![]() It takes years, decades, and generations to intimately know a vineyard. Again I think we need to follow our European and Californian colleague’s lead and farm more sustainability.Ĥ. I feel that a major contributing cause to old vine decline is the constant use of chemicals in the vineyard and a lack of awareness of soil health. We are just now seeing vines in their twenties, but many of these old vines are struggling. ![]() Older vines planted in the right place have the potential to produce wines with more depth, concentration, structure and aging potential. The heavier soils in the cropland below the hills are planted instead, yielding vigorous vines and green wines.ģ. They are rarely planted to grapes because of the cost and time involved in developing them. These are the best sites for potentially great wines. Upland soils that are rocky, poor, and excessively well drained were the first to be let go and revert back to forest. Here in the mid-Atlantic mountains and piedmont, farmland has slowly been abandoned over the last 100 years. This is where we in the East are just starting to wake up. This is why soil drainage defines site and wine quality. Northern European winegrowers have the same problem. Do Burgundian winegrowers wish they were in Languedoc? Why don’t the Bordelais pack it up and start growing grapes in North Africa? Yes, our weather is challenging. We always seem to enviously compare ourselves to sunny California. Winter damage, lack of sun and rain related diseases define our region. For years we in the East have talked climate. Most tasting rooms offered Chenin Blanc, Gamay, Petit Syrah, Riesling and/or Gewurztraminer.Ģ. By now we do have some clues, and its time to start doing what we do best. Decades ago we all planted a plethera of varieties because we were basically clueless as to what would do well. I have tried to avoid this by field grafting and interplanting, but now I have to face the music. Pulling out vines that you planted is an emotional experience. Paying by the acre puts more of the quality decisions and risk on the winery. Paying by the ton encourages excessive yields and early, safe picking. Most contracts discourage quality because they are based on tons rather than acreage. Picking by the numbers (Brix, pH, TA) may produce safe, balanced wines, but it doesn’t allow for expressive wines of character and personality.Ĥ. In some cases making several picking passes through the same vines is necessary. Picking decisions need to be by soil type, slope aspect, vine age, canopy side, and clone. ![]() Just because it’s the same variety doesn’t mean it all ripens at the same time. If you don’t shoot thin, shoot position, leaf pull, hedge, or green harvest, then you aren’t in the game.ģ. It is easy to rectify the situation, but impossible to justify it if you are not a believer.Ģ. Most eastern vineyards take too much fruit off their vines to make great wine. It doesn’t matter whether you express it in tons per acre, pounds per vine or clusters per shoot. They are a culmination of my own experiences and those of my colleagues from the East and Europe.ġ. These are decisions that can be implemented this coming season. The following requires sacrifice, risk taking, patience, vision, and focus. I have divided this into short term (seasonal) and long-term decisions. It’s time for us all to examine our PR mantra: “wine is made in the vineyard.” I would like to outline the areas where I believe we can do better. So why aren’t our wines consistently getting 90 points by Parker or Spectator? We’re not trying hard enough in the vineyard. ![]() The public is thirsty for local wines and willing to pay for quality. Most regions now have several decades of experience to draw on. Viticultural knowledge has progressed dramatically. I am convinced that we can grow great wines in the East.
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