Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

48 hour total just passed an inch. That's something anyway. Depending on the type of soil you have that might go down about 4-8 inches. Still not much to get excited about.....but we'll take it. Does the amount of water you use in frost protection get your soil up to something like field capacity a...

48 hour total just passed an inch. That's something anyway. Depending on the type of soil you have that might go down about 4-8 inches. Still not much to get excited about.....but we'll take it.

We had some winter storm like winds last night. Blew some outside furniture around and knocked some potted plants over. It might be 78 by Wednesday. Crazy.

Bumped into a fellow grower and he let some Chardonnay go unprotected last night because of low water. Does anyone out there use wind machines? Far more common in my agricultural area than overhead sprinklers. Plenty of those around. Really only useful if there is a low inversion. Also really only ...

Bumped into a fellow grower and he let some Chardonnay go unprotected last night because of low water.

Coldest we saw last night was 29 but both ranches started protecting at 2:00 am. That's a hellofa lot of water pumped. With 6 hours of frost protection we used around 2.8 million gallons covering about 150 acres.

My guess is tonight we'll start running around 3:00-3:30 so hopefully not as long.

Tonight will be the biggest and baddest of 2020 frost season.......so far. I told my two foremen to knock off at 10:00 am this morning as they'll likely be up most of the night tonight.

Pretty good likelihood of a long frost night tonight.

The last 48 hours have been a big disappointment rain wise. However the coming weekend is showing an inch possible.

Bumped the free SO2 to 30 ppm before bottling, but sulfured initially in May post malo.

I consider Laura Ness a friend. Glad to see her get some love on this board. She does lots of wine judging competitions which is thankless work.

It started in 2018 when my foreman and I decided to make wine from a 1995 planting of Pinot Noir Martini clone. 2018 might turn out to be the best year in the past 10 and the fruit was ultra clean. We destemed and added about 5 buckets of whole fruit. Never had made a native yeast wine so this was t...

One of our better stands of cover crop. The beans and peas are getting close to giving us the mow down signal.

Found one....
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/s ... &length=12

It's looking more and more like we're not going to get our March Miracle of rainfall. Possibly a half inch coming this weekend while we're closed in. Might have to put my PPE on and go buy a pot roast!

The grape market will be a very big story as spring develops. More on that later. There are lots of reports of a California grape glut in the wine press. I have a strong suspicion in my AVA, Lodi, a lot of growers are going to have a tough year selling grapes. It was starting that way last harvest,...

Walking the post frost vineyard. 40+ year old Pinot vines waking up.

Tonight will be a no brainier frost night. North wind blew pretty strong this afternoon and you could feel the bite. We are rolling the dice on a few fields that were pruned late and aren't quite at pencil eraser stage. True I will direct my two foremen while in my jammies at home but I'll lose abo...

Tonight will be a no brainier frost night. North wind blew pretty strong this afternoon and you could feel the bite. We are rolling the dice on a few fields that were pruned late and aren't quite at pencil eraser stage. True I will direct my two foremen while in my jammies at home but I'll lose abou...

Stinking quarter of an inch of rain and now frost tonight. Insult to injury.

For years I've used a particular moving satellite feed, but for some reason its not working for me now. www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/nepac/h5-loop-ft.html.

If you have another source that would be great.

Casey, what are you hearing from your customers about grape demand? In our state, as in some others, restaurants and bars have been ordered closed to dine-in customers. That's got to put a damper on the wine market. Nobody wants to talk about fruit purchase for obvious reasons. Kind of think we're ...

Well CRAP! Looks like the stormy week that was predicted a few days ago is losing steam.

Totally lucked out last night. We've been having problems with a 10 inch steel suction line feeding one of our frost pumps. IMG-20200320-WA0007.jpg Steel and PVC pipe are not the same size....even if they are 10 inch. It takes special fittings that aren't commonly stocked. We've had about 30 acres u...

I caught wind from a neighbor that a visiting Spanish speaking doctor was wanting to visit local vineyards and wineries to inform workers on the Coronavirus. She was wonderful. Spent about 30 minutes informing them of what to do. Had a good Q & A session afterwards. She wouldn't let me pay her eithe...

We had a wet 30 last night (meaning the dewpoint was high) and luckily the field we couldn't protect received no damage. IMG_20200316_132109829_HDR.jpg This is why. Just a little 10 inch mainline with some issues. Just another reason I love my guys so much. I've been the guy in the ditch many times ...

We are ON frost alert from here on. I talked to both of my foremen this afternoon. We decided which fields to protect and which not to. The current air mass is cold and dry. I'm guessing for tonight we'll have enough instability and showers to keep us safe. Fingers crossed.

IMG_20200313_095559429_HDR.jpg Here's a little farming 101. Top pic is what most of us refer to as 'pencil eraser' stage of budbreak. IMG_20200313_095646543_HDR.jpg This is what I call 'clam shell' which means the first two leaves are not opened yet and are somewhat protecting the bud. This stage i...

Merrill Lindquist wrote: ↑
March 11th, 2020, 3:26 pm
I saw in the forecast rain for this coming Saturday and Sunday. Let's see if that forecast persists.

Three quarters predicted here. Will help the livestock folks to keep the hills green for a while longer. Not going to fill many ponds unfortunately.

IMG_20200311_125046079.jpg It pays to have talented friends. My buddy Evan from the coast came to inspect the suction in one our ponds. While starting up this pump we got a bunch pond weeds stuck in the pump intake. There's never a full day or a new challenge for a farmer. BTW that rust colored stu...

The dewpoint was probably pretty high last night, which is why we had no damage. The fog came in late this morning too.

First frost of the season this morning. My weather station days it got down to 30. Saving our water but may have got a touch of burn. Will look tomorrow

Steve Edmunds wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2020, 11:09 am
.16 and counting this morning in Berkeley!

I saw some weather models for the coming week showing the LA area getting some serious rain while we get next to nothing. Sad in Mendo!

Totally bummed about the weather now. Looks like this little bullshit storm is going to possibly give us a tenth of and inch and move on. The 'series' of storms that was predicted for early next week seems to have changed their minds. This is getting serious for us and probably most folks south of t...

I'm feeling my vines would appreciate a drink. At 4:00 this afternoon it is still 84 degrees and dry, dry, dry. Kind of hard to drink when you're asleep. I believe March will be good to us eventually, and April could be a gift. Folks starting to flush frost sprinkler systems in our area, so a visit...

Here's Zip demonstrating how thirsty the cover crop is. It really hasn't moved much in the past month.

Young Chard getting closer to budbreak. I walked lots of fields today and everything else pretty darn tight.

Nice to see it get cold again. 32 this morning. I'm told it's been an awesome bloom for the almonds in the central valley, which makes sense. Hope those guys have enough water to farm this season. I figure we have about two more weeks of pruning. Ladies following behind tying canes to the wire. Sure...

Joe,
I thought white wine fest was very good. Thinking about planting more Riesling!

Almost 80 degrees today, luckily the high on Saturday will be a more normal 59. No real rain in the next week which is troubling. I've heard folks saying there's a chance the storm door might open around March 7-8.

Ken Zinns wrote: ↑
February 27th, 2020, 11:47 am

Casey Hartlip wrote: ↑
February 26th, 2020, 7:32 pm
Ken, you are a warrior.
Someone has to do it, Casey!

I’m planning to go to Taste Mendocino in April - will you be there?

April is a pretty busy time for me. Also, I try not to go to southern California. BYW SoCal begins at Healdsburg!

Ken, you are a warrior.

A little diversion from the vineyard rat race today. Took a walk around the edges today to clear my head. This one is called hounds tongue. Shooting stars and Indian paintbrush will be right behind. Say prayers for rain in Cali folks!

Going to touch 80 degrees the next couple of days. Things pretty dry out there. I'd imagine some buds must be popping somewhere? Anyone?

Here's my 'Martha's' chicken thighs. A full 40+ minutes with indirect heat. Buying the racks for the sides is worth it. I've cooked numerous roasts, meatloafs and turkeys this way.

We have used the Weber kettle for decades. They do eventually need to be replaced but they last a long long time. We currently have one like this (although without the thermometer). Very handy to have the platform for tools. We also use a chimney. https://product-images.weber.com/Grill-Images/Charc...

Funny to say but we are too far ahead on our pruning because of no rain. Short story: we have had too many nice weather days. We're going to back off to 4 day work weeks.

One of the icons of California winemaking and vineyard operators for decades. I'm so proud to see the foothills get their due. I kind of couple the foothills to my home county of Mendocino as an area that is viewed as second tier. I'm so happy for Bill.

If a mtn lion was crossing the road on my property, let's just say I wouldn't hit the brakes to miss it.

Feeling more uncomfortable with the California weather pattern. Things getting drier by the day. We are mowing pruning brush in fields we usually can't drive into during February. Small streams not running now. With dry soil the roots will warm up sooner and that COULD mean early budbreak if things ...

Stopped to smell the Manzanita flowers on the driveway this afternoon. Another sign of false spring.

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