This Spring has been perfect in the vineyard! The late Spring rains, cool weather (at this elevation the nights are still downright cold, in mid-June!). We drip irrigate, and this year haven't even started to do so yet. Last year (in 2008) the Winter and Spring were so dry we started to irrigate in March. Pinot Noir clusters are tight and typically small (compared to other types of winegrapes), but this year the flowering clusters look very large (comparatively speaking). Provided everything continues so well through the summer, this could be a quite excellent harvest and crop load. Time will tell.
The Vineyard is looking gorgeous - the result of all the time and effort and attention Ed has given in farming it. The vines have been suckered - in the Spring they want to leaf out all over - and they've been tucked into the trellis wires, but they've grown so much since then that we'll have to do some more tucking. In this vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellising, tucking the vines into the wires brings light and air into the fruit zone. Because of all the sunlight we get on the ridge top we do little leaf thinning in the fruit zone - because we want the leaves to shade the fruit a little. They still ripen just fine.
Ed and Mary are all excited about our new Pinot from the vineyard that just got bottled, the 2007. They say it is excellent, and a lot of people are liking it a whole lot.
From my perspective running through the rows with my nose to the ground, all these green leaves are above my head. I like running across the rows and jumping over the wires. It's like jumping the hurdles when I do agility. Our friend Bill Vinci painted a picture that looks like what I see most of the time - it's called 'Pinot's View'. You can see it on our website - go look at www.munsvineyard.com.
