Bottling And Labeling Our Syrah 2022 Vintage

The good news is, our Syrah 2022 harvest was a record yield for us—over 1,400 pounds. Aged in oak barrels for over a year, it was a perfect sunny autumn morning to bottle 30 cases of our wine, with the help of our enthusiastic friends.

The bad news is, we lost our entire grape crop for 2023. We had a cool spring, a tropical mid-summer rain, more summer rain, and not a terribly hot end of summer. The grapes simply didn’t ripen and the powder mildew pressure persisted. Grapes split, bees came, and even coyotes for a nightly nibble. At first, we tried to cull grape clusters amongst the good, but it in the end we let the harvest go. You can’t make good or great wine from poor grapes.

This was an exceptionally trying weather year, but we have had a few here and there. We were not the only ones, many local vintners were also affected. It is humbling, and it is farming. There is always next year, and a fresh start once again.

Full Boxes Finished And Stacked For Storage & Further Aging

More good news. John and I are pouring our Domaine de Manion wines at the upcoming Olivenhain Wine Tasting Event on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, from 6pm to 9pm, along with six other local vintners. Cost is $35.00 per person, and includes hand-crafted appetizers and a complimentary etched wine glass. It is an annual fundraiser to support the maintenance of the historic Olivenhain Town Hall and the surrounding grounds.

For this event, you don’t have to be an Olivenhain member, but what they call a Supporter. So come on out and support this fun and great event. Tickets are now available online along with more details. There is a limited amount of tickets sold, so if you are interested in going, be sure and book your ticket(s) in advance.

I hope to see you at the Olivenhain Wine Tasting. A big thanks to all of you for your continued interest and support!

Santé

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Spring Prepping the Vineyard

I mentioned previously a few weeks ago, all of the spring sprucing I was doing in the garden. Well, my husband, John, and I have also been doing some sprucing in the vineyard, and prepping for the year ahead. It can be a big chore, but also very rewarding. Time well spent now means a continued healthy vineyard and a successful harvest in the fall.

Vines have been pruned back to their two cordon arms. Vineyard rows have been mowed twice already to keep weeds low and at bay. I have tried sowing cover crops a few times between the rows, but have been unsuccessful most likely because of low winter rains. The vines have drip irrigation at each plant, but no irrigation in the rows.

For one reason or another, our grapes last harvest were beautiful, but half of our normal yield. I heard and read that most of California vineyards had lower than usual yields. It could also have been very little winter rains, high winds at flowering, etc. Many factors could have played into it.

I have added compost to our vines before, and thought it might be a good time to add some rich compost to them this year. While I am doing my flower beds, let’s do the vineyard too!

This year I added and mixed in three generous shovels of compost to the base of each grapevine to add back organic nitrogen. Compost has amazing qualities to benefit soil and plants. See below for my many related past posts on composting. I am composting year-round, but with the quantity to cover each grapevine, I bought a yard and a half of compost from Agriservice El Corazon in Oceanside. It helps if you have a truck, or access to a truck, although Agri Service El Corazon delivers too. If interested in delivery services, please visit their information online, and call them for more details.

Adding Rich Compost to Each Grapevine Base

I have been composting for a very long time on our property. When you have chickens, it is almost a necessity. Chicken manure is “green gold” and not to be wasted. It is a perfect green to add to your compost bin besides your kitchen scraps, and landscape greens. It is a hot manure however, and will burn your plants if it not aged and broken down into compost with your other ingredients.

I add compost mixed with my soil for every plant, tree, and vegetable bed I plant. Compost adds back valuable nitrogen, and has about ten fantastic attributes. Compost is also very dark and adds a dressy look to your flower beds and around your landscape.

For composting tools, products, and services, please look into what your local city offers. You might be surprised.

Related Past Posts on Composting:

Ten Ways Composting Benefits Your Soil

How to Compost in Your Backyard

The Green Way to Lose a Lawn

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

A few months ago, I wrote a post called "Rest, Repose, and Replenish", the dormancy time in a garden during winter. This time of year has a different kind of beauty, and a peaceful mood beckoning everything to slow down and replenish. The same beautiful dormancy happens with a vineyard, too.

After the culmination of the grape harvest, the vines begin to slowly shut down. Their leaves turn a rainbow of autumn hues and eventually drop off the vine. The skeleton of the grapevine or "bones" is exposed, showing their trunk, cordons (horizontal stem-like arms), and their canes that have grown upright and been tucked carefully into the upper wire trellis.

There is "much ado" in the winter vineyard. For every vineyard, whether backyard or commercial, there are certain tasks within certain timetables over the calendar year which must faithfully be done to ensure a healthy vine and optimum grape growing.

We have a backyard vineyard which my husband, John, and I have named, Domaine de Manion or (DDM). We have about 300 syrah grapevines on 1/3 acre that are spaced 6 feet between grapevines and 5 feet between rows. Our rows are planted east to west to catch the natural cleansing of the Pacific Ocean's breeze one mile away. DDM is on a sunny western slope in sandy soil, on the 33rd Parallel. In 2009, our vineyard is beginning its fourth year.

The winter months of January and February begin the calendar year of tasks. The grapevines are dormant now, and show off their structure left from the previous year's growth. Winter pruning of each grapevine is done during dormancy and before bud break, the initial new leafing of the plant's beginning leaf and vegetative growth. Here in Southern California, pruning is usually done the beginning of February through mid-February, depending on the grape varietal you are growing and weather.

Pruning is a task that is done by hand, and rather carefully. There are different types of pruning methods used in vineyard management. At DDM, we use the "spur" pruning method, which keeps the established horizontal cordons or arms in place, off of the grapevine's trunk. Each cordon is further trimmed to approximately six spurs on each side. Each spur will renew itself, beginning at bud break, and grow a new fruiting shoot for this coming year's grape formation.

Pruning is an extremely beneficial tool in a vineyard for managing the growth and shape of your grapevines, managing your optimum grape production, creating a healthy balance between your vegetative growth to fruit production ratio, even delaying bud break if you are in a frost prone area, and physically removing any disease, if needed. Using a wheelbarrow we walk the rows, pruning and removing the grapevine clippings. The clippings are then bundled and recycled with our green waste.

This is also a time of close inspection for the health of the vines, cordons, trellis wires, end posts, and drip irrigation for anything a miss. It is important to to take the time now for close inspection as you can see everything so easily, and ensure the year ahead is smooth.

Weeds from our winter rains can quickly get out of hand fast, and need to be knocked down and away from the grapevines. Weeds can hold moisture and humidity close to the grapevines, which is not a good thing. In some vineyards, a cover crop is planted between the rows to keep the weeds down, and provide nutrients back in to the soil.

Each task now, and throughout the coming year will affect the growth and health of the grapevine, and the grape harvest this coming fall. Mother Nature will play a huge part with the amount of rainfall, daytime and nighttime temperatures, and overall weather. There might be unforeseeable events such as wildfires, winds, drought, and frost which will be a factor, too.

This is also a time of much anticipation, and optimism for the growing season ahead, and the rewarding harvest in the fall. It is a journey that the vineyard takes you through together, changing with each season.