We have been traveling for the past two weeks. When we left, there were between six and ten inches of growth in the vineyard. On our return we found the Dornfelder vines with about two feet of additional growth, while the Niagara vines put on two to three feet of growth. Out came the [...]
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Walking along the vines and pulling off the suckers is a simple task. The suckers can simply be bent and they will come right off. Their removal encourages sap to rise in the vine. I discovered the act of removing suckers to be quite pleasant. One is out amongst the vines doing a task [...] At last year’s Wineries Unlimited I had the chance to spend a day at the Trade Show. I learned a lot about closures such as the Zork (great commercial), barrels, winemaking materials such as those by Laffort and many other things from interesting vendors. This year I’m going to devote two days to the [...] After pruning my home vines, I caught them weeping. The teardrop glistened in the sunshine sparkling like a diamond. The weeping foreshadows the growing season. It is the first step in the vine’s life cycle. It signifies that the ground temperature has risen to around 50º F. The vine’s roots are taking up water [...] A few days after pruning my grapevines, Kathy and I went to the experimental vineyard at Tin Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, Maryland and helped to prune those vines. The vines were planted late spring of 2010. We used blue grow tubes to protect the tender vines. Throughout the growing season, the local deer population [...] Last night we had the first vine clinging snowfall of the year. Factoids may argue that it was our fourth snowfall. The first was an inch but didn’t cling to the vines. The second and third snowfalls measured trace if that much again with no clinging to the vines. Last night’s snowfall not only [...] I’ve given up with my Dornfelder. After an assault from birds, I learned to place netting over the vines and grapes. It helped somewhat. We did have to free a few birds from inside the netting. Then the bees went after the grapes. I guess they are ready for harvest although the highest brix [...] Since the birds were insistent on stealing the Dornfelder, I bought a refractrometer and checked the brix levels. Prior to testing, I tasted the grapes. Although the Dornfelder was developing sweetness, the acid was more prevalent. Seeds were still green but beginning to turn brown. The Dornfelder measured a 16.5 brix. The birds probably [...] I am surprised that my Dornfelder grapes are starting veraison. It seems that it is too early in July. On the other hand, we have had dry weather with numerous days in the 90’s and even three straight days in the 100’s. Last year there were no days in the 100’s and few days [...] |
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What Makes a Great Wine?
On January 20th at 5:30 pm, forty Howard County bloggers and blog readers will meet at the Second Chance Saloon in Columbia, MD. Hocoblogs.com sponsors the gathering. Hocoblogs.com has a list of many blogs originating in Howard County. The event is co-hosted by 53 Beers on Tap and Computer Blues.
Since this blog is [...]