Salisbury Vineyards

December 2006

AVILA VALLEY GRAPEVINE

JOHN SALISBURY

Whew! Glad that harvest is over. Anytime you pick your Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon in the middle of your Pinot Noir harvest in Avila, you know something went awry with weather. What was particularly crazy is that we picked our Chardonnay just before November which made it a good 3 weeks late.

All in all, the crop was very good with good sugars and hang time although it appears generally the wine in the State is going to be a little on the acidic side because of weather. It also appears we had an average year around 3 million tons in the State down around 10 – 15% of last year’s record crop. There is still a lot of 2005 Cab, Syrah, Merlot and others available for sale in bulk wines. There is not a glut but plenty of supply in inventory which is good for the consumer in the short term.

It is interesting that California wines have been sustaining a 3% per year increase in sales over the last several years and that the State’s total non-bearing acres (3 years old and less) of most of the varietals is only around 3%. So, if no one is planting and we are increasing sales each year at a healthy rate, are we going to have enough California grapes available to keep up with demand in a few years? Varietals that are particularly short are Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and Riesling mainly because they only can be successfully grown along the California, Oregon, and Washington Coastline. Even through acreages and graftovers have been increasing in these varietals, it is a nice scenario for our local growers and wineries. We plan to plant more acreages of each of these winegrapes and other specialties over the next few years.

We are injecting our Fall liquid fertilizer in the drip irrigation system (3.5-10.5-13% NPK plus 8.5% sulfur) at 15 gals/acre. We are not putting in a bunch of Nitrogen which stimulates leaf and cane growth which are now going into dormancy and it’s not needed at this time. A good shot of Phosphorus, Potassium, and Sulfur is given to build up the roots and store food in the trunk and cordons (arms) for the Spring budbreak push, hopefully on time this year on St. Patrick’s Day.

We are going to be testing some new exciting organic fertilizers this coming year so that we can then be 100% organic. We have never put on an insecticide (bug killer), eliminated chemical herbicides (weed killer), and have switched from our Sulfur/Sterol based fungicide (mildew/mold killer) program to an organic mineral oil that really worked out for us this last Spring and early summer. By careful monitoring, we have not even put a fungicide on the Cab & Syrah up in Paso the last three years.

We are farming in a gold fish bowl in Avila Valley with million dollar homes on the north and south, an interstate freeway on the east, an endangered steelhead creek on the west, a charter school on the southwest, and bordering a bicycle/jogging road on the south edge of the property. So whatever we put on the vineyard has the great potential of annoying our neighbors and being in the creek within 5 minutes and in the Pacific Ocean within 15 minutes after leaving the ranch.

By going more organic, we are operating more mechanically which necessitates more labor and trips through the vineyard with equipment to chop weeds and maintain the cover crop which prevents runoff. Also, we must make more applications of organic sprays than the more powerful traditional chemical sprays which have longer control times. To compensate for the excess diesel, we are switching to bio-diesel in our tractors this year which is now more available although much more expensive. So if you follow behind me on my tractor instead of diesel fumes you will smell French fries!

By being mostly organic, it is more expensive overall and we do not benefit economically but it behooves us in so many other ways to be more environmentally responsible. If you need free grape canes for making Christmas wreaths, stop by the Schoolhouse Tasting Room and we can fix you up. Bottoms Up and Merry Christmas from the Salisbury & Rucks Family!