Spring update
It has been a very wet week or so in the County (with a lot of rain and high winds over last weekend) which is slowing down work in the vineyards. On our drive around the County yesterday we noted that a lot of geotextile is still in place over the vines, and manual movement of dirt off of buried vines hasn’t started yet in many vineyards. That could be workers slowed down by the weather, or just a more conservative and cautious approach given that we’ve had a few nights dipping to near frost temperatures.
Everything around the County is looking very green right now, and buds are out on most of the trees. Grapevine buds won’t be far behind. Looks like some warmer and drier weather is on the way for the end of the week which will get things moving along more quickly. Also looking for 20C temperatures and sunshine for the exciting PEC Terroir event on the weekend. Visit https://www.pecwines.com/featured-events/terroir for more information.
We took a closer look yesterday at progress at Closson Chase Churchside vineyard over the last 10 days (since our last report). You will note that the soil has been moved off of the buried canes and they have been raised and tied off.
Also stopped by Trail Estate for a look, but the fields were too muddy from the rains to cross for some close up pictures. Trail is another winery that is all in on geotextiles, and also moving to more sustainable practices (avoiding tilling and promoting other vegetation between the vineyard rows). Trail’s geotextile covers have all been removed and rolled up, and the canes raised and tied off.
It will be interesting to see relative progress between Closson Chase Churchside and Trail over the days ahead given their proximity to each other, and residency in the same County microclimate. Canes were raised at these two vineyards within a few days of each other so we can see if there are significant differences between traditional vine burying and geotextile covers in early season progression.
May 1, 2023 @Closson Chase Churside vineyard
April 20, 2023 @Closson Chase Churchside vineyard
