Spring

It’s spring in Healdsburg.  The new chickens are laying, the baby goslings are completing test flights, the barn swallows are nesting, and the vines have finished flowering and fruit is set.

For the second year in a row we have had significantly less rainfall than normal, with only 28 inches this season to date.  A normal year produces around 45 inches of rain.  A very dry October through January had everyone starting to think options if we didn’t get a wet spring.  Luckily February turned in a decent 12 inches which filled the pond up, and then some spring showers in April and May kept the ground moist and gave the vines a nice drink before the summer heat.

We did have a short heat wave in April that hit the low 100’s, but as the ground moisture was still good, did not cause any problems for the vines.  The grapes are now set and it looks like we should have a good harvest, although there is a fair amount of shatter on the Merlot caused by the really high winds in April.
We had sheep from Canvas ranch again all winter to keep the grass and weeds under control, they did their usual great job and we sent them home in early April as the vines had budded out and they made too tempting a target for hungry sheep.  With all the spring showers the grass continued to grow and we had to get the tractor out to mow the grass prior to tilling in the cover crop.

Our menagerie of animals grew again this year, although not in number of species, just more.  Our big addition was more chickens, which arrived in November and started laying in early May, and as we had increased the size of the flock significantly, in large numbers.  Nothing like really fresh eggs from free range chickens that are feasting on fresh grass, seeds, weeds and bugs.  Oh those bright yellow yolks.

Fall

Now with the heavy rains in October we are starting to see some mold on the grapes, so we have been busy dropping moldy fruit and pulling the leaves off the vines to allow the grapes to dry out.

We managed to harvest the Petit Verdot in mid October, but the Cabernet Sauvignon was still not ready to harvest and we needed the ground to dry out before we can get equipment in to harvest.

At the end of October with the Cabernet Sauvignon still low on sugar and showing signs of considerable mold, in conjunction with the winemaker at Benziger we made the very difficult decision to not harvest the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes this year as the quality was just not good enough.

So once again Mother Nature is in control.