Tom Scott Vineyard Newsletter - Summer 2012 - Barn Burner Cabernet Sauvignon
Dear Friends,
Every year visitors ask us if there's any time of the year that our work in the vineyard becomes less demanding. The answer depends on the weather, which controls the development of the vineyard and therefore controls us! This year, fireworks signaled the beginning of a brief interlude in our work schedule. By July, the vineyard had been pruned; we'd gotten through frost season, we'd suckered, hedged and thinned the vines and we're at least a month off from veraison.
 Last year we had unusually heavy rains right into June. As a consequence, in 2011 we spent a lot of additional time hedging, suckering and thinning the head of the vines in response to extremely vigorous growth. July of last year found us still hedging and thinning the vines trying to bring them into balance; this year low rainfall has given us more moderate vine growth, resulting in more balance requiring less intervention.
Our vineyards' large canopy and crop set is due in part to the large root system formed last year, and in part to the near perfect weather we've seen since bud break in early April. We're monitoring the vines to determine if the expanded root system will deplete our ground water earlier than in previous years. We never water the vineyard until after the vines have gone through veraison; veraison is when the vines stop expanding their canopies and focus on ripening the fruit. While we like to maintain our vines in a state of moderate water stress, this year it may be a race between the diminishing groundwater, vine stress and veraison!
While our workload is lighter, there is still work to be done. Tom has been applying sulfur to the vineyard on a two-week cycle beginning in late April; sulfur acts as both a preventative and curative agent for mildew infection. Tom will continue with the applications until veraison - after veraison, the berries become relatively resistant to mildew infection. Berry resistance following veraison may have to do with the increasing sugar content of the fruit, or the induction of a thaumatin-like protein in the fruit. Last year, rains and cool damp weather increased the risk of fungus in the vineyard; this year the lack of rain, combined with hot and windy days has decreased the risk to our vines.
 While Tom's been keeping the vines sulfured, Lauren's been keeping the vineyard mowed and hedged. This year Lauren was able to use the electric cart Tom rebuilt for hedging: the cart allows Lauren to reach up and cut the vines, throw the cuttings into the bin on the front of the cart, and move the cart forward all from a standing operating position. She has had to admit that Tom is on to something with this new piece of "farming" equipment.
Now that vineyard conditions are dry, mowing in the vineyard will be kept to a minimum. Dust produced by the mower is harmful to the vines coating the leaves and interfering with photosynthesis, which is fundamental to plant function. Mowing this time of year only needs to be done about every three to four weeks, in the cool (and hopefully) damp early morning hours. Lauren wears a breathing filtration system to protect her lungs from dust inhalation, but nothing keeps her from getting seriously dirty!
Our work in the vineyard is responsive. The structure of our faming practices, the trellising and vine spacing is constant; the "farming" is fluid. How we respond to conditions is determined almost exclusively by the weather, and we can report that it's a beautiful year in the Napa Valley!
We recently opened a bottle of our 2003 Barn Burner and it tastes amazing! So those of you that have 2003 in your cellars: it's ready to open any time now. We recently completed an inventory of wine and determined we have 5 cases of 2003 Barn Burner left in our library that we can release for sale, so if you're interested give us a call or send an email... first come first served!
 Tom and Lauren Scott
www.tomscottvineyard.com
www.tomscottvineyard.com/wineshop
info@tomscottvineyard.com
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