Tom Scott Vineyard Newsletter - Spring 2019 - Barn Burner Cabernet Sauvignon
Few things in life are as constant as our grape vines. As Tom says, "the vines abide." Our vineyard is now 19 years old, old by most vineyard standards, but our vines are thriving.
 Despite years of severe drought (2012-2015) and years of flooding (2005, 2016 & 2019) the vines do indeed abide. This year we began pruning later than our normal February 14th start date. For a second year in a row, the vines were still dormant in mid-February, due to an unusually cold spring, so we waited.
On March 1st, we began pruning vines and completed the work in record time, 20 actual working days. We were amazed at the vigor of the vineyard. On a normal vine, we leave four fruiting canes, this year on many vines we added an additional cane, a "kicker cane." We add canes, or drop the number of canes, depending on the strength of the plant the previous year. Last year was a beautiful growing season. Following a cold spring, the weather warmed up and vine growth took off. We didn't see the heat that usually hits the valley late summer, and that, combined with a delayed start, made for a very late harvest, November 8th, but the crop was beautiful. Three of the last 6 years of harvest have been in November, as opposed to our "normal" late October dates, so maybe there is a new normal in the making!
 Harvest date is determined by growing conditions, but nothing affects it more than the date of pruning. In our vineyard, from the date the vine is cut, and we see bud break, until harvest, is about 210 days. We have just begun seeing bud break in the last few days, so depending on the weather, we may be looking at another November harvest.
Our pruning is an attempt to balance each vine, judging the vine by last year's performance (determined by the length of the canes) we add growth positions or remove them. Balanced vines give us balanced fruit, and our beautifully balanced fruit gives us our consistently gorgeous wines.
The weather is currently very cool and wet, so the vines are developing slowly. Our next concern is frost. If the rain stops, the nighttime temperatures may drop to freezing, at which point, we'll have to protect the new growth. In the fields, we have sensors that alert us when the temperature drops to 34 degrees. That's our signal to wake up and begin monitoring the situation. Sometimes, it's only a cold wave passing through the fields, but sometimes it's a trend.
We protect our vines three ways; our east field is protected with a sprinkler system. When water is applied overhead the temperature will hold at 32 degrees. The west and north blocks are protected by a wind machine and heaters. The wind machine circulates the air, mixing the cold air on the ground with the warmer air higher in the atmosphere. If there is no warmer air high up, we light the heaters adding heat to the air, which is then mixed and circulated. It's very rare that we have to utilize all of these measures at once; the last time was 2007, but we feel we may be facing another unusual year.
 So, the sprinkler system, wind machine and heaters have all been tested and fueled, we are prepared. The frost threat may last until the end of May, so clearly we're not traveling anywhere soon!
This winter was cold and wet, so while staying warm and dry, we indulged ourselves by tasting different vintages of Barn Burner, 13 vintages in all! It was an amazing experience; and of course, we found we had to repeatedly revisit vintages to confirm our initial thoughts. We can say without a doubt, they are all fabulous. What a wonderful validation of our work in the vineyard and the quality of our fruit. This really is living the dream!
We want to encourage you, if you've got them, to drink them; they are all "ready!" We are currently selling our 2011 through 2015 vintages, so no worries about running out, we'll be happy to help you replenish your wine cellars! If you're looking for wines 2003 through 2010, give us a call; we still have some older vintages we'd be willing to share.
With spring comes increased visits to the vineyard. We always look forward to seeing old friends and meeting the friends of old friends. If you think someone you know would appreciate our wines and vineyard experience, and they are planning a trip to Napa, we hope you'll contact us and we'll get a visit on the calendar.
Raise a glass to love, and getting it done - that's what we do!
Cheers! 
Tom and Lauren Scott
www.tomscottvineyard.com
www.tomscottvineyard.com/wineshop
info@tomscottvineyard.com
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