Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Springtime in the vineyard
Gordon Kendall
Gordon Kendall's column, "Good Libations," runs monthly in Extra. He welcomes readers' questions and comments about wine, beer or spirits.
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Ask any vineyard owner about the condition of his vineyard and he will say things are great. I suspect that if a vineyard were completely devoured by locusts, the proprietor would put a positive spin on it. "The vines needed thinning," he might say with confidence.
But my recent visits to local vineyards and discussions with vintners confirm a healthy start for this year's vintage.
Grapevines have an annual growth cycle that corresponds to the seasons. During winter, workers prune the vines back severely, leaving a basic trunk and a couple of "cordons," the T-shaped stalks, trained on wires stretched out like parallel clotheslines.
When spring rolls around, the sun begins to awaken vineyards from winter's slumber. The first sign of spring is bud break, the emergence of the shoots that will grow to bear grapes.
I visited Valhalla Vineyards in Roanoke County recently on a breezy day when cottony clouds cast a patchwork of shadows on the rolling, green hills. Moribund vines with dusky, gray bark were sprouting green buds from their trunks and cordons. These buds develop into shoots with emerging green, glossy leaves. As the shoots grow and multiply, the sunlight kicks off the photosynthesis process, which converts nutrients and water into carbohydrates to provide energy for the vines.
Timing is key
The timing of bud break is critical to a successful vintage. If the buds emerge early, a late frost could decimate them. The subsequent buds could have difficulty attaining optimum ripeness. If early spring is cool, the bud break occurs late, and the grapes will struggle to ripen before summer's end.
Georgia Classey, co-owner of Fincastle Winery, told me that the last possible frost date was Monday.
Valhalla co-owner and grape grower Jim Vascik seemed to think that bud break, though a bit early, had occurred at a most advantageous time this year. He said that last year's cool spring retarded the grapes' development. He hopes for warm and sunny days ahead. As the shoots lengthen, his vineyard workers will weave them through the lyre-like trellising system of wires to protect them from wind and maximize sun exposure.
Steve Haskill, the grape grower and co-owner of Villa Appalaccia on the Blue Ridge Parkway, told me that with his vigorous Italian varieties it is especially important that maximum sunlight strike the buds and shoots. The amount of sunlight striking the vines over the next few weeks influences the budding process next year. The less foliage on the vine, the more energy will be devoted to the grapes. The labor of cutting off extra shoots and pulling leaves from around the grape clusters will begin soon.
The shoots sprout small pods that resemble tiny clusters of grapes about 1 inch long. The pods will grow up to 6 inches long, and if everything goes right, will burst into white flowers around Memorial Day, thereby pollinating the vines. After two or three days the flowers will give way to tiny grapes that growers hope will mature into fat, sweet ones.
Because not all of the vines flower at exactly the same time, flowering circulates throughout the vineyard for a couple of weeks. If the vineyard is plagued with heavy wind, rain or hail during flowering, some flowers will be knocked off and no grapes will follow there. Vintners call this shatter, and it results in asymmetrical clusters that have grapes missing.
After flowering is completed, vintners will begin a regimen of spraying to control rot, mold, mildew and other pests. There is no spray to repel deer, which have a taste for the tender green shoots.
The grape grower can do much to influence the quality of his grapes, but to a certain extent he is still at the mercy of Mother Nature.
A lot can happen between now and this fall's harvest. If we have a sunny summer and a dry fall, the vineyards should be in good shape. If I were capable of predicting the quality of the harvest right now, I would retire and buy a vineyard. So far, however, the grapes appear to be off to an excellent start.
Gordon Kendall's wine and spirits column runs monthly in Extra. He welcomes comments and questions from readers at gmoney@ntelos.net
