Sunday, April 26, 2009

Global Warming at Cerro Prieto Vineyard?


Between carbon caps, "Cap and Trade", melting of both polar ice caps...need I go on...the matter of "Is it warmer now than before or not?" is really quite interesting when looking at it from the vine level in the vineyard. Take for example 10 days ago when we hit an April 16th high of 100 degrees...a new record for Paso Robles. Boy, it felt like summer was here and we were in for an exceptionally long growing season. Hurray! Problem is that 1 week prior, we had set a new low for April 9th of 24 degrees, which toasted any tender new grafts or just budded out leaves. It wasn't a quick freeze either; matter of fact, the entire cover crop of red bull clover and pasture mix was all frozen solid. That again was a record for April 9th, but as a new cold record, not a hot one.


Towards end of spring last year, we had some warm and cold days---not unusual for our springtime---and then in the midst of bloom, May 15th to 20th---we had 5 days with highs between 105-110 degrees. The killer blow came next day, May 21st, when Cerro Prieto Vineyard registered 115 degrees in both the mountain and valley vineyards. It got so hot that any flower bud that was still unopened ended up literally "popping off", much like popcorn. Walking thru the vineyard one could hear the tiny "pop-pop-pop" of unopened flower buds exploding. Our crop last year was 50% of normal, and any buds that had flowered already did fine. The unopened ones succumbed to the excruciating heat. Jeez, Global Warming , right?


Well, not so fast, because 12 days later we hit 24 degrees in our valley vineyard, which just added insult to injury. Now, when I hear about global warming and all the reasons to believe it, from the vines viewpoint, we not only are having record highs, but we are also having record lows. Already this month we have had both record highs as well as lows. So what exactly do the vines see? In a nutshell, we are seeing virtually unheard of extremes, which, incidentally, coincide with the third year of a predicted local 10 year drought(in some articles). So from a vine's viewpoint, what in the heck is going on?


If vines could speak they would say that it is the temperature extremes that they notice, not global warming... nor cooling. How or why is this important in the vineyard? Well, last year Paso vineyards were hit with a 30-50% crop loss, directly attributable to the climatic extremes; in 2008, it was the extreme heat, not the later freeze, that clonked us. This year the wildly swinging extremes are starting out in APRIL with new daily lows AND highs. So, for global warming proponents, yes, we see the effects of climate change not only in our vineyard, but also in our pocketbook. But it is not just the warming that is to blame here. The record freezes are every bit as damaging as the heat waves we have experienced the last 3 years.


Is this global warming...or global cooling...or both? For every iceberg that is melting I can show you a vine that has been hammered by the cold. When you put these two extremes back to back, and do it more than once, there is a terribly negative effect on all local vineyards. Here at Cerro Prieto Vineyard and Cellars, we are as beaten up by the record highs as we are the lows. And for the vines, it isn't global warming...it is global temperature extremism, which is a bad omen for vineyards...and a worse omen for the wine aficionado.


So please, before making a case for global warming, you might consider how the vines see this...and if they could talk they would say "It is the record breaking temperature extremes bothering them...not global warming".

Monday, April 13, 2009

Getting Along


In his January 21st blog, Eric Asimov referred to "Culture Wars over wine issues such as power vs. finesse, terroir vs. what's in the glass, traditional and modern," to name but a few. My response to his blog was published under his comment section on January 27, 2009. It read:


We at Cerro Prieto Vineyard and Cellars have just released our first commercial bottling, and were overwhelmed with just how delightful our low yield vineyard(1-2 Tons/acre) produced Cab, Merlot, and Syrah, that is the essence of terroir AND finesse in a glass. We can't wait to be ignored, ridiculed(Westside Paso Robles area), nor looked down upon by someone from the likes of WS. Our answer is very simple. We make people's wine experience enjoyable and rewarding...one client (wine aficionado) at a time.


The folks at Wine Enthusiast have been very generous to our vineyard (Sept., '07 issue by rating the 2004 Byington Cabernet Sauvignon, Cerro Prieto Vineyard) with 91 points. People who have drunk our wine have been equally gracious. But being ridiculed for not being Napa has grown old and frankly boring, because in WS anything other than Napa or France is inferior from the gitgo (Generalization, I realize). In the end it doesn't matter what the sage of Napa says...or not. What matters is what's in the vineyard, what is the vineyard like, and most importantly, what's in the glass. Snubs, guys like the snooty professor alluded to in a few articles above...those all just come with the territory, and have to roll like water off a duck's back.


The Paso Robles area is capable of making Napa cult-like Cab wines...and frequently does, tho one has to be selective. One just needs the terroir, the minute attention to detail, the low vineyard yields, and the love of the vine/wine to make truly remarkable Cabs and Bordeaux like blends. The main difference is that we do that at prices that are affordable for the majority of wine aficionados. Napa doesn't.(Again a generalization, but you get the idea). Those not familiar with our AVA are missing a bet...and to heck with snobbery, petulance, and dare I say it...ignorance.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Survival of the Fittest


On one of our Cerro Prieto Vineyard & Cellars vineyard tours this week, I was noticing how things have changed just in the last 4 weeks since we have been conducting tours. First off a note about the visitors we have had. All have been not only interested, they have been interesting. All have succeeded in their endeavors in one way or another, all are open to learning new things, and all have been treated to the many fascinating things Cerro Prieto Vineyard has to offer.


Take the Barn owls for example. They are our best friends as far as keeping the gopher population in check. Of our 7 owl houses, 3 are currently in use with a pair of young owlets inside. Parents patrol the vineyard at night when gophers are working, and usually nab half a dozen or more gophers per nite. How do I know this? Well simply by counting the gopher skulls, ribs, and pelvic bones under each roost in the morning. This has been an excellent adjunct to gopher control but does have one glitch: we have 3 families of Great Horned Owls above the vineyard, and their favorite food? Barn owls. Oh well.


Going thru the vineyard rows, it is interesting to note that the magnificent floral displays of orange and yellow calendulas, orange and yellow poppies,the red Marinum variety of the California poppy, the bluish purple stinging nettle, and 4 different kinds of clover---bull red, yellow, white, and a pink--- have now crowded out the other flowers, so they can produce and flower, then re-seed. In hotter more elevated areas, where drought accelerates a changing of the guard, the clover has given way to the wild radish of all hues, (pink, yellow, purple, white), and the omnipresent mustard weed, soon to flower out in its yellow glory. Not present but coming, is the pesky and aggressive yellow star, with spikes so tough they can puncture a tire. Also seen in the lower cooler valley areas are masses of filaree, with its purple flower, now going to seed. For cattle this little plant is said to have the maximum nutrition on a weight basis of all cattle feed. We like it for its abiltity to reseed, especially on steep inclines, or terraces between rows, thus becoming soil holders in our incredibly steep vineyard.


In the sky, there are circling "sapolotes", or turkey vultures, which keep the vineyard clean of carrion. Coyotes, ever present inside and out of the vineyard's deer fence, kill wood rats, mice, gophers, the hapless jackrabbit, an occasional cat, ground squirrels, rarely a wild turkey, and the dozens of grape eating Valley Quail. Coyotes then become food for the aggressive badger with his long claws and file-like teeth. Our occasional lynx lunches on all the above plus will take a coyote, if the coyote gets careless. King of the heap is a mountain lion, rarely present, but sure to be here if a deer somehow squeezes thru a coyote hole dug under our deer fence. All in all, it is truly survival of the fittest in the vineyard, which is replayed dozens of times a day, week in and week out. We can show visitors some or many of the "survivors", but it is the perpetual repeat of this scenario that fascinates me.


Everyday, hundreds of people visit wineries to sample different wines. Pity they don't take the time while here to see what the really interesting goings on actually are. Those folks who have taken our tour and later bought our low yield premium wines have not just a knowledge of the wines they now drink, but also a bit of understanding on how eco systems in the vineyard work, how all are inter-related, and how virtually most, if not all, contribute to the terroir of this dynamic, constantly changing vineyard. Currently we are starting bud break in our higher mountainside/hillside areas, while the colder pinot valleys are still dormant( thank goodness). We have continued to have below freezing nites in our valleys, and somehow, someway, those dog-goned Pinot vines know not to be tricked into budding out by the heat of the day. Somehow they just know not to bud out which would then cause the new buds to freeze off.


Anyone who doubts survival of the fittest needs spend no more than a couple of hours here when the Red tailed hawks screech, then swoop down, talons extended, and scoop up a gopher. The rest of the story is equally majestic. How lucky for some wine lovers to first see what a breathing, living, complicated, intricate dance of life this vineyard is. There are some very lucky people to have seen it. We know they now enjoy our wines so much more for having seen and observed "Survival of the Fittest. You should try it sometime; it is captivating.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Paying the Piper for summer in January, 2009


December was cold here, as were the first two weeks in January. Kazaam! Summer arrived in mid Jan, and we averaged 85 degrees off our back deck into the first week of February. Those 2 weeks were without doubt the nicest, mildest 2 weeks we have ever had in any new year's first month. Then, Kazaam! Winter returned with a vengeance, days were cold, but nites were frigid. For the next 6 weeks we had ice in the bottom valley vineyard until the sun's rays melted it, usually about 9 a.m. Yes, the warm summer weather was a nice respite to the bone chilling cold, but as the saying goes, " A good deed never goes unpunished".

We had to wait awhile until the freeze stopped, but then when we finally got around to pruning in late March, the first signs of the "summer in winter" became evident. Young vines, particularly those planted last year, or grafted vines from last year, came up "lame". Specifically, the small, delicate vines were evidentally influenced by January's warmth to begin the motions of preparing for budding out. With the 6 weeks of frost and ice that followed, all those young, susceptible vines got hammered by the night time freezes. Most of those vines grafted died back to the rootstock. The one year old new transplants just froze thru and thru. The warm spell in winter was lovely, but when one owns a vineyard, that kind of climatic behaviour never comes without consequences.

I had actually guessed we would have either a delayed bud break or a delayed harvest. Apparently it is neither, but rather just a rampant killing of young, tender vines and grafts. Our hillside/mountainside vineyard was spared the insult, due to an 18 degree temperature differential from hilltop to valley. We have replanted where vines died and regrafted where grafts died. In some cases, only half or more of the grafts were freeze killed. Those we salvaged by just pruning back to green wood. All in all, the spectacular late January weather was welcomed by most everyone in the Paso Robles area. The resultant damage to low lying vineyards, however, was not. Established vines did fine in our valley areas, but the younger ones...they will just have to try again.