Jeff White

Hello, I'm currently enjoying winter in the Catskills for a few days. Highlight, check out www.tableonten.com . I have too much to do on the farm to write another vintage thread. The rootstock trial was compromised by half of the experiment arriving with a virus from the nursery. The vines are producing but any differences cannot be solely attributed to the different rootstocks. To date no quail have appeared but many other kinds of wildlife now reside in or near these grasses.

To rephrase: My, some poor understanding and limited intelligence people think that doing some things is a good idea...leave me wondering why. Je Suis Charlie

I know...it's been a while. Pretty nice stretch of weather coming: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... &map.y=109 Sunny, warm to hot during the day and cool nights with low humidity. This is similar to 2009, a wonderful year to work in the vineyard and make wine in Virginia. Fruit set went well and is behind us now. Hedging has begun and we are still tucking, tying, weeding, spraying and mowing. Throw in leaf pulling in a week or so and it's called June. "The" month in Virginia viticulture to be on top of things.

Heat, upper 80's to low 90's and drier, more settled air coming today and for the next week. Heading out now to apply bloom botrytis spray to young Cab. Final bloom spray tomorrow, SB and old Cab. Beautilful Mountain Milk Weed also in full bloom.

4th and 5th leaf Cabernet Sauvignon are in full bloom, again, about 2 weeks early. 18th leaf Sauvignon Blanc is at 30% and 17th leaf Cabernet Sauvignon is still at pre-bloom. Unfortunately we're having a rainy time of it...3 inches so far this week.

Bloom started here on May 16. 4th and 5th leaf Cabernet Franc are now in full bloom, about 2 weeks ahead of normal. '96 planting of Cabernet Franc is about 50%. Merlot also around 50%. Applied critical Botrytis bloom spray over the weekend...now 3 days of rain. Strange and cool year so far. My hottest spray day was way back in March. Serenaded by a whip-poor-will early yesterday morning.

It's been a while... The last snow was only above 2600 feet. Below, all was green with leaves and above, white tipped mountain tops, weird looking. We've made 2 trips through all the varieties except CS shoot thinning. Currently making our first pass through the CS. All looks good. Weather is becoming more normal, some rainy days and some sunny days,70's/80's during the day and 50's/60's at night. Shoots are anywhere from 2 inches - CS, to 10 inches - everything else. Once the soils warm up a bit more everything will explode with growth.

Rain yesterday. Rain today. SNOW tonight, 1 inch possibly. A little uneasy about how 1 inch of heavy wet snow will settle on 10 inch long fragile shoots.

Sorry for your loss.

We dodged the frost of last week. Coldest morning marked at 32F. About 2 more weeks to worry. Shoot thinning starts today in CF and Merlot. Will leave 3 or 4 shoots per cane, or hopefully by harvest, 3 to 4 pounds per vine, around 2 tons an acre. Spray season starts next week post thinning.

Got down to 33F in the lower vineyard this morning. But tonights the night. Freeze warning for our area, with a low forecasted at 32F and we are usually a few degrees colder than the forecast. Hopefully the winds will die down this evening making it safe to light a huge prunings pile just outside the lowest part of the vineyard. Thinking that by morning this fire will not be punching a hot hole in the sky but adding just enough protecting warmth above the vines. Have to be extremely careful as fires are burning all up and down the east coast in these dry conditions.

Another cold night/morning in store for us...for the next 3 mornings. Low 30's. Winds will be up too, negating any thermal inversion that usually protects my high mountain site. Bottom line is, this weather is normal, what we've experienced all winter was not and we normally do not have leaves exposed this early in the year. Just finished mowing between and under the rows in the lowest part of the vineyard. Hope it helps.

Another cold morning, 31F was the low. No damage. Whew! Could not light the other pile of prunings due to high winds. And now the forecast shows the potential for a hard freeze the mornings of the 13th and 14th.

Everything is out now, with the exception of Cabernet Sauvignon, but even the Cab has fat soft buds on the verge of opening. It's cold out this morning, currently 37 and the forecast is for 32 tomorrow morning. Last night, between our two vineyards we burned a huge pile of prunings and other cut up trees from around the farm. Not sure if it helped but it was fun. Me, my crew, pizza, rose wine, some Guinness and a bright moon. We're lighting an even larger pile tonight once the winds calm.

32F and no wind early this morning down at the winery. Have not been up in the vineyards but suspect it's warmer. Looks like we dodged one.

Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Manseng buds are now flea beetle and climbing cutworm susceptible and receiving damage. Putting on first spray of the season this evening. We've heat, and rain coming over the weekend. Things should jump next week.

Bud break is imminent. Lots of swelling buds in our young plantings of merlot and cabernet franc. I even saw tiny leaves opening at end of cane bud positions. I also noticed some flea beetle damage, but not enough to act. With this heat and the weekends upcoming rains these varieties should be out by early next week, if not sooner. Time to start working on my farmer's tan.

March 15, 2012...currently 81F. At least it's not humid...but that's coming soon. We're down to an acre of Cab still to tie. Pruning cuts are dripping. Next 7 days looks twenty degrees above normal. Still, buds are tight. I'm guessing April 1st for Merlot/Cabernet Franc.

Our winery mockingbird has returned, singing from the top of the cupola yesterday morning. 70's this week, near 80 today. Upper 40's at night. Buds are all still hard and tight, though. Only Cabernet Sauvignon still to tie. It's beginning to look a lot like springtime!

Thank you to all those who have sent congratulations both publically and privately. Here is a link to the Governor's Cup web site with information about how this year's competition was run, the judges and a list of all wineries winning medals. http://www.virginiaw...ernors-cup-2012 What made me decide to enter this year was the judging panel...I wanted to get my wine inside these judges. Also, their tasting notes/score cards would be sent to all entrants afterwards. I just received mine. I won alright but just barely. 13 wines won gold, an average score of 90 or higher required for gold. My score was 90, so all of the golds were 90 and I won because my total point score was just a little higher than the next highest.

One of our Eastern Meadowlarks has returned this early morning and is calling out for love. Winter...what we had of one, is fading and Spring is happening!

Pruning is complete...yippee! Tying has begun with most vines getting one final snip to adjust the length of the cane. The weather continues to be mild and dry and it's looking more and more like an earlyish start to 2012. Early means April 1st, normal means April 15th and late means April 30th. We'll be ready.

It's February and Japanese Cherry trees and daffodils are blossoming in Washinton DC. A little snow here last night and today, 19F tonight. Wacky start to 2012. 1.5 acres to prune then lots of tying before a most likely early spring. Always exciting, farming!

To Sport -

Snow! It's actually snowing! Started last night and is continuing this early morning. Very light, still not covering the grass and also not sticking to road surfaces. But we'll take it. Supposed to be around 28F tonight. Just back from Charlottsville, attending the Winter Technical Meeting of the Virginia Vineyards Association. Lot's of good information this year. One thing reported by our State Viticulturalist was that cold hardiness tests were conducted on sample buds and they were good down to below zero. So all this warm winter weather we've been having has not started the thawing of our vines. Knock on hardy wood.