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Age Matters in the Vineyard

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Age Matters in the Vineyard GRAPE PRESS Fall 2017 The Quarterly Newsletter of the VIRGINIA VINEYARDS ASSOCIATION Vol. 33 No. 3 THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOR President’s Corner The Virtue of Staying Flexible By Nate Walsh Walsh Family Wine he variations in Virginia’s growing seasons, parti- cularly post-veraison, often require an adaptable Tapproach, a level of agility and reactivity whereby growers see the positives and negatives of a vintage and shift their management according. Vineyards rarely progress and Carrington King ripen as we expect. I would argue THE GRAPE HARVEST has been in full swing throughout Virginia, including at King Family Vineyards in Crozet, that the better wine is made as a where they were bringing in Cabernet Franc in mid-September. Do you have harvest or vineyard photos you’d reaction to what happened, or is like to share on the Grape Press website? For more information, see Page 2. about to happen, rather than from forcing one’s hand on a vineyard to push it as close as possible to what you had planned for during pruning, or, in a way, during planting. Of course, we can stack the deck Age Matters in the Vineyard in our favor, and we can know By Jim Law there now wasn’t much difference between old multitudes about grape growing, Linden Vineyards vines and young vines. but each year still presents us with In Europe, winegrowers treat their young some unknowns. n the 1980s, viticulture discovery travels vines as second-class citizens, automatically At the time this is published, took me to Napa and Sonoma. Growers there declassifying the wines to a lesser bottling, some regions in Virginia will be found it amusing that someone would even regardless of the terroir status. finished with the 2017 harvest, consider growing grapes on the East coast. One can’t plant old vines, and because I had some will be nearly finished, and IOur conversations often ended with a certain air only young vines, I remained agnostic on the some may be just sinking their teeth of arrogance: “You’ll have to wait a couple of subject. I now have vineyards ranging from one into the reds. decades to make good wine. Young vines just to 31 years old. And now I have opinions on the As always, the variation amongst can’t do it.” On return trips in the 1990s, those matter. Vine age has a significant influence in Virginia’s diverse regions — from same growers were replanting most of their vines due to phylloxera. When asked, it seemed that See VINES on page 5 See PRESIDENT on page 2 INSIDE A New Approach to Weeds A Q&A with Tony Wolf Classical Pairings How one organic winery in Va. is trying The recognized expert takes a look at Veritas Vineyard explores the relationship paper barriers, with mixed results. where we’ve been and where we’re going. between wine and music. PAGE 6 PAGE 7 PAGE 11 virginiavineyardsassociation.com PRESIDENT’S CORNER (cont.) VVA BOARD PRESIDENT, from page 1 same large berry and cluster sizes, and thus 2017 large yields. Since then, our neck of the woods the Eastern Shore to Northern Virginia — has been enjoying almost two straight weeks President has been drastic, making it difficult to offer of hot, sunny weather — I will be interested Nate Walsh any broad generalizations about the Virginia to see what comes of these higher yield reds. vintage. [email protected] A second challenge we’ve encountered Personally, I would say this has been a this year is a difficulty in ripening Viognier in particularly aberrant year, not just more difficult Vice President many of our blocks. Most years, my primary than average, but one of my most difficult in challenge with Viognier is ripening it while Jim Benefiel the past 10 years. Our vineyard management in still retaining some (although never all that [email protected] August and September, as we’ve gotten closer much) acidity. This year has been different. and closer to harvest, has continually shifted Viognier cropload, notoriously aperiodic, Treasurer in reaction to the weather and unanticipated has been exceptional (possibly even a bit high), Jessi Gatewood imbalances in vine advancement. but many clusters or entire shoots seemed to [email protected] Both of my sites are in Loudoun County. stall in mid-August. Post-veraison, we received almost six inches By mid-September, when we found Secretary of rain this year, four of which came in ourselves with wildly uneven ripening between Ben Margulies August via slow, daylong drenches. Varietals “stalled” clusters and “normal” clusters, we that appeared to be almost 10 days ahead of made a pass and dropped clusters based on [email protected] schedule throughout the summer slowed down taste — a process that might sound impossibly and in some instances fell behind average, as slow but is made easier by the fact that the At-Large Board Members we watched berries and clusters expand to be “stalled” clusters were beginning to shrivel, Skip Causey significantly larger than normal. Late-season and were therefore easier to spot, sample, and [email protected] downy mildew has been an issue, shrinking drop. canopy size and exacerbating the lag in The downside here is that our ripening has Carrington King ripening. been delayed. We are picking Viognier almost [email protected] Berry size and cluster size have been two weeks later than in the previous four years, particular outliers this year, tracking 20 to and certainly the acid balance, already very Advisor 40 percent larger than average, particularly difficult with Viognier, will be a challenge in Dr. Tony K. Wolf in the case of merlot. For the reds, this most the cellar. [email protected] drastically affects overall yield and cluster These idiosyncrasies are new to me this crowding in the canopy, but also puts a year. In speaking with other growers, I found Business Manager question mark over maceration techniques. that many have seen similar difficulties and Tracy Kirkman One response we had to this was to have reacted in different ways (or not reacted [email protected] thin crowded fruit and shoulders in early at all). September for rosé production in order to Ultimately, it will be from the finished wines Grape Press Editors/Production maintain adequate air flow in the fruit zone. that we learn the most. But, mid-way through At the time of this writing, we are on the eve of the harvest, with the weather pattern we’ve Bob Garsson picking our first red block, and are anticipating had — a pointedly wet August followed by a [email protected] an additional juice bleed in order to lower the cool, dry September — these challenges have Chris Garsson juice/skin ratio to a number that will lend itself been brought to the forefront. As we move into [email protected] to more extraction. the second half of our harvest up here, I hope Many of my neighbors are seeing these to keep a flexible, adaptable outlook. VVA Mailing Address P.O. Box 168 Waterford, Va. 20197 [email protected] Show Off Your Vineyard! Special thanks to: With the guidance of the VVA board, we’ll be revamping the VVA website over the next few months so that it better serves our members and better represents Bill Freitag, Karl Hambsch, Virginia growers. Andrew Hodson, Paul Krop, To showcase the state’s vineyards, we’re looking for photos of your vines, your Jim Law, Lucie Morton, grapes or your harvest that can be displayed on a rotating basis on the website. Dean Triplett, Tony Wolf Here are some guidelines: 1. Include the name of your vineyard and town so they can be added to the site, and, if relevant, specify the varietal pictured (harvesting Chardonnay, etc.). 2. We’ll try to work with any image; most helpful are photos with a minimum resolution of 72 pixels per inch and minimum width of 10 inches — larger is always better. 3. For each photo, identify the photographer so that we can give proper credit, and please be sure that you have the rights to have the photo published. 4. Please email photos (or any questions) to Grape Press at [email protected]. Thank you! 2 REGIONAL REPORTS NORTHERN VA.: “Flavors in all the fruit harvested so far have been quite nice.” By Dean Triplett vineyards. Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon this year. (There’s that timing thing again.) It Greenstone Vineyard have always been the last two varieties picked also has a history of inconsistent yields in most in my vineyard. years. o far the summer of 2017 can be I had the same experience in my vineyard The Albarino was down in yield this year as described as hot, wet, and early. as others when it comes to excessive vigor. well, with two and a half tons picked compared June and July were hot, with 30 days Vegetative growth, both that of vines and to almost four last year. Two and a half to three over 90 degrees Farenheit. The good weeds, made for more labor being required all tons is the more normal yield in this variety in Snews here is that we did not have any days over season long. my vineyard, however, so I look at last year’s 100. Although we had several heat spells, we And since timing is everything when it comes yield as more of an outlier. also had several cold fronts that moved down to trellis work I struggled to get hand work done Flavors in all the fruit harvested so far have into our area throughout the summer to give us in a timely fashion.
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