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Here's the sheet I use for crop estimates.

Time to look at crop levels and thinning programs. Also looking at what I hope is the final mildew prevention spray. Still have some unsold fruit that might get custom crushed, we'll see. Casey, thanks for your posts . Are these “normal” situations this time of year . Any anomalies for 2019? Well, ...

Back to the grind tomorrow for what appears to be the final push to harvest. Time to look at crop levels and thinning programs. Also looking at what I hope is the final mildew prevention spray.

Still have some unsold fruit that might get custom crushed, we'll see.

In our area (the emerald triangle) weed has been grown since the late 60's. Without getting into the underground economy that was created, it's trying to become mainstream now. Lots of the folks who have been in the shadows for so long are NOT adjusting well to gov't intervention and taxation to the...

Andrew Demaree wrote: ↑
July 9th, 2019, 7:04 pm
With regard to rain, how far above a normal year are you, year-to-date, in your respective areas?

Normal in our area is about 32" and this year we're about 45.

Back from a 9 day road trip to Wyoming. My blood pressure was high as I dug into several big canopy Chard vines in our historic mildew hot spots..... NOTHING! Couldn't find a single berry. Can't drop the ball now! Most all varieties are at cluster close with rock hard bunches. Crop is a mixed bag, b...

Back home after a 9 day road trip to Wyoming. Anxious to poke my head in some vines and inspect for mildew. I texted my main guy yesterday while zooming through Nevada to go out and check our usual hot spots. He claims that we're clean but I'll be the final judge tomorrow.

First pic looks like powdery mildew that has died. Mites or leaf hoppers with the feeding and yellowing. The Phomopsus is a pretty good guess on the last pic. Gonna be tough in that climate. Probably need a more aggressive fungus program with systemic materials. Generally need to start at a couple o...

I'll share some stories in the near future but can't right now. Charlie was a bad ass and in my book that's the ultimate compliment.

I have no link to a story yet.
The godfather of Mendocino grape growing and winemaking has passed.

We plant new fields diligently for the first 3 years and don't bother after that. The irrigation intervals don't really match up after that. Once the field is up and going we're not watering often enough for young plants. Hand watering is about the only other option.

Stewart Johnson wrote: ↑
June 29th, 2019, 6:26 pm
I'd say my set was pretty crappy, and the crop is going to be lighter than average.
On the other hand, I have a real bumper crop of Morning Glory. That stuff really seemed to enjoy the Spring rains.

Ouch!

Kinda think we won't be watering these vines anytime soon! Seriously I walked a few fields with one of my clients today. The crop is looking better overall, but I'm finding a bit of random shatter in Pinot and Chard. Not gonna be a short crop at all.

One more

Merrill Lindquist wrote: ↑
June 25th, 2019, 5:37 pm
How's the new pup doing, Casey?

10 pounds of crazy cute. Learning quickly and so much fun. I don't take her to work everyday so that she bonds with both Lynne and I. Typical terrier attitude and smarts.

IMG_20190625_134312160_HDR.jpg After a bumpy start and not wanting to glue pipe at temps under 50 degrees, we made some headway. Air vent and drip mainline installed and about half the sprinkler laterals trenched. Also got all the sprinkler pipes laid out in the rows. Tomorrow we should be able to ...

New project to spice up my summer. Replant job irrigation system. Both drip and frost. Thank goodness for my experienced crew.

Ferrari Carano sold their Lazy Creek venture to the Silver Oak folks. We have a new neighbor to our west.

Good example of shatter. Luckily just a bit in the Gruner.

Good example of hen & chicks

Having a hard time finding things to bitch about (I know hard to believe). Both crews are hustling to get the second set of wires lifted and a final suckering. That rolls off the lips but takes hundreds of man/women hours. We will need to do some hedging and canopy work with all of this extra growth...

777 Pinot moving along as well. No real signs of shatter yet. Maybe a few fields have slightly lower cluster counts, but for the most part things look great.

Even after 40 years of doing this I'm still shocked how fast things go from bloom to berry sizing.

Sampling=sugar sampling. Testing fields.

This GW sounds very similar to the one Elke made that same year 2013, except that it seems to have a bit more botrytis than you described. Really good stuff! Same wine. We sold those to Elke as shiners. I only have 4 cases of 12 packs left. More than I can drink. Send some to Merrill. Now that's ju...

Dan Sch wrote: ↑
June 14th, 2019, 1:58 pm
This GW sounds very similar to the one Elke made that same year 2013, except that it seems to have a bit more botrytis than you described. Really good stuff!

Same wine. We sold those to Elke as shiners.

I only have 4 cases of 12 packs left. More than I can drink.

Anton D wrote: ↑
June 11th, 2019, 11:01 pm
If it’s just to have a drink, a gin and tonic.

Next up would be pinot noir.

This!

Clone 17 Chard certainly past BB sized berries.

I cruised around many fields the last couple of days and we're coming out of full bloom quickly. Not many berries falling off yet. Getting ready for a post bloom spray.

He has an amazing amount of energy for anyone of any age! Pretty darn high alcohol tolerance as well. Whenever he stops by its always a thousand questions! Truly a legend.

Grape growing is not a business that people should get in. We grow grapes and sell them to wineries. We don't sell any fruit by the field or acre, what's there is there. That's why I sell to big wineries and small, it gives me a bit more flexibility. Last year's crop was exceptional. The perfect com...

Young Chard getting it done! Other Pinot blocks still just getting going.

Thanks for posting that pic Carole! We talk so much about bloom it's great for folks to get an idea of what's happening. Please don't be a stranger. Would love to get updates from your spot on Mt. Veeder. With a couple cool days coming we're going to sulfur dust our high mildew pressure Chard blocks...

Someone smarter than me will have to answer. It's called primordial bud development. I'm told that scientists can dissect buds from vines before budbreak and do cluster counts. As for the 2011-2012 thing....sometimes theories are proven wrong. Hey when t he weather is a crazy as it was a few weeks a...

I've been told ......so it's just a guess that many of those highly sought after and highly rated Napa Cabs are picked at very ripe levels (like 28-30 brix) and acid bumped and watered back. I think that's how they get that super rich/sexy character. I'd bet they sort out any shriveled berries to st...

With as many tons we have to pick per day we bust our ass to keep MOG at a minimum. We usually have about 20 pickers, 2 bucket dumpers, and 2 leafers. When dumpers aren't dumping they try to help with leaves. When we picked per ton rather than per bucket the pace was slower and easier to monitor lea...

I win the lottery and have a bunch of money to make my own wine. Im standing in Napa and there are two massive bins full of grapes in front of me, one is filled with wonderful Screaming Eagle quality fruit, one s filled with $20 a bottle cab grapes. How would I with zero experience be able to tell ...

Today I saw my first negative impact of the wet spring: some shoot botrytis in some Pinot. I saw a touch in there a while back and luckily it's starting to grow out of it. Happy to say there's no damage to any of the clusters. My guess is in another 10 days only a very experienced eye will be able t...

Dan Sch wrote: ↑
May 31st, 2019, 10:30 am

Casey Hartlip wrote: ↑
May 31st, 2019, 9:53 am
Thanks Dan. Starting in '18 the PG is from our place too.
Did they replant theirs to PN? Hadn’t heard of this development but I had less time to talk last summer than usual...

They decided to make a change of vineyard source, that's all I know.

Thanks Dan. Starting in '18 the PG is from our place too.

Big time thunder and lightning in Lake county this afternoon. There were warnings on the local radio of possible flash flooding in SE Lake county. I did hear areas of Lake county had over an inch in a very short time period. I'm guessing they are likely deep into bloom, but that's just a guess. Wish...

Much better light this morning. Gruner clusters starting to bloom.

IMG_20190529_135342503_HDR.jpg IMG_20190529_135402446_HDR.jpg After working with the staking crew for a while I thought it was time to look at the Gruner. Probably 20% bloom and growing like crazy. Did some suckering, shoot selecting and tying for a couple of hours. This field is looking good. Sorr...

I got a little side tracked today shuffling crews with different tasks. I worked with the staking crew for a while. I rolled back the clock when I could drive 500 stakes a day. But today it was 15 minutes at that pace. I could easily smell bloom in the air, but polling my crew they think we're 5-15%...

After a couple of days off I'll get reconnected with the job tomorrow. Looks like a week of nice weather so bring on the bloom with fingers crossed. No problem here suckering during bloom. It's gotta get done and have never seen issues of disrupting anything. Will keep checking to see where wires ne...

Hope he's not a member of the NRA like me, it would hurt his sales!

IMG_20190520_115202301_HDR.jpg I found a touch of bloom on the sunny side of a few Pinot vines yesterday. I'm not shocked, but overall it's less than 1% bloom. IMG_20190520_115230851.jpg I checked in on the ladies crew to make sure suckering was going okay. A couple of them needed a bit of instruct...

Whether you're flowering or not, this weather is probably having an adverse on next year's fruitfulness. Supply could tighten up beyond this year. Can you share a little more information about this? Next year's crop is being formed inside the canes of this year's growth. The spring and early summer...

Cherry growers are getting their asses handed to them. Strawberries getting wrecked. I can only guess MANY types of California agriculture are not enjoying this untimely amount of very heavy rain. I'd venture a guess that we've already received more rain in 4 days than what we average for the four m...

Here's our new gal named Gypsy, from Sonoma county animal shelter. Just hit 3 inches of rain for the storm.

Update at 9:45 pm: over 1.60 storm total. We've also had winds well over 35 mph. Seems you in the morning. Hold on folks!

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