due to differences in nutrients and water they are getting. (better irrigation equipment and nutrient/soil management would help this).

We have not needed to irrigate our second year vines as they establish a large enough root system in the first year to support a single primary shoot in the second year. We also seem to get enough rain at our site to supply their needs over the summer. I believe this summer from May 1st to September 30th we have received about 10-12 inches, about the same as in 2009, maybe a bit less. Therefore, we've found that if you grow the vines in pots all summer then transfer them to the vineyard in the fall, we have not needed to irrigate those vines at all and we get better, more uniform and more vigorous growth the following spring.

The first vines we planted were Leon Millot in the fall of 2008 after growing them in pots all summer. We have not had to irrigate them to date and they are healthy and vigorous.

This last method (fall planting from large pots) is mentioned in the Organic Grape Grower, (see the links list on the blog), and this is where we got the idea to try it for our site. After three years of experimenting we're starting to see what works, what works well, and what doesn't. Planting 1 year old vines in the fall at our site works well.

see our most recent blog on this topic here

L'Acadie Blanc grape and wine

This is truely an amazing grape. It was created in Canada in 1953 by O. Bradt at the horticultural research station at Vineland Ontario. In the early days it was only known as V53261 and was the result of a cross of Cascade (Seibel 13053) and Seyve-villard 14-287 (This same cross resulted in a sister seedling known as Veeblanc or V53263).

The vine was relatively successful in the trials in Ontario with the resulting wine quality being good to very good. However, in those days productivity was a critical factor and while V53261 was a good producer it did not measure up to what was being sought at that time.

The vine also showed excellent cold hardy properties (-31c), disease resistance and early maturity, requiring about 950 degree days of heat and 135-140 frost free days. With these marginal grape growing parameter, the vine was sent to the Kentville, Nova Scotia Agriculture Canada testing station for further evaluation.

Photo Reference Link

In testing in Kentville the V53261 was found to preform well after winters with -30c conditions doing significantly better than Seyval Blanc in side by side comparisons. The vine was also found to produce quality fruit with lower acidity and better chemistry balance than Seyval in summers with fewer than 900 degree days of heat. Over 18 years of testing this variety as averaged 18.5 brix with TA of 10.5 g/L, with average degree days of 982 c. The vine was found to suit the growing conditions of Nova Scotia quite well and was so names L'Acadie Blanc.

While the short growing season, good productivity, disease resistance, and cold hardiness are good reasons to try this vine. the most compelling reason is the amazing wine that this variety makes (See this link for more detail). It is virtually unknown outside of Nova Scotia but those who have tried it including yours truly can say that this grape makes an exception wine in the hands of a good winemaker.

I've tried several, Jost Vineyard makes a beauty with some residual sugar, somewhat reminiscent of chablis. Domaine de Grande Pre makes an excellent dry L'Acadie. Gaspereau Vineyards also makes a dry L'Acadie and like the other two noted it is very good as well. Other Nova Scotia wineries like L'Acadie Vineyard and Benjamin Bridge are now winning awards for crafting this grape as a sparkling wine.

This is truly a versatile, and an excellent grape vine and it is a shame that it is not offered in the liquor stores in the prairie provinces. I brought a few bottles of the Jost L'Acadie back with me from Nova Scotia on my last trip. We served it at a group wine tasting and in side by side comparisons against a nice BC Chardonnay and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the L'Acadie won hands down, was everyone's favorite.

We planted a few L'Acadie Blanc vines in the test vineyard to see how they work out in our climate and conditions. We really like this one and are hoping it grows well.

Zweigelt or Zweigeltrebe

This is a grape of Austrian origin having been crossed by a fellow by the name of Fritz Zweigelt in the early 1920's. The vine is a cross of Blaufrankisch and St. Laurent. The vine is a very heavy producer and can crop at 5-6 tons per acre.

references suggest that this vine has late bud break and is relatively early ripening, a few days before Pinot Noir and a week after Regent. The vine is also reported by some who grow it (Peter Salonius and Paul Troop) to have some practical mild disease resistance to the common mildews and is relatively cold hardy to approximately -20c. The grapes from the vine is also reported to make very good wine and the Zweigelt I've tried from Arrow Leaf cellars in BC is quite good - of course this is subject to the skill of the winemaker and quality of grapes.

We've got a few Zweigelt vines planted at the test vineyard now after acquiring some cuttings from Paul Troop of Omega Vines (see links on the blog) in the spring of 2010. In general the vines are strong and vigorous, and we'll see how they make out the winter and bud out next year.

This vine is suited for only the best location at our site with the longest frost free days and greatest accumulation of degree days. This would be on the upper bench which is about 100 feet above the test vineyard. The upper bench appears to average about 10 percent more degree days. Our test vineyard seems to be averaging about 140-145 frost free days and 900-950 degree days so it could be extrapolated that the upper bench has about 1000-1050 degree days and perhaps a slightly longer frost free season.

This frost free days and degree days status of the test vineyard is likely not enough for this variety based on trials at Mt. Vernon, Washington where 1000 degree days is recommended. Also, a grower in New Brunswick gets about 900 degree days and 140 frost free days and it barely ripens most years. As such, I've planted one of the Zweigelt vines on the upper bench and will use that to compare the growth stages with that of those in the test vineyard. Going to add a few of the other varieties up there as well (Castel and perhaps transplant one of the Pinot Noir as well) again to see the difference in growth stages between those on the upper bench and those in the test vineyard.

Clearing of the Land - Changing Mesoclimate

In this past spring we cleared out approximately 0.5 acre to open up the area around the vineyard. There were several reasons for this. First the larger opening in the forest should foster a higher degree day accumulation in the vineyard. Secondly it would allow the cool air that gets trapped behind the trees to drain away from the vineyard. Lastly it would provide more morning sun, as the tree to be cleared were those to the east of the vineyard.

We cleared the trees at the end of April and we were finally able to see the lay of the land around the test vineyard. To our surprise we found out that the area of the test vineyard in in a small low spot and is prone to cold air accumulations in spring and fall - naturally this is my luck. This also means that the larger opening we created now provides a greater area to drain cold air into this low spot that the vineyard is in and heightens the frost potential.

So now we were faced with trying to eliminate the amount of cold air that flows off the mountain side and settles in the large opening surrounding the vineyard. There are a few measures that can be taken to mitigate this. First, we have cleared the rest of the trees out to the edge of the valley drop off, about another 0.5 acre. The bench that the vineyard sits on is approximately 100-120 feet above the lower valley below. Clearing these trees out has changed the movement of air dramatically. If you stand at the low end of the clearing at the edge of the valley drop off after the sun goes down you can feel the rush of wind moving down the valley and through the vineyard and the clearing and over the edge to the valley below. Clearing the cool air away is a good start.

The picture below is of the valley below the Lower Bench in winter. You can see the warm air fog that has formed in the middle because the cold air is filling in the low area. The Lower Bench that the test vineyard is on is to the left of and 100-120 feet above the road. There is another bench, the Upper Bench, which is separated by a gravel road and it is another 100-120 feet above the Lower Bench (see image below).

Next we want to limit how much cold air enters the vineyard and the clearing. So we are planting a large wind break hedge at the upper end of the vineyard clearing to deflect the cool air that otherwise flows down the mountain and enters the vineyard. This will take a few years to grow and to have some effect but in the interim we are discussing erecting a mesh or wood wind break to do the same thing. The one we build will not be as high as the tree hedge but should help deflect the cool air to some degree.

We placed temperature data loggers down slope from the vineyard towards the valley drop off and have found that the area just down slope from the vineyard (but out of the low spot that the vineyard is in) registers between 0.0 - 0.5 degree warmer each night. Also, a second data logger placed near near the bottom of the slope registers between 0.5 - 1.0 degrees warmer than the vineyard for overnight lows. Another placed in a clearing on the lower valley bench registers night temperatures 0.5 degrees colder than the vineyard. It appears that allowing the cold air to drain away provides warmer night temperatures in the vineyard but in addition there may be some warm air funneling into the clearing from the bottom end of the slope as it rises up from the valley below.

We have recorded similar but more dramatic readings when we placed a data logger on another part of our property. This area is a smaller bench that is approximately 100 feet above the vineyard. The data logger at this level has consistently recorded night time lows that are 2.5 degrees warmer than at the vineyard location in June, July, and August - no winter records have been taken.

While it is nice to see these warmer night time temperatures at different locations on the property, where we'd really like to see them is in the test vineyard. With out getting into wind machines or artificial heating of the air the best we can do to reduce cold air in the low spot of the test vineyard is to provide a place for the cold air to go. Also we can to try to limit how much cold air enters that area. Clearing the land for air drainage and creating a wind break hedge to deflect cold air should help with these.

At the same time we know that if the vines grow well in the test vineyard, then climatically speaking they should grow great in the other warmer locations.

Kootenay Covers Netting for the Grapes

Its all but certain that sometime some birds are going to find out that there are grapes ripening in the vineyard. We've got several varieties of grapes growing that are both subject to attack by birds and insects (waspes in particular). As such, we were looking for a vine cover that both protects from birds and wasps but also allows the sunlight through so the grapes can ripen. See photos below,

We researched many potential grape covers and there are some that both protect against birds and insects and let sufficient light through (over 90%) but we discovered a locally designed cover through Kootenay Covers

Kootenay covers makes covers for grape vines and fruit trees and their product protects from birds and insects and lets signifiucant light through. I don't have figures on how much light goes through this product but it is substantial and I'd estimate between 85%-95% of the light goes through.

One of the hopes with this product is that it may provide a small degree of frost protection at the end of the season. Even 1 degree of frost protection can make a huge difference in staving off that first frost and allowing the grapes to ripen perhaps another week.

We deployed the netting in late August and did some preliminar tests on the overnight temperature profile between the covered row and the uncovered row beside it. We checked the temperatures hourly after sunset until about 11 pm / midnight and found that overnight lows were the same for the covered row and uncovered row except that the neeted row stayed warmer (1-2 degrees) longer into the night then drops off fast and equals out to the uncovered row after 11pm.

We'll do some more testing as the frost season approaches and report back. So far we really like the covers. They appear to be very durable, easy to deploy and the cost was significantly less than other similar products. Check out this link to Kootnay Covers.

Cool Nights in August

As of late August the data logger shows we're having cool evenings at the vineyard. Nights are averaging around 9 degrees for lows. We even had a 3.8 low on the 24th of August. Kelowna had the same at 3.7. The grapes and vines are doing well but ripen slowly. There has been about 1 inch of rain since July 25th but the vines are healthy.

The Ravat 34 continues to do well (pictures below) and on track for end of September harvest.

The Leon Millot is also doing well but some vines have much more vigourous growth than others. The Agria has come along well in the last month since pinching off the laterals, with most of the vines at the 4 foot level and all the vines survived (picture below). The regent is slow but a few more vines showed growth and there are now 7 of the original 14 vines that are alive.

The Castel planted this year are doing well, many are up beyond the 5 foot wire (picture below).


The Blattners look good also especially the Cabernet Libre, as they have caught up and passed the growth of the Petitie Millot and the Cab-Foch. The ortega are slow, poor growth as are the Pinot noir.