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#374102 - 06-06-2012 22:08:51
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Still trying to get done with the first pass on suckering. We keep having to pull people off and move wires as the growth and wind have been a bad combo. I really want to lay my 5 person lady crew off on Friday and get a little leaner. Bloom anywhere from 5% to 75% depending on variety and exposure. People are talking about Pinot flower size being big this year. Long way to go before we start talking crop size.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#374316 - 06-21-2012 12:08:57
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Things moving along well right now. I had a K-J grower rep up yesterday and he looked at the Chard I'm selling them. He was pretty shocked to see BB sized berries. He said the Chard in Dry Creek is pea sized already. Vines still growing hard now. Time to start thinking about the next spray cycle and when/how much/how long to irrigate. The Chard 548 we planted last year is at the top of the stake and looking great. The other big job is preparing the 13 acre Pinot planting for next year. Drain tile, limestone order and the like. Luckily we got the vine order in on time and got what we wanted. My rough guess is that we'll be picking fruit 10-14 days earlier than last year. Any other thoughts on timing?
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#374614 - 07-23-2012 22:14:05
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Things starting to look like mid-summer: most growth finally slowing down, dry hills starting to show a bit of stress and fruit sizing and being more obvious. Crew doing some final wire moving and suckering. Also making some fruit adjustments to keep winemakers happy. Doing a serious thinning in old AXR chard for sparkling. No sign of mildew or color today. I did see one mushy berry in a tight chard cluster in an area where we lost so much last fall. I'm sure there's enough leftover spores out there.
Sneaking away for my last trip before harvest. Got the guys lined out enough on irrigation and hand work to feel pretty good at this point.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#374724 - 08-01-2012 17:26:36
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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I spent most of the day yesterday with my foreman looking at crop levels. Color coming on in most things like pinot gris and pinot noir. Gewurtz crop so big that we're cleaning out some of the clumping. 3 years in a row we have a shit crop and the one year its good we have to thin? Crazy. Starting to hear from lots of my customers about crop and timing. Finding a bit of thrip and mite damage, but so far nothing at economic levels. Some of my clay areas looking a bit stressed, but nothing major. Going to start spreading lime in next years planting and getting some drains in too. I haven't been this excited and relaxed before harvest in many years.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#374853 - 08-13-2012 01:21:41
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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A blazing weekend is all that can be said. Officially it hit 106 in Boonville on Saturday (where some friends and I were deer hunting). Brutal. I was also helping with some pig control and saw some pretty serious mildew in Chard. There HAD to be some burn this weekend, will report tomorrow from the job.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375307 - 09-24-2012 20:49:48
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Here is comes.
Sugars finally getting where we've wanted them. Now I just hope we can keep up with it. Picking 5 tons of Pinot for Florida Jim Cowan (delivering that one myself) and then my foreman and crew will pick 22 tons of sparkling Chard for Roederer and deliver next door. We finally got the go ahead to finish the bubbly Chard and not a moment too soon. A shitload of Pinot and Gewurtz are just about ready. Gonna be tough to keep up.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375308 - 09-24-2012 20:59:12
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Casey Hartlip]
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Obsessed
Registered: 12-15-2000 08:00:00
Posts: 3127
Loc: Oakland, CA
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Picking 5 tons of Pinot for Florida Jim Cowan (delivering that one myself) Wow...grapes grown by Casey and wine made by Florida Jim. That should be quite a wine! Like you say - here it comes. Lots of stuff coming in this week and probably for the next couple of weeks. Nebbiolo and Trousseau for Harrington tomorrow (got 5 tons of RRV Pinot there on Saturday), Syrah and Grenache for Edmunds St. John on Wednesday, probably Grenache for Eno by the end of the week, and I'm sure there will be more coming this week too.
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#375311 - 09-25-2012 02:18:07
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Ken, is it true that Eno is not getting GRE from Eaglepoint this year?
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375321 - 09-26-2012 00:41:07
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Casey Hartlip]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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We haven't seen any fog in AV for about 3-4 days now.
Finally had a day we could get a good lather up: 6 tons of 115/667 Pinot for Florida Jim, then rolled right into 24 tons of bubbly Chard for Roederer. THAT's what I'm talkin' bout! Tomorrow a big 'ol day of Chard but don't think we can wrap Roederer up, gonna spill into Thursday.
Today wasn't easy: got a bit lost in Santa Rosa in my truck with Peewee at my side, and a dead tractor (right in the row hooked up to a bin trailer) at the outset. Once again, my stellar crew were on top of things!
Roederer will be just about done next Tuesday which will free up more labor for the rest of AV. I've been able to meet all of my needs, but I'll bet other folks have been looking for bodies. Hoping that in the next two weeks we can get 75% done.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375536 - 10-11-2012 02:40:27
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Done with Pinot as of today. I'd guess we're 85% done at this point. Still have about 100 tons of Chard for still wine and a bit of Reisling. Good income year (for once in three years). Don't want to get too excited as a farmer always needs a rainy day fund. Moving ahead with 12 acres of Pinot next spring, then looking at under performing (mid 70's AXR stuff) blocks to push out. If we can get that Chard in, we'll be pretty solid. Lots of post harvest projects to do and maybe some new vineyard toys to buy at years end. Feels funny to be looking ahead with so much fruit still out there. My people have been awesome to say the least. Pickers from 18 to 70 years old out there slogging away. Most family members of my core crew. Hunting trip not until December this year, so lots of time for projects and maybe a barrel of leftover Pinot to make. No, I'm not through posting about the harvest yet, it ain't over until the last cluster reaches the winery!
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375565 - 10-15-2012 00:05:47
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Passed 500 tons yesterday with a 20 ton Chard pick for KJ's La Crema brand. Funny how at this point having a smooth pick ending @ 10:00 am and watching the semi drive out feels too 'easy'.
I guess my big news of the day: we have a T bin with crushed pinot clone 667 in the shop. Yep, the lifetime pinot hater is gonna make a barrel or two of the grape that pays his mortgage now. We had this young vine stuff leftover that we couldn't seem to pick and throw in with other customers loads. We finally sent a small crew in and crushed it at Goldeneye. 1600 lbs. Will have lab results tomorrow but I think its over 26 brix, we'll see. My foreman Aldo is going to be working with me. Jim Klien @ Navarro is going to be my pinot guru/mentor.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375568 - 10-15-2012 12:25:25
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Casey Hartlip]
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Member
Registered: 02-09-2004 08:00:00
Posts: 474
Loc: NYC
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That is cool Casey. I'm with you on Pinot but even old dogs need to learn new tricks every so often.
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So much wine, not enough time.
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#375593 - 10-17-2012 21:22:19
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Looks like the first real rain event is on it's way. Navarro is full to the gills and we can't bring them anything tomorrow. I know Jim is playing the shell game with tanks as best as he can. If we can get these two days of Chard done, we'll be golden. Planning on leaving about 8 tons of Gewurtz out there for late harvest. Good chance we'll pick Reisling Sunday as they don't want it for late harvest this year. Already working on erosion control measures where we prepped the new field for planting next spring.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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#375625 - 10-20-2012 23:50:21
Re: 2012 Weather Thread
[Re: Ken Zinns]
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Local
Registered: 02-15-2004 19:48:43
Posts: 1224
Loc: Mendocino County
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Now I'm not saying it's over for us (because its not) as we still have a 12 ton lot of Reisling and an 8 ton lot of Gewurtz out there. Both might make late harvest, but they're gonna get a few days of rain on them. Looks like we'll get multiple days of rain and showers starting Monday.
Therefore this will probably be my harvest summary for 2012.
45 days, 566 tons, 50 wine lots and 17 different customers. Largest lot: 38 tons, smallest lot: 2.3 tons. Actually 3 lots under 3 tons, Cabot, Dogpatch and Corrison. Biggest customer: Roederer 168 tons. Followed by Navarro 150 tons.
To me this harvest will probably NOT be remembered all that much because it went so smoothly! That may seem funny but for me anyway, its the really tough ones that stick in my head (83, 89, 93, 98, 08, 12). I guess the theme of this one was how it seemed to start a bit later than expected, but then became one of the most compressed harvests in some time. It will also be known for the size of the crop. Pinot wasn't as crazy for us as I was watching like a hawk. We thinned some Pinot fields 3 different times, and the funny thing is never for sunburn!
Chard crop was good to great depending on site. The sparkling stuff was heavy and it grunted to the finish. No rot and very little mildew. Still wine Chard was beautiful (we even picked some this morning Oct 20th), crop wasn't too big and I predict great flavors.
Best Gewurtz crop since I've been on Anderson Valley (2010 my first year). We picked 5 tons/acre in one field and it was stellar.
Pinot was about as good as it gets except for the fact that some of the last of it got a bit cooked by that 5-6 day heat spell. The guys that wanted it less ripe like Cowan Cellars jumped early and got what they want (I hope). Another less ripe guy like Wells Guthrie was bringing in as much as he could as fast as he could. I know we sent him some stuff a bit over his comfort zone, but I know he'll make awesome wines from all of it.
Our neighbors at Navarro did an amazing job of clearing tanks for us and taking fruit on two different Sundays. They let us pick pinot warm a couple of times and never complained when we had more than expected.
Ardzooni Vineyard Management did most of our out-of-county hauling and kept bins coming back too.
My vineyard team did a great job of helping with sugar samples, keeping irrigations going, and always having an answer when i asked "how many more bins are in that field". They found enough eager family members so that we never were needing bodies. We had pickers from 16 to 70 years. Lots of ladies both young and old.
I'll bet I only screamed "what a f_cking asshole" 3 or 4 times when referring winemakers whereas it must have been 20 times last year.
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"Behind every bottle of wine there's someone driving a tractor"
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