~ The Vines ~
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The Vines
The original planting of the vineyard took place in the spring of 1999. In the spring of 2000 we "planted" an 8' tall deer fence around the vineyard area and replanted the vines which had been eaten the previous year. Block #1, along the driveway is Viognier, a Rhone variety grape which does well in our climate. It can tolerate the near 60 degree daily temperature swing we experience in the summer growing months and this grape is much more frost tolerate.
Block #2, further up the hillside from Block #1 was originally planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. Block #3, behind the barn was originally planted to Merlot. Over time, we found that the Cabernet had at least 50 vines which have been mislabeled at the nursery and were in fact not Cabernet Sauvignon, but Syrah. This presented a unique problem as the Cabs have different watering needs (less) than the Syrah. And we also found that the Merlot was not a good match for our weather and daily temperature variations.
In 2004 we harvested our first crop... one ton of Viognier and one ton on Merlot/Cab mixed. The next year, 2005, saw a great crop go to market with 1.5 tons of Viognier and 3 tons of red fruit. Dealing with the farming issues in block #2 continued to be a problem. In 2006 and 2007 we had a very difficult pest problem with a nasty leaf hopper infestation. These little bugs are like tiny grasshoppers and did considerable damage before we were able to get the right organic treatments applied. Needless to say, the tonnage was down and the fruit not of the best quality.
2008 was a very dry year with hardly any rain fall. This continued into 2009 when we received only 13.4" of rain. We had a new irrigation well drilled in 2008 and had a 30 mil thick liner installed in the irrigation pond to hold free winter run off water for summer irrigation. The vines in Block #2 and half the vines in #3 were cut back in preparation for grafting to Grenache Noir. The vines in the middle of block #3 were grafted to Viognier and will be producing their first fruit in 2010. Due to unexpected lack of qualified grafters, we were unable to get the Grenache Noir grafted in this year.
We provide our guest with vineyard tours by appointment and will gladly answer your questions to the best of our ability. Many guests who have toured the vineyards have express a greater appreciation and enjoyment of the final product, a glass of wine, after gaining more knowledge of what is involved in the field and in producing those seven clusters of grapes that comprise each bottle of wine. Book your stay now and take a tour of our vineyards and see what you have been missing!
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