The Vineyard - Other than the weather, the vineyard looks great. Our cover crop is growing well, supporting the soil and many beneficial species, including the good bugs and a dense crop of wild flowers blooming this month (April).
The Winery - We completed (well almost) our new winery addition. Many of you know we made wine in our very small barn the first two years. The new space will allow us to bring our whole crop into the winery! We also added a great tall porch on the east-side that reaches out right to the vineyards. With some tables (and shade) it is a perfect place to enjoy a picnic or just a glass of wine.
Jeff Pipes, Pipestone Vineyards
In the Vineyard 2000
2000 was a very busy year in the vineyard! So busy, in fact, that it actually started in 1999! A year in the life of a vineyard really starts just after the fruit from the previous year is harvested (November/December 1999 in this case). This is when the vines give their last spurt of energy to store carbohydrates in the canes and stems to get them through the winter and off to a good start the next spring.
Winter - The winter of 2000 began with a delay in the California coastal rains that usually start in December. We actually irrigated the dormant vines the week before Christmas to keep the roots moist. But finally in January and February, the rains came and came on strong. January saw almost 6 inches and February nearly drowned us with 11 inches. The season total was 22.8 inches. This is a goodly amount and it charged the soils with moisture for the beginning of the growing season and early summer.
Spring - The weather turned sunny and mildly warm in March and April, waking up the dormant vines and beginning bud break (when the tiny green leaves first appear) early in mid-March. Luckily there was little or no frost and this allowed uniform budbreak and good early development of the new shoots.
Bloom began in May and progressed nicely until the third weekend in May (Wine Festival Weekend in Paso Robles) when the temperature spiked to 108 F. Some of the vigorously growing shoot tips in the Syrah collapsed, but the fruit set was seemingly not effected. The weather cooled in June and we began to see a huge crop setting. The rest of the summer was uneventful with some excellent conditions for the development of the fruit and ripening.
Summer - But oh, boy, the mild spring and really excellent growing conditions in June meant that the vines were very vigorous. Every shoot grew fast and every cluster developed as did every berry. We knew we had a hug crop set in the vineyard and we began thinning it out to ensure great quality later on. We spent weeks shoot-thinning and cutting off green fruit. Overall, we took off about 70% of the fruit in both the Syrah and Grenache. In the Grenache we actually made a second trip through and thinned the fruit even more! The goal was to focus all the vine’s energy on the remaining grapes and create great quality.
Harvest - Harvest in the Paso Robles area started in early September, but progressed slowly. Our Viognier ripened perfectly and we picked it on September 16th. The Syrah was not far behind and we picked it fully ripe and in beautiful condition on October 7th. We were looking forward to an early harvest and a vacation in November! The weather never cooperates.
The Grenache, was way behind and we began a waiting game. The late September hot spell that had sent the sugars soaring to the point that it looked as if all the grapes in the county would be ripe at the same time ended abruptly! Fickle weather. Right during the Syrah harvest, it cooled dramatically and everything stopped. The grapes just stopped ripening altogether! Waiting, waiting waiting. Toward the end of the month the sugars in the Grenache had not changed from that of the beginning of the month! So we waited to see if the sugars would push up and if the flavors of the fruit would improve.
Finally on October 24th (actually the same day we picked in 1999) we harvested most of the Grenache. It was ripe, really ripe, with large clusters and a beautiful purple-crimson color. The next few days saw heavy rain fall (almost 3 inches). Many zinfandel vineyards were ruined by the rains and the resulting mildew that destroyed the fruit. We had left about 3 tons of Grenache on the terraced hill sides, living dangerously and hoping for some exceptional flavors to develop. Instead, the rains came and we had to quickly harvest what was left and then sort through the remaining fruit, selecting only the best clusters and feeding the rest to our chickens!
Finally in mid-December, we had a cold snap that frosted all the leaves off the vines and brought an end to the growing season, hardly giving the vines a chance to store any energy for the following spring.
As of this writing, the December rains failed to materialize again this year. But January and February really made up for it. As of the first of March we have had 21.5 inches of rain. Temperatures have been cool, but not excessively so. We are looking for bud break to start in the next few weeks.
In the Vineyard 1999
1999 was a training year in our vineyard, planted in 1997 and 1998. The Syrah vines are very vigorous and more than ¾ had grown up the stake and onto the trellis wire in the first year. The remaining varieties had to be cut back to just above the ground and allowed to grow back up this year. This makes the vines stronger in the future and more uniform for training.
Winter - Late 1998 saw a very cold beginning to the winter, with low temperatures of 18 degrees in December. This was a little too cold for the young vines and may were killed back to the ground. The Grenache was especially susceptible to the cold and many vines had to be replaced during the early spring.
The rains came spread out from January through April, but never really amounted to too much. No month saw more than 4 inches and the season total was a paltry 13.6 inches. La Niña!? Of course after the previous winter’s El Niño rains of 38 inches, how could we complain too much?
Spring - The spring weather never really warmed up. Was it La Niña again? We saw frost on almost a weekly basis in March and early April and lows hovered in the upper 30’s into mid June. The last date we saw a 32 degrees reading was May 9th, but our thermometer showed 33 degrees on a cold June7th morning (this is Minnesota weather!). This was the last straw for the Grenache and all the fruit on the lower elevations was lost. We call this the joys of farming!
Okay, the vineyard was young and it was probably better not to set a crop this year, but I was looking forward to drinking some wine from this harvest! In the end we did get some fruit on the higher elevation terraces. But the birds got more. It made for some very fat and happy birds, but a very mad winemaker! For those of you wondering why there is only a very small amount of the Melange Southern Rhone-style blend from 1999 – blame Mother Nature!
Summer - The Syrah, however, was never phased by the winter cold or the spring frosts. It looked beautiful all summer. The weather was gorgeous all summer. Thank you La Niña! Temperatures were mild (good for working in the vineyard) with only a hot spell in mid June and again in late September. October was perfect with highs in the 80’s and lows in the 40’s.
Harvest - We picked the Syrah on October 16th and celebrated our first commercial harvest by enlisting our friends and relatives to work picking and then enjoy a bbq on a very warm late fall afternoon.
After harvest the weather remained warm even through November and into December. The plants had plenty of time to recharge and even continue growing a bit before going to sleep in late December.
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