I agree, I’ve seldom seen it rain that hard. At this time of year, our main concern is hail until the buds/baby shoots get larger and can avoid damage. It feels like there’s been more frequent seasonal hail in the last couple of years. But the combination of the heavy rain and the beautiful sunshine since then has really put a nice inch or so on the shoots, so hopefully we’re soon to move out of that scary period.
Hey, are you guys going to make it out this way for Memorial Day? If so, stop in and say hi. We’re pushing to get our new tasting room open by Memorial Day and won’t make the weekend before (due to bureaucratic delays beyond our control, dang it), so if you skip the big busy weekend then come out and see us after that.
That’s great, Phillip, please do! Be sure to introduce yourself as a Berserker, and we’ll treat you right. We’re in all the guides, but you can find us at the Carlton Wine Cottages right downtown in Carlton, across the street from the gas station.
When he gets there, hold him at gunpoint and call me. I’ll be out that weekend too, because I’m going to be in San Diego for my son’s birthday this weekend.
Oh good, Bob! I’m glad we didn’t miss you. We couldn’t open last weekend because there is all sorts of bureaucratic and political intrigue between the City of Carlton and the property owner, and as a result we still don’t have an occupancy permit. So we’ll be pouring from an event tent in the parking lot Come out and pop a balloon with us!
85-90 around the region today depending on exact location. More of the same, perhaps with slightly moderated temperatures for the next week or so. I’ll bet you can see the shoots grow on the vines. They were around a foot to a foot and a half long over the weekend.
We spread our BD compost and tilled it in (every other row), then got a spray of stylet oil out there last week. The growth is huge this time of year and I need to get out there and mow the alternate rows. Our crew is out suckering today and tomorrow. Should be looking pretty tidy again by the end of the weekend, not that tidy is a goal for its own sake.
Chuck will have to mount the weed badger soon and get to work in-row tilling. We don’t trust that job to me
Thanks, Bob, for the warning that it was headed our way. I got that right before Chuck called to tell me he had to find an alternate route because hwy 240 is closed due to downed trees. North Valley/Ribbon Ridge got him here as a workaround. With Pizza. (TNs on non-BTW wines to follow). Just heard that 99W is closed between Newberg and Lafayette, due to either downed trees or powerlines.
We lost our data collection function on our weather station around 4:30, but I’d guess that we had sustained winds of around 50mph, with gusts up to 80mph or so. We’ll see how my guess stands up once I have a chance to check other local weather stations.
Saw a few pretty good airborne chicken antics, straight out of Wizard of Oz.
Not a lot of thunder/lightening here yet, but the winds have died down and it’s raining in earnest.
Luckily we’ve seen no signs of bloom here yet. So although it looks like we’ll loose some of our plum crop, the vineyard still seems fine.
Finally around 90% through bloom here, right on schedule. Temps in the high 50s/low 60s and nice gentle rain to moisten the soil just in time to do some in-row weeding without kicking up the dust. Switching from oil to a quick sulphur spray on our spray program.
[ok.gif] We now return you to your regular scheduled program.
The rain is nice. We’re behind on rainfall so could use some more. Just not so much the high winds and hail
Clem and his wife were in town over the weekend so the weather could have been nicer for them, though. We had lunch on Saturday and then they were headed up to the japanese and rose gardens. Lovely couple. I hope they had a chance to enjoy the gardens under drier skies.
Maybe a little sunburn, but nothing horrible. Apparently the heat came far enough along in the growing process that the little grapies had developed some protection in their skins. As a rule, the growers hedge more on the eastern side of the row, allowing the morning sunlight in but they leave enough vegetation on the westerly side to provide some afternoon shade.
I will report back when I return next week. Sometimes it takes a few days for the damage to show itself. Veraison will be the tell tale as the damaged berries fail to turn color. Which is why I waited to drop fruit this year…
I see some of you will be pouring wines next Monday here in Portland. I look for to tasting some of the Yamhill Carlton wines that I have never tasted. It looks like a good lineup.
I just spent the last 6 days at the beach with my winemaking team, playing before we had to get busy for bottling and harvest… we had a blast but now it’s time to get to work. What really surprised me was the difference I saw in the vineyards when I got home - WOW, things are mighty purple around here now. I have a crew coming tomorrow to drop fruit so before they get here, went for a ride on the ATV to try and figure what to do, looked over 10 years of weather records and tried to balance all of it with of course - My CRYSTAL BALL. My gut take tonight is to let the Chardonnay hang, as I need it all and will balance out what I have bought with a nice acidic backbone. The pinot is going down to 1 - 2, which should work out well.
Keep your fingers crossed that the weather doesn’t go to hell in the next 30-45 days and we just might have some quality we have not seen since 1998. My weather data is closest to '98, however instead of a small crop, this may be the largest crop we have seen in the valley for the last 20+ years.
If I can figure out how to post a picture, will do so tomorrow
Keep WARM thoughts.
Linda
BTW< I am in the McMinnville AVA
As of yesterday, the degree day charts showed us at 1,943 at Aurora, on almost the exact same point and slope of same day 2006.
But I think the crop is bigger this year than in '06. In fact this might have been…we’ve dropped between 33% and 50 % in all our blocks, including the chardonnay…the biggest crop prior to green pruning that I’ve seen here in 20 years.
Also, the color change was pretty irregular. We had a lot of lagging green berries until just a few days ago. I was concerned about damage from that extreme heat (107 f. here) at the begining of August…but it’s looking better now. We are 99.999 % colored up.
So, all in all, if we stay close to the current degree day curve, we should be harvesting young vines in just over three weeks…And, if the weather holds, it’ll be shorts and tee shirts on the pad, just like '06…if the weather holds…if the weath…if the…
Come out and pop a balloon with us!![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
(TNs on non-BTW wines to follow). Just heard that 99W is closed between Newberg and Lafayette, due to either downed trees or powerlines.![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}