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IMG_20200118_190254498.jpg Well I've been goofing off for a couple of weeks. Visited the job sight briefly today to bring payroll and warm vibes to my people. I kind of think they hated the tan I was sporting and likely a couple of extra pounds too. We are a bit ahead on labor for this date so I'm ...

If ya'll knew how much the Toddser pays me for all of those great vintage thread posts....and pictures to boost content you'd realize he needs the cake! Pay up deadbeats!

Among this insanity I'm just curious. What percentage of buyers will actually drink this stuff? Anyone have any data/history/hunch about this?

Thanks Tom for those notes. You are an iron Man.

Breaks my heart when so many great wines are made by a producer who can't scratch out a living. Life.......and the wine biz are not fair. So many great people make....and grow great wines that people will never know.

Ok. First post of 2020. I did go back and look at some of the past 3-4 years threads.....pretty interesting. Now have 6 ladies prepruning and 12 men pruning. Gals started today. They will remove last year's cane and prep the vine for the final steps. My 2700 vine 3 acre Gruner Veltliner block is do...

Ok. First post of 2020. I did go back and look at some of the past 3-4 years threads.....pretty interesting. Now have 6 ladies prepruning and 12 men pruning. Gals started today. They will remove last year's cane and prep the vine for the final steps. My 2700 vine 3 acre Gruner Veltliner block is don...

i think you first need to distinguish between grass-fed, grass-finished, and grain-finished. almost all beef you can buy is grass-fed then grain-finished (includes soy and other non-grass feed). given the extreme rarity of actual fully pastured meat (end-to-end) and the variety of regions and breed...

R M Kriete wrote: ↑
December 29th, 2019, 11:06 am
Still happy with rain amounts so far this year?

Not really....but when am I happy with the weather for very long?! Actually it's pouring out there right now while I'm on day two of a head cold. 10 day not showing much after this predicted amount of half inch.

Yep. Mandatory gear for anyone on my crew. Glad your ok.

Bell beans are slow going. Will probably be waist high first of April!

Big time winds here at my house at 1500 feet. Guessing gusts to 30 mph. The approaching storm looks significant. Looking out it appears we're entering another wet period. Maybe the heaviest rain will be on the weekend. Here we go!

Happy to finally see the ribbons of cover crop starting to grow.

I visited one of my customers yesterday. Saracina in Hopland. We tasted the Chard and Pinot that I sold them. Both of us very happy.
.22 the last 24 hours.

I was lucky enough to stay at the Hunington quite a few years ago. It was great.

Add another 2 inches in the last 24 hours. Pretty serious winds here at my house. Not expecting small creeks to flow much or for very long. Hoping cover crop starts to emerge soon. Not of the native grasses have popped in the past week.
Updated at 6:00 pm: 3". Just wonderful!

Did battle with some mature Pinot vines today. 20 year old cane pruned vines that are cropped for sparkling. This is advanced pruning with a physical aspect to it that makes it very hard. Canes are wrapped on a single wire on each side. Just getting last year's canes off is a work out. Finding 3 or ...

Back from a wild drive up to Seattle. Tuesday afternoon was wild on the Oregon coast. Various issues at the homestead: some ornamentals blown over, outside furniture blown off the housepad and luckily my neighbor (was feeding the cat and chickens) retarped my woodpile. Obviously I left the estate a ...

Cut me some slack boys not at my cellar at the moment!

What a fabulous interview. I've always had the utmost respect for Steve as a winemaker. I've only had brief interactions with him over the years but they were always delightful. I did sell him Syrah and Grenache one year (I think '93 or 95?) and he called the wine Redneck 101 which I took as the ult...

Weather underground calling for 1.3" in my area starting tomorrow.

Oh and rain finally predicted middle of next week!

Started pruning a couple of rows in the Gruner the last couple of days. Guess I forgot how hard that wood is. Feels as firm as Riesling. Could be my grip is out of shape too! As I started on the east side of the blocks, that's the weakest part. I gotta a you that field is going to ramp up on crop bi...

after getting zapped with 27 degrees I figured why bother. Going to be interesting to see how the vineyard reacts next season. Will there be damage? Casey -- Could you expand on this? Why is 27 degrees at this point a concern and how does it potentially impact next year? Thanks! You hate to see a v...

Day one of pruning for harvest 2020! Was happy to be out thigh my crew. Couple of new guys being mentored by some of my older guys. The f_cking leaves still not rained off the vines (drought is another topic) or blown off by a good wind. Surely making the job move more slowly. Either way we need to ...

Really not enjoying the drought. Cover crop is just sitting there wanting a drink. I'm not going to run my frost system sprinklers as the water is too valuable. Really would have given the vines a good drink with the drip system but after getting zapped with 27 degrees I figured why bother. Going to...

Happy for my neighbors at Roederer Estate for landing at #5. Would love to know what percentage of my fruit is in there.

R M Kriete wrote: ↑
November 14th, 2019, 7:00 am
Any rain?

Nope! The 10 day really isn't showing much hope.

Back from my hunting trip (see hunting/fishing thread in Asylum). Cleanup and maintenance coming to an end with some great results. Very happy with some of the stuff my crew has done.

Going to start pruning on Monday.

Rough time of year. I've got folks that need a paycheck and I have to find work to do. Already filled a 40 yard dumpster with junk left lying around our storage areas and junk piles. Another crew has been trimming trees and brush around the vineyard and fence areas. This is something that needs to b...

Even though the Burris fire was about 5-6 miles away the winds had it possibly coming our way. My wife and I have rehearsed an evacuation plan due to our remote location. She insisted on packing the cars and to keep the peace I obliged. I'd rather do it in the calm of daylight than in a panic in the...

I had a neighbor about 2 miles away that had a herd of about 25-30 goats. Mountain lions killed and ate them all over a period of a few months.

After 4 days and nights our power came back on around 4:45 this afternoon.

Jesus, just checked weather station and NOOA. Philo and Potter Valley both 23 degrees. Not a good morning to be without power.

Hope tonight is the last of your worries for harvest 2019!

I can only imagine the power outages are messing with the final steps of harvest. Like many we're on our second day of no power. The fire thread over in wine talk seems to be the place for more news. Stay safe folks.

I texted Nate Weis as I saw Soda Rock winery burn. That's across the street from their Alexander Valley operation. He said so far so good.

Just lost power here in Ukiah about 15 minutes ago.

Loving that flight radar website. Prayers for our Sonoma friends tonight.

Paul Luckin wrote: ↑
October 26th, 2019, 10:42 am
Mandatory evacuation orders for city of Healdsburg and town of Windsor.

I can only guess they are being super safe on these orders. Have to caution on the conservative side in this day and age.

brigcampbell wrote: ↑
October 24th, 2019, 7:38 pm
We don't get much lightening in California except the the high Sierra so every fire is man made. Unfortunate but true.

Not buying that statement.

Jeff, the area where this “Kincaid” fire started is DESOLATE. Even a experienced hiker would have trouble hiking to the area where this fire started no less have brush cleared. The problem is with 60 MPH winds the fire goes from desolate to populated pretty damn quick. Tom So they can't allow cows ...

Husch Anderson Valley bottling for $25. Very solid.

Went to a harvest party in Anderson Valley last night and saw many of my fellow growers. Most feeling lucky and blessed that it's over and that most folks did quite well. Lots of folks blown away that this was my 41st harvest, probably because I look so young! Seed almost all drilled, and most all t...

Always interesting to wish for rain because MY grapes are picked, but I feel for my fellow growers who are still out there trying to salvage their crops. Cheers to my fellow growers and wineries.

Loaned 5 of my best pickers to a friend in Ukiah area. Picking Primativo at 6 tons/acre. Stinking clusters are over triple the size of the Pinot bunches we deal with. Luckily they are picking by the hour rather than piece work. They'd never want to come home! Looks like they'll be there most of the ...

Crazy frozen pick to finish my 41st harvest. Taco lady came after and we had some fun.

Final day of harvest and the coldest.....30 degrees out there. Glad I'm just the forklift operator. Taco truck at 11:00, clean up starts tomorrow. Cultivator and seeder start tomorrow. Trying to get back to normal sleep patterns hopefully starts tomorrow too.

Picked 12 tons of Pinot this morning (well my crew did) and now home to get generator going for fridge, freezer and computer/internet. So far so good. Plenty of ice for cocktails tonight, now let's see if I can get a nap.

It's 4:00 am and I'm getting ready for work. Texted the winemaker in Anderson Valley and they have power. I'm not exactly sure when ours went out. Should be interesting to see how this day shakes out.

I am ready. Have a propane stove, propane grill, wood burning fireplace, hose hooked up to the water holding tank that is fed from the well. I'll be ok. I put my wine in barrel yesterday, so no problem with fruit processing or temp fluctuation during fermentation. My guess is most wineries have bee...

Don't know if this has been brought up yet. I can't imagine every winery in the region has backup generators. Could it possibly happen that fruit won't be able to be processed....and even worse cooling jackets on fermentation tanks won't be working leading to overheated wines?

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