Progress Report - Sept 2022

Since this is the progress report, I want to talk about a failure… because one of the ways we learn and progress is by failing. Sadly, it seems like we seldom change our behavior – even if we know what we should do – until we fail miserably and experience the pain and heartbreak of our actions.

So maybe I should say this was a learning experience. I will be a better farmer and winemaker because of it.

The short story is that I over-cropped the Crenshaw Cru Syrah vines.

There are multiple studies that disprove the idea that lower vineyard yields equals higher quality wine. I took these studies out of context and allowed each of the Syrah vines to grow far too many clusters of grapes.

It is true that if vineyard block A yields 3 tons per acre of Pinot Noir, and same vineyard block B yields 1.5 tons per acre, that does not mean that vineyard B produces superior Pinot Noir.

However, if each vine in same vineyard block C is allowed to produce 100 lbs of Pinot Noir… the grapes and vines in block C will definitely suffer. There is a limit to how much fruit a single vine can grow and ripen well.

This year I discovered this limit for the Crenshaw Cru vines.

Some of the grapes never went through veraison. When this happens, powdery mildew sets in and begins to impact the flavor and health of the grapes. I finally picked the grapes this week and had to leave a lot (half?) of the fruit on the ground. It was just not worth making into wine.

Half of what I was able to use I had to pick through grape by grape, saving only the whole, ripe grapes and discarding the rest that were either under-ripe or damaged by mildew. Harvesting 14 vines took an entire day… which, as a frame of reference, is absurd.

Additionally, I likely have impacted the health of the vines for next year’s vintage. They are stressed and depleted. They need to recuperate, and that takes seasons.

To be fair, part of my intent was actually to diminish the vines’ vigor, which I’m sure that I have. But there’s a difference between dieting and starving. I think I metaphorically starved them.

Because maybe part of my motivation was also greed… trying to extract as much wine as I could from this tiny vineyard.

Ironically, if I had been more modest in what I asked of the vines, if I had been less greedy, I would have ended up with more, healthier grapes.

The good news – the progress that I have to report – is that I’ve let the vines hold a mirror up to my humanity and show me how I can be a better person, and thereby a better caretaker of them. And I can share this lesson with you and others, so that you can hopefully learn from my mistakes and be better viticulturalists.

You did know that you are a viticulturalist, didn’t you?

There will be less Crenshaw Cru wine this vintage. But it will mean a lot more.

- Adam
 

Not all of the Crenshaw Cru syrah was ruined...

Good News From Around The World

Champagne Allows a New Hybrid Grape – Voltis – Into Its Cuvee

https://winencsy.com/new-permitted-wine-grape-variety-in-champagne-voltis/

Champagne has begun allowing a new hybrid variety of grape into its officially regulated mix. This is good for several reasons – and shows a way forward for other regions around the world. Bordeaux has allowed several new hybrids into its mix of grapes as well.
 
Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture Establishes Partnership with Lithuania To Share Organic Farming Knowledge
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/organic/pennsylvania-forms-ag-relationship-with-lithuania/article_7dd879b0-fd39-11ec-9a17-57223d70d5e3.html

Most people don’t realize that “organic” has a Mecca, and it’s in Pennsylvania (home state of both Wendy and Adam!). The Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA is the oldest organization dedicated to organic agriculture, and is responsible for originally popularizing “organic” back in the 1970’s. Now the state of PA is spreading the decades of acquired knowledge of organic agriculture internationally.
 
The Earth Is The Solution to The Our Problems
http://naturalclimatesolutions.org/

This amazing resource shows in detail, with case studies from around the globe, the many nature-based solutions to climate change, food and water security and cleanliness, and human health and well-being. This is a pro-business, pro-human, pro-nature look at how the earth provides win-win-win options to regenerating social, economic, and environmental conditions for everyone.
 

Organic Wine Podcast Episode Highlight

Adam interviewed two well-known scientists and best-selling authors – Anne Biklé and David R. Montgomery – for the Organic Wine Podcast. Their books – which we highly recommend everyone read - are actually quite optimistic about our ability to regenerate soil health, roll back climate change, significantly reduce carbon, and improve human health and vitality via regenerative agricultural practices. They report the science behind how this is done, and show example after example from around the globe proving that it works in every scenario and at scale. Adam’s interview is a great introduction to their work.
 
Thank you all for your support! It enables us to produce the Organic Wine Podcast, promote solutions to some big problems, and continue to make delicious wine that grows (literally and figuratively) from these regenerative values.

Cheers!
Adam & Wendy

PS. At harvest, sometimes organic pesticides stay on the grapes...