Paso's Westside, Wild, Wet, Windy, Wacky, Weird, Weather

I should have guessed something was up when the second week in January was summer in winter. Off our back deck the temperatures were in the mid to high 80s for 13 straight days. Believe me, I was checking the vines for bud swelling daily towards the end of the month. Not only the days were balmy, but so were the nights. Coldest it got at our home overlooking Paso's westside Cerro Prieto Vineyard was in the high 40s. For Paso, that qualifies as weird. The vines definitely looked like they were trying to swell their buds, but never got to the point of bud break. No question I was worried about the summer weather we were having, but as long as it didn't precipitate bud break, I felt we were okay.

Then came February(plus last two days of January). Winter returned with a vengeance, and our lows registered mid to high 20s in the colder valley vineyard. Winter here at Cerro Prieto dragged on well into Spring, when suddenly, one day winter fled and summer arrived. Well after March 21st we had our first day of not spring, but summer. Once again we were basking in 80-90 degree weather, without the intervening Spring. This time we did get bud swelling, and not long after, bud break. It was late, but out buds came. The only way we knew it was Spring was because of the monster winds that visited during what was nominally called "Spring". The first winds registered in the high 60+ mph, and evidence of their presence were huge piles of 50 and 60 foot live oak trees, knocked down en masse, with one pile numbering 12 trees piled up like a bunch of big splinters. We had a second such event just below our house, but it was composed of only 6 trees worth of splinters.

2005 was a big year for us with rain totalling some 42". In 2006,2007,and 2008, we had 16", 12", and 9", respectively. It is no secret that 2009-2010 was a huge rain year, and we registered 41", which ran clear into April. Here in Paso Robles, for every mile west of the 101 Freeway, the rain is roughly 1" more/yr for every mile west you go. So there were some folks 15 miles east of town who got 15-20" of rain, whereas normally they only got 7" or so. The wacky part was the late rains, which tried their best to sabotage grape farmers by raining hard, every time we mowed, weedeated, macheted, or hoed. In all we did all four tasks up to five times each. Part of that is my fault, as I had refused to use pre-emergents(that can contaminate the ground water). But next year, we use pre-emergents, because each trip thru the vineyard with hoes or machetes, costs out at $4000. That's right. It is expensive...especially the way all this came down.

The weird part was during bloom, which although absolutely perfect at outset, was submarined by gods of wrath bringing not only heavy late rains, but 2 monstrous wind storms...neither of which a grower wants during bloom. The first I already alluded to. The second, some 3 weeks later, and still during bloom(but near the end), again was in the 60+ mph range, with gusts strong enough to knock down more trees...this time the biggest pile of live oaks numbered sixteen. From a distance it truly looked like a tepee made of broken sticks, but up close it looked like a giant mass of snapped 20" diameter trees that had been broken in anger by some monster from the sky. The Weber Grill ended up in the pool, despite being well anchored down. During that windstorm I turned the outside spotlights on near midnite, and was amazed to see massive oaks being blown into near horizontal position...and not just several. They were all virtually at 90 degrees to their normal upright position.

Wind aside, the weird and wacky continued when once thru bloom it appeared that only the Merlot had been hard hit by the late rains and winds. The fruit set resulted in many clusters looking like banana clusters, not grapes. Instead of one long rachus there were 4 or 5, each half to a third the length of normal. There were "aces and spaces" among the odd looking rachi, with early estimates at Merlot fruit set somewhere at only 1/3 normal. Instead of .33 lbs/cluster, we looked to have maybe only .15 lbs or less. As it turned out, the rachi filled in, and we ended up with .25 lbs/ cluster, but as yet, we have nary a berry that has started to go thru veraison.

Matter of fact, we started veraison July 3rd in 2009, but had not one berry veraising by August 3rd this year. August 4th we had 3 berries of Pinot Noir beginning color change, and just a week later, all Pinot and most Syrah is pretty well thru veraison. This was not a long protracted veraison as we have had the last 3drought years...this was veraison in hyper-speed. The rest of the story is the Cab Sauv, which needed only a week from start to finish in some blocks, whereas other blocs have yet to move. This is definitely due to cold, as our lower Cab has yet to turn and our higher elevation Cab is finished.

As I write this today, it reached 89 degrees and was a beautiful day for grapes. Unfortunately the fog didn't lift until well past 10 a.m., so we didn't get near the heat and light we so desperately needed. One old salt said that he didn't even keep his heat/light days' data this year because we couldn't possibly catch up. That may have been so, but there is no question that with the rain, the cold weather staying around until the last two days, veraison has been way speedier than the last 3 years. Of further note, the springtime that we got cheated out of in March and April turned into 7-10 days of blistering summer, followed by a return of cold spring weather for the last 5-6 weeks.

I have lived here for 33 seasons now, and can say that without a doubt, this year is one for the record books. The high pressure system on the East Coast is making the midwest, south and east coast all insufferably hot. The low pressure system we have had here for the last 6 weeks is doing the reverse to us as on the east coast. There is a definite La Nina current offshore the Central California Coast, with water temps running 10 degrees cooler than normal. The Bay Area and Napa are similarly situated, with record cold days virtually daily. Altho I do not have first hand knowledge , I have heard Napa is about 3 weeks behind, vineyard maturation-wise, which is what half our vineyard looks like, too.

With super cold days, the marine air hanging around all day (La brisa in Spanish), and fog every morning, it has been essential to maintain good mildew spraying routines, with Westside mildew a real problem for those that missed spraying dates. Anyone who is going totally organic is bound to have mildew problem this year, when it has been a setup for mildew for almost two months now. If we can get more days like today...good and hot...then we may be okay, especially if the rest of our Cab and Merlot go thru veraison. Additionally, those vineyards with low crop yields
(2-2.5T/acre)will have less chance of mildew than those with heavier crop loads.
Also we have been hedging and leaf pulling on the shaded side of vines to help airflow and sunlight get to grapes and leaves. An added benefit of these two tasks is that sprays, when used, are much more effective.

Overheard a buyer and grower's rep discussing the wacky weather and they agreed, "This ought to be a great year for Syrah". The unsaid thing was this could be really tough year for Cab. A lot of Westside Cab is way behind...but as we have seen here at Cerro Prieto, once it gets kick started, it races thru veraison. We just need to get it going. Also, it would be nice to see summer before we are thru autumn. The way this year is going, however, no one has a clue as to what lies ahead. I have advocated for low crop yields for a number of years now, because weird weather such as this favors a low yield vineyard such as Cerro Prieto. Those folks hanging 5 T/acre of fruit...or more...are in for a rude surprise. In times of wacky, weird, wild, wet , and windy weather, low yields are also going to make the difference between ripening grapes vs not.It is no secret that if a vineyard has world class terroir,and we do,then low yields will translate into truly great wines.

Postscript, 2 days later: Last two days have been pure summer...barnburners. BUT, the most recent news is for that accursed low pressure to return to sitting on the coast. Whew! I sincerely hope they got the facts wrong on the low pressure issue, but I have already noticed the cold air blowing in from the west. Ouch.

Bordeaux comes to Cerro Prieto

Obviously, that is physically impossible, but two of its nicest and loveliest residents did come for a 4 day stay...my Aunt Jackie and cousin Josieane. Both were in the US to visit the Stanton family, strung out from Fort Worth to Austin, then Sacramento, and finally Paso Robles. The visit reminded me of my delightfully memorable first trip to Bordeaux, when our Bordeaux family hosted a fascinating trip throughout the entire heart of France's wine country. That was 30 yrs ago, and at the time, I merely liked wine, but had nowhere near the appreciation for it that I do now. The Rochard's live in a chateaux/bakery, which was built in the late 1700's, and was idyllic. Dinners of standard French fare were served which equated to the best 7 meals in my life. Wines, fine wines, were served at lunch and dinner, and altho I had trouble distinguishing labels of what we drank, the wines were...well, fabulous. The chateaux itself had walls 22 inches thick, which in warm months kept the interior comfortably cool. The wines actually were brought home in a 20 liter bottle, which had been siphoned from barrels in one of the many nearby underground caves. I was amazed to realize that many of the local citizenry routinely obtained their wines that way.

My aunt and grandma took me on tours of all the famous nearby chateaux, and I was privileged to meet some of Bordeaux's many superb winemakers, most of whom were family friends of Jackie, Robert, and grandma. At the time it was a spectacular trip, but, I was going full bore in my medical practice, and was vastly undereducated for such a fascinating experience. Now, that sounds like a trip of a lifetime, and my wife and I have been invited to do it all over again, this time experiencing it from the eyes of someone in the grape and wine business. We do many things at Cerro Prieto that are similar in France, namely utilize world class terroir, low yields for our grapes, and loving, hand care of the vines. One thing in particular stood out as different in the two countries, and that is how much the government interjects itself into the wine business. Here we irrigate; there they don't, but they also do get summer rains. They typically make wines with lower alcohol content, whereas in our vineyard, if we do that we miss out on all the wonderful flavors that come with ultra long hang times. Granted the alcohol level creeps up as we wait for flavors to come in, but if we were able to get the magnificent flavors early on, our wines would be of lower alcohol also.

Both Jackie and Josiane liked our wines, especially the blend of Paso Bordo, which would not be found in France within a Bordeaux domaine. Why? Because our 92 point 2006 Paso Bordo(85% Cab/15% Syrah), is a Bordeaux/Rhone, and that is a no-no in France, both in the Rhone River valley as well as in Bordeaux. This is no secret, but the American winemakers have essentially all the latitude we need to mix and match not only Cab with Syrah, but Syrah with Pinot Noir, Merlot with Syrah, as well as the traditional Cab/Merlot/Cab Franc/ Petit Verdot. Paso Robles has been noted by wine critic Steve Heimoff (Oct, 2009, Wine Entusiast) as home of the big, bold, red blends, and both Jackie and Josiane liked the blends we served. It seems strange that the government would restrict what French winemakers can do re: blending as well as certain viticultural practices, but France has been making great wines for centuries, and their rules and regulations go back at least several hundred years. I wouldn't be surprised to see that change one day, but no time in the foreseeable future.

As for the vineyard, currently we are at August 3rd, and still no sign of verasion...which last year was well underway by JULY 3rd. That is bizarre, but is certainly in keeping with our lovely spring days of mid to high 70's and lows in the low 40's. Unfortunately we are rapidly approaching fall, and to have spring weather now is blatantly weird. Oh, that isn't quite true...last nite I saw 3 berries beginning verasion in our cold valley Pinot and Sauv Blanc. This is either going to be a late harvest, hopefully not too late, or we are going to race thru verasion like a race horse. There are mumbles of worry from many neighbors, all of us wondering when is the hot weather coming. Since we are both in the southern end of the Paso AVA and also the north face of the Templeton Gap, the coastal marine air (known to Mexican workers as "brisa"), we are some 18-20 degrees cooler than downtown Paso Robles which is just 4 miles west-north-west of us. Nonetheless, while the days are perfect to enjoy the great outdoors, for ripening grapes...it be cold... truly, unseasonably cold. As producers of low yield grapes, 2-2.5 Tons/acre, we are well positioned to ripen our grapes, as opposed to higher yielding vineyards, with yields 5 Tons/ acre...or more. Still and all, we growers are beginning to worry, altho there still is plenty of time. We do need for verasion to get in gear, however.

As for all the "behinder" vineyard chores mentioned in the last blog, those are now done, only to be replaced by yet another list, in which we are once again 3-4 weeks behind. One thing of note, and this is ugly. We have had to net our early ripening grapes because the small songbirds, (finches, juncos), wrens, sparrows, Robins, Mountain Blue Jays, Western Blue Jays, plus the grape stealing kings, grackles, have started eating bitterly green grapes, with a voracious appetite. Normally we would just use bird distress calls, kites, and windmills to scare away birds, but not this year. When the Cab and Merlot start to ripen there will be hundreds of other acres nearby where they can eat. Right now, anyone who has grapes beginning or in verasion, definitely has a bird problem... unusual, because generally grape eaters wait for grapes to develop sugar. As they say, just another day in the vineyard...or paradise, if you will, but we all are starting to have some concerns re: our spring in summer.

As a postscript, writer and blogger Randy Fuller of Now and Zin, wrote a very nice article about Cerro Prieto last week, and I would highly recommend it to all who follow our blog. (http://www.blog.nowandzin.com/)

Behinder: The Mistress

We've all been there before...the harder I work, the behinder I get. It's the darned mistress, again, like a siren calling the ships onto the rocks. Her name? Well, we all know her by different names, but most have to do with work...lots of work, all the time, 7 days a week, never relenting. In my case her name is Cerro Prieto, our vineyard, all encompassing in time, thought, care, emergencies, devotion, dislike, love...she is the reason I need a clone to do the other half of the work I can't get done. Do I love her? Yes. Can I live without her? Definitely yes. Do I wish she would be less demanding, require less of my time, and yes, function without me? Yes, yes, and certainly yes. Would I miss her were I to go away on a year long cruise? Yup. Can I do other things, fun things, simultaneously, without having to think about her? Yes again. Sounds like some conflicting thoughts here...but that's the way it is in the vineyard. In truth, 18 of our 20 acres are pristine, require little care other than pruning, thinning, leafing, canopy management, fertilizing, harvesting, and finally, making the carefully tended grapes into fine wines. Truth be told, some 90% of my time is spent on just 10% of our vines. How on earth could that be?

All of us have something that is a cocklebur under our saddles, and everyone has something in their jobs or everyday lives that is just a continuous pain in the rear. In my case, it is 2 acres of Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, both grafted and replanted some three times now, over the course of the past 4 years. One year it was late...really late...spring cold spell, that fried our 2 above varietals just after planting and grafting. Next year, we had a similar situation, but that time the frost came the 3rd week in June(no kidding). Heck, we were 2 days short of summer, and our cold valley vineyard dipped into the low 20s. Last year we had summer in January, followed by a cold snap, then once again, it became warm. So warm, in fact, that on May 21st, San Jacinto Day in Texas, that our cold valley vineyard reached 117 degrees.

We had been pouring wine at the Paso Robles Wine Fest that day, and upon returning home, we were greeted by 2 acres of Pinot and Sauv Blanc that appeared as if someone had taken a blow-torch to them, neatly beginning at the fruit wire and working upwards. It honestly looked as if someone had put a running brown paper bag from one end of each block to the other, with a decidedly brown strip running from the fruit wire upwards, and running the entire length of both blocks. Hot air rises and cold air sinks...at least there was a tiny bit of cold available to keep each entire vine from cooking up. We managed to save most vines, but did have to re-graft and replant almost 12oo vines. For someone seeking perfection in the vineyard, it is painful to have some vines just misbehave over and over...and yet over again. Yet that is the way it goes, and everyone knows whereof I speak. One little thing is enough to make an otherwise

pleasurable job very unpleasant at one time or another. I like to think of this kind of event as "negative work", in that it takes a lot of time, thought and energy to "get it right", only to have one's hopes dashed by some event...in this case something as simple as bad breaks in the weather. The remaining vines can withstand these climatic insults because they are well established, inured to pain...er, really cold spells, or more recently really hot ones.

This is the time when it is good to remember the glass scenario: is it half full or is it half empty. We all would like to be positive, glass half full types, and mostly we are. It is just that persistent cocklebur, if you will, that can make life more...well, challenging, for lack of a better word. Some in the grape biz say they have "issues", but we all know that to mean that there is a problem...to lesser or greater degree. Whatever, I would be delighted to airmail those two acres to anyone nearby who might want them. Yet I know that isn't in the cards, so I will just have to persist, be even more diligent, put more time in, and hopefully, one day actually get the entire 20 acres to behave. Until then, I guess I will continue to get more behinder the harder I work, and just remember it is a privilege to be able to work in the fields, in the cellar, and sometimes in the parks for big holiday pourings. When you get right down to it, 90% perfect ain't all that bad. Matter of fact, the tiny 2 acres that have caused all the problems are more than counterbalanced by the 18 acres that require little more than the usual care and maintainence. Like the saying goes, "Nobody's perfect"...but it sure is nice to be almost perfect.

Our orginal goal was to grow the perfect grape. Then it was to make the perfect wine. Well, they may not have been perfect, but , by golly, they sure came darn close. The 2006 Cerro Prieto Merlot won 2 International Gold Medals, both the San Diego International wine competition, and the Critics Challenge International Wine Competition; our signature wine, the 2006 Paso Bordo(85% Cab/ 12% Syrah)received 92 points in the Wine Enthusiast...and this was our first bottling. Aside from being very proud, we were also a bit humbled by what we had achieved. That's why the mistress, that time demanding, worry wart of a vineyard, is really not so bad after all. She has brought us fulfillment and fame...the worry and hard work are just the price of admission...nothing more, nothing less. Being able to live life and work outdoors at something I truly love, worry warts and all, is really, truly, just a matter of being blessed. Someone, a client, once said, "Being able to live here is like living in a tree house , and the vineyard is incredibly beautiful". What could I say to that? Sure I thought of the mistress, but when all is said and done, our visitor had it right: it is beautiful and it is sheer pleasure to work here...outdoors, in sunlight, living a dream that not many have the chance to experience. Mistresses, schmistresses. We are incredibly fortunate to live our dream, and if there are some cockleburs, or bumps in the road, that is a small price to pay for the spectacular life we have been able to live.

Behinder? Ah, heck...begone. Oh, and if you happen to drop by, don't forget to try our newly released 2007 Merlot with a dab of Cab and a touch of Syrah in it. The '07 Paso Bordo is not quite ready yet, but will be at the end of September. Meanwhile, we still have 60 cases of the '06 Paso Bordo, and I can attest, it goes down fine. Come see us and give both a try. Cheers.

As for the picture above...that is my real mistress...my lovely wife, Teresa

Winter, then summer, and only a hint of spring.

Man oh man, how can 3 weeks go by so fast? Last blog everything was in bloom, then we got a late rain, then we got summer. Now the days are cooling with fog coming in at nite. In the vineyard, weeds and gophers continue to bedevil us. We have mowed, weedeaten, and macheted now 5 times, albeit that this time there was a lot less to do. Not using pre-emergent in a big rain year, going green or not, was a huge error. Additionally we currently are in bloom, the two sets of movable catch wires have been raised around each vine, and the canes are easily 3, sometimes 4 feet in length. It is incredible how fast this vineyard took off. Just got our 2nd mildew spray in prior to bloom, so that when fog comes in at nite, any mildew that wants to form is inhibited from doing so. Each spray is good for 21 days or thereabouts, and is unnecessary once verasion is done.

We just cleared the trail that parallels the cold valley Pinot below and the mountain Cab above. It is a straight up and down side hill that has one trail cut thru it, and is traversible on our 6 wheel drive ATVs. Between poison oak, huge bull thistles, and 4, yes four downed trees, it was quite a task. Once done, however, it gives guests here for vineyard tours a chance to go thru an enchanted forest, 20 degrees cooler than anything else around, and that is all year long. It is completely forested, with the tree canopy not allowing any light to pass thru. The entire mountainside is covered in magnificent ferns which is quite different from the rich dark soil of the valley below in full sun, and the mountain above, in full sun and set in solid limestone. The main reason for reopening this trail is so that visitors can go along the trail and see the 5 nests of redtail hawks, the two nests of grey squirrels, and the 3 nests of horned owls in the white oak canopy, high above.

From here on out, we have some more positions to set for the now 2 y/o grafts of Sauv Blanc. Additionally, with the 60 knot winds we got some two weeks ago, we have had to cut the gangly, and unsupported canes that extend high above the catch wires. Failure to do so makes the entire graft cane whip about and break off when the winds go over 20-30 mph...and that has happened thrice in the last 2 weeks.

We, like others, have seen the traffic in these parts fall off substantially from last year, when it was slow. The economy is hurting most folks, and many of those drink fine wines. Ask anyone at the local wine shop, and they will say this is a buyer's market. Problem is there just aren't anywhere near enough buyers of shoes, cars, homes, clothes, dinners out, movies, etc. Wine is not being picked on here, the entire country is. It is heartbreaking to have so many friends in construction...well, no longer so. Paso has at least 25 to 40% of its income related to construction and everything that emanates therefrom. Builders are getting walloped, and many have just frankly pulled up and quit. With business in general way off, everyone is affected, from school teacher layoffs to the local auto mechanics. Fine wines stay good for long periods of time, and if kept around will be even better in years down the road. You can't say that about many things, but you sure can about wine. Today's vineyard tour guests are 3 hours late as of this blog, so guess they aren't coming. C'est la vi. Good news is, the Cornish game hens were put in the oven with lemon, lemon pepper, salt and paprika, some 2 hours ago...so it is time to feast. I will leave you with that thought, and as always, say a prayer tonite that the belching black cloud at the bottom of the Gulf, just off New Orleans, will somehow, miraculously be capped tomorrow. We've been hearing that for 52 days now, so probably, that is a forlorn hope. We need a miracle down there. I sure hope it is forthcoming...soon.

Paso Robles Wine Festival and Cerro Prieto

We look forward to meeting many new friends this weekend, and revisiting with old ones. We will not be pouring at the downtown Wine Fest, however, but will be here at the vineyard doing eco tours, taking photographic tours, enjoying the beauty of spring, and doing wine/cheese pairings. What a difference a year makes. One year ago when we poured at the Wine Fest, the temperature under our awning in the park reached 119 degrees. That spoiled 10 cases of our wines which even with huge ice chests and ice, we could not keep ahead of the phenomenal heat. Turned out the rubberized awnings actually acted as heat absorbers, and made the temps 4-5 degrees hotter.

Looking out the windows early this morning, I was treated to a spectacular sunrise, with hillsides of vines as far as the eye could see. The early morning light highlighted the newly mown rows of hay in fields far below and several miles away. The geometry of these mowed fields is in itself a thing of beauty. Looking at the sun glistening off leaves of our fully leafed out vineyard it was hard to imagine a place, or sight more lovely. Lupine are still in bloom, poppies are showing off their yellow and orange everywhere, and all remaining wildflowers are giving it their last gasp prior to storing energy for next year. Sometimes nature has to be allowed to take precedence over our vines. So it is in our top bloc of Syrah, where a lupine bush has taken up residence between two vines. The blue purple color is dazzling, but the size of the bush is no less remarkable. Yesterday it measured some 12 feet in diameter, competing with not 2 but 3 vines for food, water, and sunshine. When you see something like that, it is very easy to let it grow, even though it is compromising several vines' growth. It is unique and you should see it. We do have one other lupine bush, but it is growing on an otherwise barren hillside.

Whereas we will miss not pouring in the park tomorrow, we will be looking forward to seeing many of our friends here at the vineyard. The vineyard at present is about as beautiful as it can get in the spring, and we already have two photographers out and about taking rolls of film. For those interested we have multiple stages of vine growth on display, with potted dormant Sauv Blanc just peeking thru the 6" of dirt piled on top of it. We have half an acre of Pinot just secured to wire yesterday, plus all other vines are fully leafed out. The rain was a Godsend this year, when we got as much as we received the last 3 years combined. Wild turkeys are in abundance(altho you have to be up at first light to see them), some red foxes have actually been hunting gophers in our yard, not 30 feet from our house, coyotes are ever present, and then there are the birds.

Last nite we watched a Stellar bluejay's nest fall from under a beam of our house. It had initially been a finch's nest, which the jays destroyed, including the eggs. Then the jays wove a nest made completely of tiny 3" twigs, right where the finches had been. A pair of perigrine falcons then did the job on the jay's nest and eggs. Survival of the fittest...

Immediately below the house we have a pair of "sopolotes", or turkey vultures sitting on a nest(it is half of an abandoned wood rat nest), and during daytime, the sopolotes take turns flying directly between the trees and within 15 feet of our back deck. This pair was born here some 10 years ago, just below our home, and they have adopted us. Normally one cannot get within 50 yards of turkey vultures, but these guys know that we leave dead gophers and coyotes out in the fields below, for them to feast upon. Watching all this "nature" is doubly enjoyable while sipping our wines which are paired up with Stilton, dry Monterey jack, and French cheddar cheeses. If after visiting the wine fest (or before) you wish to come join us, we would be delighted to share any and all the above with you. Cerro Prieto is truly beautiful, and at certain times is much moreso than others. This is one of those times.

The amazing spring rush crush

No, that does not mean we are crushing grapes in May, but it does mean that there has been a massive amount of work done since my last blog, now a full month ago. To loyal readers, my apologies, but the vineyard has been all consuming to the extreme. Since a month ago, the gopher population has gone crazy, with more gophers than we have ever seen in the past 11 years. Controlling these pests takes an inordinate amount of time...to many, myself included, this is negative work; ie, we are working like mad, but are not going forward. We are, in military parlance, building and holding. We are not progressing.

Since last month, you might be interested to know what the nuts and bolts of running a vineyard encompasses. First gopher control; then there is the irrigation of our cold valley potted dormant Pinot and Sauvignon Blanc replants. Now, 3 weeks later, we have to put shelters around all those dormant vines we buried under 3 inches of soil. As the new leaves sprout, we dig away the dirt they were buried under, and carefully place cardboard shelters around them. Next is once again tractor repairs. The broken crawler tread has held up, but the PTO cable broke, requiring a virtual dismantling of the tractor to replace one lousy cable.

Next was spray rig, which required a new bearing, replacing a mysteriously lost fan belt, and finally replacing worn out nozzles. Unfortunately our spray rig is no longer made, parts are scarce, and many have to be hand manufactured. Ugh. The Bush Hog, a 42" mower pulled behind our 6X6 ATV, has now been completely rebuilt, yet continues to cause problems with breakdowns with each and every use. Sounds like farming, doesn't it? In our 3 year old Syrah, which is growing out of pure limestone rock, we have had to put up a second set of catch wires, in that heavy winds of spring snap off 2 foot long shoots as if they were nothing. Two days ago I encountered 53 broken shoots just on our top row of Syrah alone. The catch wires will alleviate most of that problem. My dependable work truck, a Ford F150, had a compressor go bad and required replacing, plus the new fan belt that drives it.

On a daily basis, we have to clean a massive filter for our irrigation pump due to our extremely hard(basic) water. Mainly it is just time consuming, but again is just negative work. By cleaning it, we don't progress...we just stay neutral. Thus is life in the spring vineyard, but due to heavy winter rains, and then 3 late spring rains, we have had to re-mow and re-weedeat the entire vineyard 3 times. This is easily our busiest spring on record, but finally it is immensely gratifying to see things round up into good shape. As for wines, 2007 is in bottle and will be released June 30th. The 2008 vintages need a topping and the 2009 needs racking, plus chemistries. My gut feeling is that we have improved on our 92 point Paso Bordo, and have got a Merlot blend that is better than our international gold medal 2006 Merlot. Time and tasters will tell, but we are extremely excited about our 2007 releases.

We hope to see all our old friends and new ones, too, here at the vineyard this coming weekend during Wine Festival. Our planned move to open a tasting room across from the downtown park at Meritage Lounge remains in the works, but bureaucratic red tape has delayed things. Please call for information on tasting at 805-226-8448. Our 2006 Paso Bordo has managed to actually improve with age, which makes that 92 point wine truly spectacular. We will make a stand alone Syrah this year, but will not be available until next yr. I cannot wait to get this into bottle.

In closing, there are two pictures of our vineyard in 1999, and then today. You can see the remarkable changes in this, the county's most photographed vineyard (or at least, so I have been told). Vineyard tours are by appointment, but most are already spoken for during Wine Fest weekend. Call to see if there are any cancellations should you be interested. We are foregoing the downtown park pouring this year, as we were much busier at the vineyard last year than we were at the Wine Fest pouring . Look forward to seeing you all again. Also a note to wine club members: you are welcome to pick up your shipments here and save the cost of shipping, should you wish. Enjoy the Wine Fest, and we look forward to seeing you.

The Maccabees of Cerro Prieto

Oops, that's a typo, in that it should have read "McAbee's". The biblical Maccabees were actually a Jewish rebel army who liberated parts of land of Israel from the rule of the Selucid empire. Also, supposedly "Maccabees" gave rise to the word "hammer", with all its implications. Anyway, right now, we are using the McAbee's gopher traps, setting some 36 or more per day. Doesn't sound like much but first you have to find the little scoundrels, then you have to dig until you find a two-way tunnel, and then you set the traps and insert one in each arm of the tunnel. A good idea is to secure each trap to a length of baling wire and then wrap that around a fluorescent orange painted piece of wood. This is so you can find traps(over 20 acres it is easy to lose them) once you have buried them in the ground. Also, the stakes make it harder for coyotes to dig up the traps(plus gopher) and take the gopher trap and gopher elsewhere for supper. The orange paint makes it a lot easier to find those suckers the next day.

Seems kind of silly to go thru all this hassle for a gopher, but one mature 11 y/o vine has a worth of $450 to replace at current status. Naturally, new vines are only $3 each, but the work to get them to 11 years costs about $450. That's why once we plant them, we go to extraordinary means to keep them alive. Poisons are a possibility, an easy one, but besides from being expensive, some are also secondary killers, ie: Gopher eats poison, dies, and vulture eats dead gopher and dies. The non secondary poisons are essentially grain treated with anticoagulant, and gophers need to feed on the grain at least 3-4 times before dying. For a vineyard "going towards green" we do our best to stay away from anything poisonous, as it is just one more chemical you don't have to put into the soil.

Besides gophers, this is also the time of year for re-doing weed control (machetes, hoes, weedeaters), and getting the vineyard ready for any improvements. In our case this is replacing some vines in our cold valley vineyard that altho grafted two years ago, still are stuggling. Having pulled a number of them out of the ground, the failed ones usually have had a root system chewed up by gophers, and the vine is literally hanging on with only a tap root. These are best replaced, as altho they could survive, they wouldn't thrive. Five days hence we will be planting some potted dormant Pinot Noir vines, burying the entire bareroot vine under ground. After the vine breaks thru the dirt, we will put on cardboard cartons to protect young vines from not only late spring frost, but also our many jackrabbits...which look at young vines as a real treat.

Lastly, this is a time for repairs. Right now it is the flail mower, and 42" Bush Hog mower(pulled behind ATV). Both are being welded, re-wired, and sharpened. Making it thru one season is tough on mowers. Making it thru 11 seasons is asking a lot from these contraptions. They will and do break down. Last week it was the tractor tread. Now welded back on our crawler is once again in service, but it sure looked naked for awhile with one tread extending behind and in front of the track-layer. Amazingly our mechanic was able to jack the 10,000 lb tractor up and move the track so it could be reattached, bolted and welded.

Such is our spring...beautiful, busy, and behind. The saying, "the faster I go, the behinder I get", has special meaning each spring. We do get a lull later, but right now it is action packed. Meanwhile our '07 Merlot and Paso Bordo are 3 weeks post bottling, which means we will be trying them out in a mere 9 more weeks. These both got a full 27 months on 1/3 new French oak barrels... Seguin

Moreau, for those of you interested. The other 2/3 barrels were neutral, ie, 2-3

years old, but they don't impart much, if any oak flavor to the wines.

That's it for now, but if you happen to be driving by and see a 6 wheel ATV out in the vineyard, and someone kneeling on the ground burying gopher traps, honk or just stop by for a visit. I would love to give our many wine club members some hands on time learning how to trap pesky gophers.

(Incidentally, the accompanying picture above is titled, "Lots of flowers, lots of weeds").