What's Happening

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04400640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <B>What's Happening</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=220 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="050b06d0.gif" border=0 width="176" height="109" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Vineyard Experience</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Hands-on, real-world </B></div> <div> <B>grape growing</B></div> <div> <B>for a day</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="vineyard_day.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Your Day in the Vineyard"><U><B>Your Day in the Vineyard</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="visit.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Before You Visit"><U><B>Before You Visit</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>What's Happening</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="owners.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About the Owners"><U><B>About the Owners</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="contact.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="vineyard_experience_package_tours.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Packages "><U><B>Packages </B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links "><U><B>Links </B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Harvest Experience"><U><B>Harvest Experience</B></U></A><B> </B><B>|  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Vineyard Experience"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><U>April 29, 2002 </U></I><I>     </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Georgia" >(scroll down for later entries)</FONT></div> <bR> <div> In our vineyard, “bud break” (when leaves begin to emerge from the buds) occurred in mid April. Currently we are “bud rubbing,” or removing excess buds by hand from the developing trunks of our younger vines. This limits excessive shoot growth, creates a strong trunk and puts the plants' energy into upper shoots which will eventually form the canopy and fruit zone. </div> <bR> <div> In our older vines, little rubbing is required on the trunks since they are already established. However, excess buds need to be removed from the horizontal fruiting canes of both these and the younger vines. This limits the number of shoots per plant that bear fruit, opening up the canopy and reducing crop levels. An open canopy is essential for optimal penetration of sunlight and for disease control. Low crop levels are desirable to achieve the highest quality of flavor in the grapes, and, therefore, in the finished wine. For pinot noir, crop levels of 1.5 to 2.5 tons per acre are considered optimal by many. In contrast, table grapes may have yields three to four times higher.</div> <bR> <div> The image below shows an ideal shape and density for a mature trellised grapevine. From "Oregon Winegrape Grower's Guide," available from the <A HREF="http://oregonwinegrowers.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://oregonwinegrowers.org"><U>Oregon Winegrowers' Assn</U></A>.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="06c9ce20.gif" border=0 width="156" height="226" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <I><U>May 16, 2002</U></I></div> <bR> <div> We're beginning our spray program which includes foliar nutrients and  preventative fungicides for powdery mildew, a disease that can cause significant crop loss for grapevines. Our spray mixture is that recommended by <A HREF="http://www.ovs.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ovs.com"><U>Oregon Vineyard Supply</U></A> and it uses predominantly organic ingredients. Especially important this year is the addition of boron, a nutrient that is usually deficient in western Oregon soils. Deficiencies have been showing up this year in some vineyards.</div> <bR> <div> We tasted our 2001 vintage from the barrel up at Chateau Benoit this week, alongside Pinot Noirs from other vineyards with a variety of soil types and growing conditions. They were all delicious, but surprisingly different. We learned that our 2001 Greyhorse was ranked 3rd out of 21 wines in a recent in-house tasting. </div> <bR> <div> Check out <A HREF="http://www.winepressnw.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.winepressnw.com"><U>Wine Press Northwest</U></A>'s most recent issue that ranked 3 new Chateau Benoit Pinot Noirs in top categories (Outstanding and Excellent). It even includes an article about the Vineyard Experience on page 14! We also received mention in Northwest Palate and Oregon Wine Magazine. Look for a Greyhorse article and photo in the Oregonian's May 21st wine touring supplement.</div> <bR> <div> <I><U>June 26, 2002</U></I></div> <bR> <div> As the warm weather settles in, it seems we have had a nice mix of rain and sun. Plant growth is quite vigorous and we are busy shoot thinning as a way of crop management. Our goal this season is 1.5 to 2 tons per acre. </div> <bR> <div> We had bloom (when the vines show tiny flowers) around the 17th of June, on almost exactly the same date as last year. After fruit set, we'll continue our crop reduction efforts by dropping fruit (that's right; just cutting it off and dropping it on the ground!)  Soon we'll be raising our catch wires to the next higher level to keep the shoots growing vertically; this exposes the leaves and fruit to sunlight and prevents excessive shading of the fruit by the leaves. Later in the season we will begin leaf thinning, in an attempt to create a perfect balance of sun and shade. This also will ventilate the overall canopy.</div> <bR> <div> We continue our spraying program for powdery mildew protection and have had three applications to date. All in all, so far so good!</div> <bR> <div> <I><U>August 10, 2002</U></I></div> <bR> <div> The beginning of August finds us estimating crop yields. This is necessary to for us to determine how much fruit we need to drop in order to meet our target yield of 1½ to 2 tons per acre. Yes, that's right, we just snip off extra grape clusters and drop them on the ground. It's tough to do, but necessary. Crop thinning to these levels will not only accelerate ripening, but maximize the quality of the fruit. The higher the quality, the more elegant the wine. That's the theory anyhow!</div> <bR> <div> Leaf thinning is also underway. We want to ventilate the canopy to allow good airflow and to keep the fruit from being totally shaded. Also, grape leaves are almost opaque, and leaves that are totally shaded are not contributing to photosynthesis.</div> <bR> <div> So far, so good, and we see things pretty much on schedule. Now if we can get the weather Gods to see things our way, all will be well!</div> <bR> <div> <I><U>August 25, 2002</U></I></div> <bR> <div> The start of the ripening process (and also when the grapes begin changing color) is called veraison. Veraison began in our most mature grapes about 10 days ago, and is progressing nicely through the vineyard. Grapes that have turned purple already have a much higher sugar content than those that are still green--about 17% vs 4%. (We're shooting for 23% at harvest.)  The grapes are beautiful right now--come see us!</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="078e1080.jpg" border=0 width="225" height="264" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I><U>September 27, 2002</U></I></div> <bR> <div> We dropped more underripe fruit a couple weeks ago and the ones left on the vine look great! We took a sample to the winery on Wednesday, and found our grapes are almost ready to harvest: Sugar level 22.6, Acidity (TA) 7.9, pH 3.38, with beautiful color. We just want a little more "hang time" to bring the sugars up a bit and develop the flavors. Since it's likely to rain this weekend, we're looking at the possibility of a mid-week harvest around 1-3 October, weather permitting. See <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Harvest Experience"><U><I>The Harvest Experience</I></U></A> if you want to help!</div> <br><bR> </td> </tr></table></body>