April 19, 2008.
April has not been kind, the cold weather has caused some damage. In spite of the cold, the vine we selected for our growth cycle slideshow shows substantial growth in the last two weeks. The vines adjust, producing fewer clusters and delaying the harvest.
For a Slideshow of the Growth Cycle.
Click image to enlarge:
The Pinot Noir is now beginning to leaf and exposing its nascent clusters. This is a delicate time — we had frost last Sunday which damaged most of our Grenache — and a good time to take out the worry beads. Right now frost is the enemy — last year we had an early frost which damaged the Pinot Noir and substantially reduced the crop. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about it – the worry beads get a lot of action. The image is of a Pinot Noir Vine taken Friday March 21, 2008.
Click the image to enlarge:
We are preparing and staking about 16 acres of new vines. The first image is of last years planting. The vines have been cut back to two buds and will remain in the protective growth tubes until they reach the first wire on the post.
We are leasing 37 acres from our immediate neighbor, the Burning Creek Ranch, to plant Pinot Noir. Since we plant dormant vines, vines grown in the nursery for one year, we will not be planting until Spring of 2009. Meanwhile, we are analyzing the soil to best determine the root stock the Pinot Noir will sit on. We have selected six Pinot Noir Clones, all but one that we already grow.
And, finally, the hard work involved in setting up a vineyard.
Click images to enlarge:
March is when the vines begin pushing out. The slide show, except for the first image (Frebruary 28, 2008), is from last year. Our plan is to follow the growth cycle again this year. The photos can be enlarged by clicking, unfortunately it does not work on all computers. To see date of photo keep cursor on the image.
It is a regular fixture on our website which can be reached by clicking winery then vineyard. website
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.lafondwinery.com/slideshowlafondwinery/pinot-noir/pinot-noir-500.swf" width="500" height="410" wmode="transparent" /]
This is an opportunity to try all three 2006 SRH wines — Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay — together. All these wines come from vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills district (thus SRH) and the majority from our own Lafond Vineyard. The wines are still young and will continue to develop with aging but with six months in the bottle we think they are already fabulous.
The good news just keeps coming. Not too long ago we learnt that wine consumption had doubled, or was it tripled, at NASCAR events and now we learn that for the ‘Millenial’ generation, 21-30, it is the beverage of choice for 27% and growing.
Tim Teichgraeber for decanter.com writes
Wine is gaining ground on beer as the drink of choice for young Americans, a Nielsen survey has found.
The so-called ‘Millenial’ generation still shows an overall preference for beer, which is still most often cited as the ‘favorite’ alcoholic drink, but wine and spirits are both gaining ground.
There is a slight preference for red wine (51%) – mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. In white Chardonnay still reigns.
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