No Grapes?

Last night we had beef fajitas with Mexican rice, so of course we did NOT drink any fermented grape elixir with our Mexican meal. We drank margaritas! Arriba, arriba, ondele, ondele!!!!! As Kenny can attest, margaritas, especially 3 or 4, can make me little loopey. So loopey I was, alas sans grape.

And as you can see from our vineyard, it also is sans grapes. You should be thinking right now,

"Well if the crazy bastards went through all this trouble to put in a vineyard to make wine, don't they know they need those purple round things to do it?" Yes, thank you very much for helping, we do know that.


However, we got rid of all the grapes this year for a very specific reason.

We didn't write this for"Winemaker Magazine" but it looks like we definitely could have wrote it. Here's what they say and we agree:

"The first year of vine growth is not meant to produce fruit for winemaking. During the first year, all clusters should be removed immediately from the vine to keep the vine from using nutrients to ripen grapes. Also, the first year is not meant to push the vine into making fruit or fruiting wood in the second year, when it might not yet be ready to produce clusters. Some vines may be ready to produce fruit in the second year; others may not. The key here is patience and knowing when a vine has established itself to the point at which it is ready to make fruit for wine. In general, a vine is allowed to establish itself and grow vegetatively — producing no fruit — for the first two years in the ground. After the second full year of growth, the vine is commonly pruned by leaving a few canes on the trellis wires. These canes grow fruit in the third year. "

That is EXACTLY what is happening with our vineyard. When we were out in the vineyard retraining all those vines that had died back down to the ground, they also produced little, cute grape clusters right next to the ground. We cut back the stray grape vines and cut off the cluster. Even the grape clusters that were at the first wire level. All of them had to go.

This cutting back the clusters will give the roots the direction they need. "Get down deep in that soil and get some ground water damn it!" If we left the purple (then green) beauties sitting on their laurels absorbing water, sun, and energy then there would be less activity left in the act of growing.

In fact, next year when we are finally ready to keep those clusters on the vine, we will have to perform a delicate balancing act between clusters and leaves. A lot of leaves on the vines is called vigor. If there is too much vigor on the vine, then the clusters will pull back and become puny. If you do not have enough leaves or vigor, then the grapes may either burn from the intensity of the summer sun or they will produce too much sugar (brix). This may result in a high alcohol content in the wine that will produce an inferior quality beverage.

Geez! I better get better a juggling! Have a great weekend! And remember.....

Imbibe and Enjoy!