While the big news is our planting of new vines, we are also making progress on a number of fronts. We got Newport Lane and the Sabrevois at Maple Woods sprayed, the LaCrosse at Meadowcreek were suckered and tied up, and trees removed from the A, B, and C blocks of Tassel Ridge Vineyard.
Our new vines are rooted cuttings that have been grown in really sandy soil. They were removed from their planting beds last winter and the soil that stuck to the roots was washed off. They were shipped to us in order for them to arrive during the second week of June. The reason for the timing…The chances of a killing frost now are very slim.
The first step in getting the rooted cuttings ready for planting is to trim back the roots on the cuttings and then put them in a “kiddy pool” with water and some Miracle Grow. Then, the entire vineyard team work to drill holes in the vineyard, put each vine and a six foot piece of steel pencil rod in each hole, and then backfill the holes that contain the rooted cuttings. With several people, this process goes pretty fast. We will water these vines regularly by hand in order to give them a good start.
We planted 450 Foch cuttings and 200 L’Acadie Blanc cuttings. The Foch is used to make both our Nouveau and Harvest Red and we will be trying the L’Acadie Blanc to see if it will make a good substitute for Muscat that we presently have to purchase in California.
