We finished removing the acre of Sabrevois vines that were more than 20 years old. They were located in the northwest corner of the Tassel Ridge vineyard. We had not harvested fruit from those vines for more than five years. We then mowed the grass strips at Tassel Ridge vineyard and in the process, chopped up the trees and shrubs that we had removed with a skid-steer. And, in preparation for cold weather, we blew out the irrigation system at Tassel Ridge and shut it down for the winter.
One of the tools that we think will really speed up vineyard maintenance is a new machine that will mow the grass strip between the grape trellis and simultaneously mow under the vines on both sides of the grass. The under-vine mowers on both sides are hydraulically controlled so that when a vine or post is sensed, the side mower heads immediately retract. We have just started using it but with some time, it should do a good job for us. Take a look at how it works here!
Another task involved going through the entire vineyard to staple up the trellis wires that have come loose. We got that done last week.
We removed the aerators from the wastewater lagoons. We don’t want the aerators to freeze.
We continue to work in our Steuben block at Meadowcreek and are pulling up the suckers and tying them to the trellis. We will clean out the under-vine strip by weed-wacking the grass and weeds that have accumulated.
