Grape Harvest 2020

Harvest was a week later than normal and a good thing. The grapes we late so the extra week gave them time to ripen some more. Even at that they we lower in sugars than most years and that was with dropping about 20-25% of the crop on early September to focus and force ripening on less grapes.

This was a transition year in the move to hanging curtain trellis from VSP. It seemed tobeork good for Foch, Millot and Petite Milo and next year that will be completed.

Here is some of the Foch at 18 brix in hanging curtain with nice size clusters of 100-150grms.

Fruit Orchards in B.C. c1909

 A friend of mine gave me a book titled "Fruit Ranching in British Columbia" by J. Bealby and published in 1909. 

Very interesting book about orchard fruit growing primarily in the west Kootenays. Its filled with orchard photos from areas around Creston through Nelson and even Fauquier (photo above).

Particularly interesting was even at that time the assessment that the fruit growing land of the west Kootenays was undervalued compared to the same land in the Okanagan.

The tree fruits grown at that time was pears, plums, apples and cherries..no mention of grapes, and the harvests were sold across Canada and internationally.

110 years later and not much has changed in the fruit growing industry in the west Kootenays except perhaps less prolific than in 1909 but the potential remains and the area remains one of the finest fruit growing regions in Canada.

Evangeline Are Harvested

This grape has been hard to grow in terms of figuring out crop load, pruning and trellis but we are getting there and had a good year this year.

Evangeline is a cross of Seigerrebe (Gwertztraminer x Madeline Angevine) and St. Pepin (Seyval x minnisota). It is very early ripening has good fungal resistance and hardy to about -27 to -30c range. Clusters average about 150-175grms to sugars of 18-22 brix. It can ripen in approximately 130 frost free days and 900 ddg(celsius) of heat. 

Best part is the flavour. Pear. Pineapple and tropical fruit...a true cross of seigerrebe and St. Pepin flavours.

Harvest Just Around the Corner

Everything is late this year. It started with a cooler June then again a cool July with a return to normal in August and above normal for the first 10 days of September. So heading to harvest we are about 1 week behind normal. There was also no rain since mid July and this was in the critical development period and as such the bunch sizes are a bit smaller than usual. But that often translates into other positives like intensifying flavours in the wine making, but still there is 3-4 weeks before harvest and what appears to be more nice weather on the way.

As of September 13, the grapes have the following brix;
Castel 15
Foch 14
Leon Millot 15
Colmar Precoce Noir 16
Marquette 15
Marechal Joffre 16
L'Acadie Blanc 13
Evangeline 16
Petite Milo 14
Seyval Blanc 16
Soveriegn Ruby 14
Vandal Cliche 14
Siegerrebe 15

Leon Millot below;

Marechal Foch

Petite Milot

Evangeline

Netting the Vines

We just started to see some colour change on the red grapes so it was time to net the grapes.

Usually by now most of the reds grape clusters would have several grapes showing colour ...so approximately 30-50% of the bunches would have colour but this year the grapes are 7-10 days behind and only a few grapes here and there show colour. This is Marechal Foch below approaching bunch closure as of August 16.

There is some heat ahead for the rest of August and a nice September would allow the vines to catch up by early October. 

Adding 2 Acres To The Vineyard

The next part of vineyard expansion is underway way and we started adding vines to the next 2 acres. This is the first batch of vines to go into this new section.

When we plant the vines we first use s 12" bit auger to drill a 3' deep hole for the vines to put them in the ground. The auger breaks up the layers of soil and the hole makes for an easy conduit for a tap root to get deep into the soil fast.

Perfect day for setting the vines in and the work crew was awesome. Next we will set out the trellis posts, wires, and irrigation lines.

Auger Holes In Row

 

 Auger In Action

 Setting Out Vines

 

Planting The Vines

Bloom Time, but Late

As of July 1 the vines are about 50% in bloom. The Castel and Leon Millot are in full bloom or just past and the Ravat 34, Evangeline, and l'Acadie Blanc are just starting.

This is at least 1 week late for bloom but on par for the cool weather. Next few weeks look cool as well but so long as it doesnt rain through the rest of bloom time and we get some heat the vines should do well.

Helpful Insects and Birds

One of the things Im on the look out for when I walk the vineyard rows is the presence of "bad" insects that may be damaging to to the vines. There are so many insects that could cause damage including beatles and leaf hoppers. The other thing Im looking for is the "good" insects such as spiders and wasps that keep the bad insects in balance. Really like seeing healthy populations of the good insects early on in the year and especially that they are doing thier job.

The spider below has captured something in its web.

Preditory wasps are helpful as well at capturing bad bugs

The other vineyard friends are the birds, particularly the robins. They are great at pucking off beatles and caterpillars that otherwise would make a salad out of tender emerging grape vine leaves. But these are our fickle friends in that come fall they'd be more than happy to clean the vines of all the ripe grapes. 

Delayed Vine Growth for 2020

With the cooler weather so far in May and June the vines are a little behind what we have been use too. May came in at about an average temperature of 12.6c and June is starting out cool. But even the past few years that have started out this way we have balanced off with high heat in the summer and fall ripening season. In both 2017 and 2014 we started off in a similar manner and yet by the end of the growing season we still accumulated between 1000 and 1100 degree days growing celcius (1800 to 1980 degree days growing fahrenheit). Hoping this year is similar.

All the varieties are looking good except some varieties we converted to hanging curtain trellis as the trellis is not as well populated with growth as it should be. This year will be a correction year to get those vines on track for that type of trellising. Vines are at about the 5th leaf stage for growth now and should be flowering at the end of June. Here is how they look;

Marechal Foch

Leon Millot

Castel

St. Croix

Evangeline

Ravat 34

L'Acadie Blanc

Petite Millot

The cool and wet weather has presented great conditions for downey mildew growth and while our varieties have natural resistance to this fungus the prolonged poor conditions has resulted in some spots of this fungus appearing. Hoping for nice sunny dry weather going forward especially into the flowering stage.

Bud Break 2020

Bud break is a bit late this year, we havent had a stretch of really hot weather to push those buds out. But its comming and the Marechal Foch is comming out fast.

The Castel and Leon Millot are comming on too and in the next week all the varieties will be out with the Triompe and Evangeline the last to leaf out.

Most of the varieties are looking good, even with the heavy snow we had.