A 2022 Vintage Tale – How Beautifully Blue The Sky
A 2022 Vintage Tale reminds us of lyrics from Gilbert & Sullivan’s – The Pirates of Penzance. We find ourselves spending a lot of time minding the weather as our 2022 wine growing season unfolds.
How beautifully blue the sky,
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance
The glass is rising very high,
Continue fine I hope it may,
And yet it rained but yesterday.
Tomorrow it may pour again
(I hear the country wants some rain),
Yet people say, I know not why,
That we shall have a warm July.
A 2022 Vintage Tale
It used to be that only Farmers focused on the weather. Now we all anxiously look for signs of abnormality. My previous seasonal notes reflected the relief that our winter was not too dry or too wet. Just after that, in April, long after we all felt the warming of spring, the region experienced a severe late spring frost that nipped vines in the valley that were in bud.
At Three Feathers we escaped the frost damage as our plants were still dormant: bud break was two weeks later than 2021.
During months of May and June, we were stuck in a cool wet coastal weather pattern that delayed plant growth and delighted the grass and weeds. All the rain made gardening and vineyard maintenance a challenge especially keeping up with weeds. Coincidentally, this pattern ceased on the Summer Solstice – June 21st.
Bloom, or inflorescence
The vines are growing vigorously, fueled by all the rain and now some sun and warmer temperatures. Bloom began around July 5th and is progressing nicely. As harvest dates are determined by bloom time, we expect to be picking two to three weeks later than last year. We will therefore be working diligently to keep the crop loads at a level where we can obtain optimum ripeness.
The additional rain has invigorated many plants, trees and shrubs and created lushness in the gardens. One unexpected result was that the crop of crimson clover we planted in the vineyard two years ago flourished and produced a beautiful and luxuriant display of blooms.
Celebrating 10 Years
2021 was the 10-year anniversary of our first planting. Our youngest vines, planted in 2014 are now 8 years old this year. As the vines mature, they attain the desired balance between fruit and foliage and, looking at the vineyards now, we feel a great sense of achievement to see how far we have come since these vines were planted.