This year we planted about 500 Clarion vines in the Northwest corner of Tassel Ridge Vineyard. Each vine is in its own grow-tube that protects the young vine from critters and really severe weather. In fact, the grow-tube provides a greenhouse structure around the young vine. Now is the time to remove the grow-tubes in order to allow the newly planted vines to harden-off before really cold weather arrives. The first step is to remove the weeds under the trellis to make it easy to see and remove the grow-tubes.
By the way, we planted the Clarion because it may allow us to make a replacement for Muscat which we blend in some of our white and rosé wines. The Muscat comes from California and because of high freight costs, an alternative that we can grow in our vineyards will be very desirable.
We will next focus on applying fertilizer including Nitrogen, Sulfur, Iron, and Calcium. Our soil surveys and petiole analyses showed shortages of all four elements in our soils and vines.
