(Click images to enlarge)
Author Archive for Pierre
Today was the first day of bottling season. About 6 months, not of constant bottling, but 6 months of readying the wine, stabilizing it, filtering it when necessary and bottling. Not very glamorous but as the winemaker says, ‘we need to make room for the 2010 vintage’.
The reality is that this process is very important and the winemaker’s total ability and experience come into play. Winemaker Bruce McGuire has been doing this for 28 years and he has an intuitive feel when the wine is ready or when it needs more time.
The images are of the first day of bottling. The first wine bottled was the 2009 Riesling made entirely from our Lafond Vineyard vines, sightly over 1000 cases. The wine will not be released for at least 6 months – time needed to recover from bottle shock. The wait is worth it the wine is one of the best Rieslings we have made coming in large part from our new Riesling block in the vineyard.
(Click images to enlarge)
Animal control, protecting the vines, is an ongoing struggle. Deer, especially in dry years, when they come down from higher elevations looking for water can be a serious problem and a 7 foot fence is the only solution.
It is very costly and we use it only where we know there is recognizable deer traffic. Deer can damage the vines by eating the green growth tips during the summer and at harvest the grapes themselves.
Wild boars are also a problem at harvest, they can go through rows of vines and clean them so thoroughly that you think they have been picked. Fences are not of much use since they can burrow under. We a have built a large steel cage to trap them but with little success so far.
In the Spring it is gophers and here is an Email that David Lafond sent me:
As Part of our sustainable farming practices particularly this time of year .. we use trapping to control of our gopher population. The gophers now are mostly on the outside of our vine rows where we did not till at the end of last season. it is important to trap them before they reach critical mass and move to the interior..We employ two men twice a day, morning and afternoon when the gophers are most active..they maintain about 200 traps..This is a constant effort. So far our best score has been 144 in a 48 hour period..The trapped gophers are left for other predators and scavengers coyotes, hawks, owls, buzzards, etc..as a food source .
This is really the most humane way to control the gopher population. We have never used poison or any of the other exotic methods sometimes recommended. There is nothing sadder than to see a mature vine killed by these subterranean villains. In the picture below the flags mark the trap locations. Click image to enlarge.
The Pinot Noir is relatively late this year, and we don’t begrudge it – late budding reduces the danger of frost damage slightly. The reason for the lateness is plenty of rain accompanied with cold. This is the first real bud that we have seen.
The bud has been there since last summer, hidden in the vine, only to emerge cocoon like nine months later. The almost thread like substance that wraps it will become more evident as it develops. Click image to enlarge. 
David has been installing these large blowers which are supposed to push the air 50 feet high. The concept is to create an upward draft removing the cold air, that sinks to the ground, and replacing it with the warmer air above.
We are installing two in one of our Pinot Noir blocks – the block is about 20 acres. This is an experiment and if it works, even moderately well, we will install others. Our hope is that we wont have to test it and temperatures will not drop below freezing.
There are other choices. The gold standard is water but that requires huge amounts of water, a large reservoir, many many pumps and overhead sprinklers. None of which we have.
As water freezes, enclosing the grapes it gives off heat as it changes from liquid to solid. The problem is you have to keep pumping until it gets warm enough to melt the ice or goodbye the grapes.
Tall vertical fans work but they generally push the problem to your neighbor or another part of your vineyard. Helicopters really move the air but the hourly cost is astronomical. So, we are trying these horizontal blowers which can be powered by a tractor, are movable and don’t break the bank. (click images to enlarge)
Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, Lafond Vineyard is ideally situated to produce Pinot Noir exhibiting
the unique and exotic flavor profile one finds in only a few regions of the world.
Specific areas within our vineyard exhibit elevated concentration and complexity due to soil and exposure to the elements. We have also planted eight distinct clones of Pinot Noir, each with subtle differences in flavor and aroma.
The Lafond Vineyard Pinot Noir is Winemaker Bruce McGuire’s selection of those vines that fully express the character found in our vineyard.
The 2006 Pinot Noir was harvested on ten days from September 24 th to October 2nd. 2006 yielded an average crop size with small clusters. Bruce chose four clones from five of the least vigorous vineyard lots (clones 667, 777, 115, and 4) to make this highly structrued wine.
He experimented with parallel shoot positioning, which showed very well, increasing succulence and fruit intensity. The potential of this Pinot Noir should start to show itself as soon as 2009 with aging rewarded through 2013.
The complexity and depth of flavor make this Pinot Noir a great match with savory foods such as lamb, Copper River salmon, hearty sushi, and dark mushroom dishes.
Suggested Retail 48.00/750ml
To order:
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