Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Highlights from Last 2 Weeks

Well, I've been SO busy for the past two weeks...I apologize for not keeping my blog fans up to date! At my age, it's a challenge to remember and recap two weeks' worth of classes (!), but here goes...


Viticulture-Spring Practices: We've been out in the vineyard pruning vines; I love pruning because you have to make decisions and take control of the vine you are pruning...and when you are finished and look back at your beautifully pruned vine row, it's a feeling of real satisfaction. The blocks at Shone Farm are planted with a variety of trellising systems (single canopy, split canopy) and are also trained and pruned in several different styles (cordon trained, spur pruned; unilateral, bilateral and quadrilateral; spur pruned with canes). We have a training block where almost anything goes, and it's a little less intimidating because mistakes are expected and everyone can learn from them. Competent pruning is extremely important as it can "make or break" vine balance (leaving too many buds which produce more than the vine can ripen, or leaving too few buds which results in a small crop). Good pruning ensures each shoot has adequate space to get enough sunlight for leaves and developing buds, that fruit will be evenly spaced in the fruit zone, that the canopy will be open enough to allow air circulation in the fruit zone, and that the vine is maintained in its proper shape. Did you know it takes 15 leaves to ripen the fruit on one vine?


We have also been discussing vine growth and vine balance. Vegetative growth (leaves, shoots, tendrils, roots, permanent wood) and reproductive growth (seeds and berries) can sometimes be in competition with each other. The grower's goal is vine balance - vegetative vigor and fruit load are in equilibrium and consistent with wine quality - which is achieved by the positive interaction of proper cultivar & rootstock selection, the environment, and their management practices.

Integrated Pest Manaagement: IPM is the science of preventing, supressing, or eradicating biological organisms that are unwanted. This includes everything from weeds to bugs to gophers. Methods include physical or mechanical (like squishing a bug with your fingers), cultural (planting pest-resistant varieties), biological (attracting beneficial insects or putting up bird boxes for owls), and chemical (pesticides). Our first assignment was to bring one bug and one weed to class....everyone put their 'finds' on a big table and we each chose 4 bugs to look at under the microscope, draw, and hopefully identify. Same with the weeds. We also went out into the garden at Shone Farm (maintained by students in the sustainable agriculture program) and looked for (and found) pest damage - specifically, by snails. Lots of ways to get rid of snails, none of them pleasant, but for a grape grower, not much of an issue - we have other things to deal with like grapeleaf hoppers, mealybugs, mites, phylloxera, nematodes, and vertebrates like rabbits, gophers and deer. I don't mind destroying bugs, but I don't see myself killing little gophers!


Spring Winery Practices: This is my favorite class! I call it my "happy hour" class - 1-4 on Friday afternoons, because we begin each class with wine tasting! :-) We have been tasting three wines, then figuring out which of the three is the "mystery wine" in the paper bag, the last tasting. In our first class we sampled some sparkling wines - Rose, Brut and Extra Dry (this is the only one I've missed, guessing the mystery wine was the Extra Dry - it was the Brut). Next was a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay and a Riesling - I guessed correctly that the mystery wine was the Chardonnay (not that difficult because all three are distinct). Then we had to distinguish between a Pinot noir, a Zinfandel and a Cabernet Sauvignon - again I guessed correctly that our mystery wine was the Zin. Last week was a bit more of a challenge with three Pinot noirs. One was from Alexander Valley, one was from Russian River (both Sonoma County) and one was a Santa Rita from Santa Barbara County. This was a little more challenging, but I managed to figure out again which was the mystery selection. I'm getting good at this!


Following our tastings, we have an hour lecture, then go into the laboratory classroom for some experimentation, which also involves more tasting! In our Wine Adjustment Lab, we did some trials with fining agents and additives - the "tricks" winemakers use to remove tannins, add alcohol, adjust acidity, enhance color, reduce odors, etc. Very enlightening! It's easy to understand why enologists need to know so much about chemistry!