Dear Friends,
The vines have blasted off!
We finished pruning the vineyard the first week of April amid a massive
migration of Painted Lady butterflies, amazing! By the time we
clipped the last vine, the Merlot, Petite Verdot and Cab Franc
were already budded out, and the Cabernet Sauvignon followed close
behind. The vines are vigorously growing and we can already see
small grape clusters.
The last two months have been a real weather sampler. We've had
frosty mornings, rainy days and nights, gorgeous spring weather and finally
a taste of summer, hot!
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Since early April, we've been on "frost alert." From
bud break to the end of May, we're concerned about new growth
being damaged by frost. We have a sensor in the vineyard that activates
an alarm letting us know when the temperature has dropped to 34 degrees. If
the temperature continues to drop to 32 degrees Tom goes to work. He
starts our wind machine, which is designed to mix higher warmer air
with the cold air close to the ground. If the higher air isn't
warm enough, Tom lights our vineyard heaters adding heat to the air
to be mixed. At the same time the wind machine is running our sprinkler
system is running in the East Block. The sprinkler system works like
rain and keeps the temperature above 32 degrees; the theory being
water is warmer than ice. This year we started the wind machine and
sprinklers four times and suffered no frost damage. With no alarms
for the last three weeks, it appears we've had a short and mild frost
season.
At the same time we're keeping an eye on the frost conditions, we're
also staying on top of the mildew threat. Late in April, we applied
our first application of sulfur to prevent mildew from developing
on the vines. We repeat the application about every two weeks until
verasion, at which point, the grapes are no longer susceptible to
mildew.
We've concluded the vines would become bushes if left on their
own. So, we manually remove all growth (suckers) below the head
of the vine. We usually have to sucker the entire vineyard two
or three times...walking, bending and pulling, ugh.
Like
all farmers we seem to dwell on the weather, the one thing we can't do anything
about. But all in all it's been a beautiful year and the grapes love this
place and so do we.
We're thankful everyday we get to work in the vineyard.
The
Napa Valley Wine Auction is happening June 4-7. We
hope you can join us. This year we are participating in the Barrel
Auction and E-Auction. The E-Auction is currently open for bidding;
check it out here.
And don't forget to come by and visit us the next time you're
in the Valley, we'll stop working and enjoy a glass of Barn Burner
with you.
 Tom and Lauren Scott
www.tomscottvineyard.com
www.tomscottvineyard.com/store
info@tomscottvineyard.com
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