Muns Vineyard: Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir

2009-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

We harvested 37 tons from our 12 acres of Pinot Noir over
five days in mid-September. The fruit went to Savannah-Chanelle, Silver Mountain, Sonnet, and to our own Muns Vineyard label. We still have an acre of Syrah that we will be picking soon. Yes! We will have a Muns Vineyard Syrah, starting with the 2008 vintage to be released early next year. The fruit at Muns Vineyard this year is gorgeous! We are looking forward to a stellar 2009 vintage. It starts in the vineyard!

I like to help, as you can see here. I'm not supposed to eat grapes, but they are sweet treats!

Join us on our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/MunsVineyard. We have lots of harvest photos posted there.

2009-08-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Harvest is on the horizon! Veraison started the first week of August, and by the 12th Ed had covered the vines in 15 miles of netting to protect the fruit from getting eaten by flocks of birds! The crew just finished green thinning, which helps to ensure even ripening of the clusters. Harvest is on schedule to start around Labor Day (9/7 this year). We usually harvest about mid-September. We are looking forward to a stellar 2009 vintage. It starts in the vineyard!

2009-07-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Summertime! and the vineyard is thriving

Summer is starting out with the vineyard looking better than ever.
Our Spring weather was perfect - mild, no major frost events, a lot of rain late in the season - and the vines are thriving. Ed started irrigating for the first time this past weekend. Last year he started in March! So the vines have been able to make it this far with all the Spring rain.
A lot of local growers are remarking on how large the grape clusters are this year - and ours are, too. Pinot clusters are typically small, but this year they are huge (relatively speaking)! And there are lots of them.
It remains to be seen whether we will need to drop some fruit to manage the crop load, but our vines are on 3.5' spacing, so because the cordons are short each one can support more fruit than if they were longer. The vineyard looks absolutely beautiful.
We are looking forward to a stellar 2009 vintage. It starts in the vineyard!

The newsletter promised some more pictures where you can actually see Ed mowing, so here they are.

I'm having a good time this summer. I'm getting to go to Jazz on the Plazz with Ed & Mary on Wednesdays, when they drink wine and visit - and I get to visit with all the other dogs there. Plus, we've had all these artists come to the vineyard to paint, and I like to visit with them. They're putting their paintings in a show at the Museum, and I've been there, too. And I always love to go to the beach!
- Pinot

A Perfect Spring in the Vineyard

2009-06-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Leaves and Shoots, and Snakes, too

2009-05-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Spring! Perfect for the vineyard. Despite a scarily dry winter, we had lots of rain late in the Spring, and the vines are going like gangbusters. The baby clusters are big and healthy. This could be a huge harvest! Budbreak happened this year a couple of weeks later than usual, in late March. We had some frost next to the ground, but nothing that damaged the vines. Those that got frosted in the low spots last year are even springing back to life. It is lovely to see!

I found the first rattlesnake of the season. I can smell those snakes from a long ways away, and I have a special bark to tell Mary and Ed. It was sleeping in a downspout. I've been bit by a rattlesnake three times! Twice last year, by a baby snake. I don't like that at all. The big snakes are scary, but the babies look like lizards, and I do like chasing lizards. I have to go to the hospital, and it hurts a lot. Now I have to be careful all summer. I do not want to be bit again!

Springtime at Muns Vineyard: The Start of a New Vintage for Pinot Noir in the Santa Cruz Mountains

2009-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

It's Spring! We finally have budbreak - a littler later than usual, but the days have decidedly warmed up, the sun is out, and the vines are waking up. And so are the gophers! I've gotten good at hunting them. Ed is in the vineyard doing the final pruning, with help from some of the crew. They had 'pre-pruned' some weeks ago, removing the tall canes from the wires and leaving about a foot on each, and now the pruning can go much faster. Now that the vines are coming back to life the leaves are busting out, and they're pruning down to two buds. Every year we have had a killing frost in April that has hit hard in a low spot in the vineyard - a swale that catches the cold air. It usually affects only a few vines, although last year (in 2008) frost was widespread throughout the state, some vineyards lost their entire crop, and we had some frost in higher spots. We were pretty lucky though and made it through relatively unscathed. Still, even though it feels like Spring the nights are cold and we're not out of the woods yet. The Spring sunshine is warm though, and sometimes after a lot of hard digging and hunting it just feels good to take a rest in the warm grass and soak up the sun.

Pinot Paradise, That's Us (and hunting adventures)

2009-03-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

March is Pinot Paradise in the Santa Cruz Mts., and Mary and Ed are involved in the big event coming up the last weekend. Sunday the 29th is the big day. Mary is on the committee and has been helping organize the event, and Ed is on panel of winemakers and growers for the 'Technical Session' Sunday morning, talking about the new Santa Cruz Mts. subregions. We are in the Summit subregion, that covers the high elevation ridges from David Bruce down to where we are above Summit Rd. Then, there's a Grand Cruz tasting in the afternoon, with 35 wineries pouring mountain Pinot paired with gourmet food from local restaurants. I always hope to get some treats from these things. Personally, I think we're in paradise already where we are. I get to run and dig all I want in the vineyard, and hunt gophers. That's my job. Here's me at work. Only we've done a good job of getting out the gophers and there aren't so many now. I chase out the big game (deer) when it gets in. And the other day I found a black and white kitty in the vineyard. It was dark when we walked down to the gate. It really smelled a lot, which I usually don't mind, but this really was bad, and then I had to get a bath.

I'm supposed to tell you we have a winemaker's dinner happening, too. Wednesday April 22, at Nonno's in Redwood Estates. Mary and Ed will be there pouring our wine, plus another winery, Clos Tita. Plus they're having some more Santa Cruz Mts. Pinot. Ralph is grilling up some tenderloin and venison (hey, I like chasing venison!), with cranberry chutney, wild rice and some more stuff. $50/person. 6:30 for appetizers; 7:00 for dinner. Nonno's: 408-353-5633. www.nonnositalian.com. (I really want some treats from this dinner!)

2009-03-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

We went to World of Pinot Noir last week. Okay, it's March already and I admit, I haven't been real great at keeping up with this blog. So there's lots to catch up on. WOPN was at Shell Beach, and the Santa Cruz Mountains was there in a big way. On Friday, Ed participated on a panel of Santa Cruz Mts. winemakers talking about our appellation wines and new subregions (Muns Vineyard is in the Summit subregion). It was a great panel and wine tasting - Jeffrey Patterson, Mount Eden; Sal Godinez, Vine Hill; Nathan Kandler, Thomas Fogarty; Joe Martin, Martin Alfaro; Jerold O'Brien, Silver Mountain; Ed Muns, Muns Vineyard. David Bruce was there. Mary helped put this session together. We barrel-tasted our '07, to be bottled soon. A good participant turnout for the session, and well received. We poured our Rose of Pinot at the lunch following, and then in the afternoon we poured our '04 and '05 at the big public tasting on the bluffs of the Cliffs Resort, overlooking the ocean. A great event, we were glad to be there, and we had a great time.

Mary and Ed tasted lots of Pinots and they had a great time. For me, there was not much to do. Except, and this was the best part! We were near the beach and I got to go to the beach and run around both days! Oh boy! I can always tell when we're near the beach - I can smell it a mile away. I love the beach! After the vineyard, I love the beach the most.

Harvest! 2008

2008-10-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Fruit quality for 2008 is fantastic! Crop load is down, as it has been just about everywhere, but the fruit flavors and quality is beautiful. With the sun shining down on our mountaintop aerie, we are among the first to harvest in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and this year we started the day before Labor Day, finishing up two weeks later.

This is the first year we harvested from all 12 acres of our Pinot Noir; and the first harvest from our 1 acre Syrah block (we also have about an acre of an as yet unplanted and nursery section, totalling 14 acres altogether). Crop load was affected by the killing frost that hit the entire state in April, as well as high winds during flowering that affected fruit set and caused some cluster shatter. Also, although we drip irrigate, the low winter rainfall undoubtedly contributed to smaller clusters and berry size. The result, though, of these climatic conditions and nature's 'thinning' is what promises to be a stellar vintage. Can't wait!