This beautiful slab of limestone was unearthed during tiling

Step 1: Acquisition

Heart & Hands began with a dream of finding the ideal site for growing Pinot Noir in the Finger Lakes.  For us, this meant finding a vineyard site situated on limestone bedrock, in near proximity to the lake, near a scenic byway.  In 2007, we found and acquired 7 acres of this land on Cayuga Lake, and we began the years-long process of developing the winery and vineyard into what is is today.

We were hopeful that as demand for our wines grew, we would need to expand the size of our vineyard plantings, either with our growers, or by locating additional acreage nearby.  Susan led discussions with nearby property owners to see if there was any interest in selling land.  Fortunately, in January of 2017, we acquired the land just to the north of our existing estate vineyard.

The latest purchase of land is optimal for us for several reasons.  First, because it is adjacent to our existing property, it has the same geology and soils as our existing vineyard (Onondaga limestone) which has demonstrated to provide an exceptional foundation for the new vines and wine.  Next, the land slopes gently towards the lake, which will provide good air drainage and allow the vines to have excellent exposure to the afternoon sun from the west.  Finally, its proximity to our estate means that we do not have to travel a significant distance to farm the land, which will make vineyard management more efficient.

Step 2: Planning and Working the Future Vineyard Land

Over the past year and a half, we made plans to develop the vineyard.  In December of 2017, Tom selected the vines and rootstocks to be planted on the new vineyard.   He then created a blueprint for the layout of the future vineyard which calls for the addition of nearly 7 new acres of vines.  The new plantings will not only allow us to make more wine, but will also provide the opportunity to further explore the impact of our terroir on the grapes and the corresponding wines they produce.

Over the last few weeks, we took the one of the first steps to convert our field of dreams to a vineyard:  putting in drainage tile.  So what exactly is drainage tile, and why do we need it in the vineyard before vines are planted?   A tile drainage system is a network of perforated pipes which we install beneath the ground to remove excess water in the soil.  If excess water is allowed to remain in a vineyard, vine root growth and function can be impaired and can harm the long-term productivity of the vineyard.  By installing tile at appropriate intervals for our vineyard, we establish the best possible environment for the vines, and ensure that the amount of water is balanced and doesn’t exceed what the vines can handle.

Tom collaborated with the tile installer to custom-design the tile system for our vineyard.  During the design process, they considered the types of vines and rootstock which will be planted, and the land’s the soil type, geology, and topography.   The tile installer used GPS technology to map the entire parcel of land so that we could understand how water moves on our site.   The resulting design specified exactly where each tile line should be placed, along with the appropriate depth and slope for each tile line.

After design completion, we moved on to the installation phase.  Because of the amount of limestone on our property, the crew decided to install each line two passes.  On the first pass, they ripped through the soil, located any large limestone boulders or formations, and moved them out of the way.  On the second pass, they installed the tile using GPS to precisely position the tile in the right location, and at the right slope.   The work progressed without too many interruptions, other than finding giant slabs of limestone embedded in the soil!

The following photos show some aspects of the tiling activities, from the first day of tiling to the end state:  a completely tiled future vineyard.  We look forward to sharing more updates as we take the next steps to prepare the land for the vines.

Day 1 of Tiling: The first tile lines run on the East side of the property overlooking Cayuga Lake

Tom stands on the Tile Tiger – GPS driven equipment designed to dig deep and presicely place tile

Chunks of limestone hide beneath the surface of the land

The future vineyard overlooking Cayuga Lake after the completion of tiling

Looking back on the existing vineyard from the newly tiled land

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With the San Diego-like temperatures this past week (clear, sunny, mid 70’s), the vines made a quick leap from bud break to a first showing of the clusters.  The forecast for this week doesn’t look like there will be much of a change, so we’re probably going to see some significant growth this week.

What are the next tasks?

We’ll begin the process of “suckering” this week to remove the shoots that have emerged from the trunk.  This allows the vine to focus on putting energy into the shoots on the fruiting wire for this seasons production.

Next, we will do some shoot thinning to remove shoots that are too close to each other.  The grape clusters need appropriate air drainage, so it is important that each shoot (bearing 2 clusters) has its own space.  It is much easier to perform this task at this point in the season when you can use your fingers. As the shoots mature and harden off, pruning shears are required for removal, and the task becomes more difficult.

We will continue to post photos and updates as the 2013 season progresses, so be sure to check back to see where we are in the vineyard and cellar.

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Yesterday (April 30th) marked the beginning of the growing season at Heart & Hands – bud break.  While in some of the vineyard the buds continue to swell, a majority of the lower block is showing some green.  Last year’s bud break was much earlier, exposing us to frost risk. This year we can breathe a little easier knowing that we’re only a few days away from the “last frost” date.

We’re looking forward to a great 2013!

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One of the first signs of season for the vine is the movement of sap.  Stored in the trunk throughout the winter, the pruning cuts stimulate those juices moving upward.  The vine wounds naturally heal themselves (but draw plenty of activity from the insect community) and the sap eventually begins to move toward the buds.  Historically speaking, the sap from a grapevine has been used to treat everything from skin and eye diseases, to snake bites, or used as shampoo.

Despite the cooler spring temperatures (it was 25 today with a wind chill of 14), the vines seem to be on their own schedule with this sap movement.  With the forecast later this week showcasing some temperatures a little more in line with this time of year (50’s).  Purely speculative, the vines may just be on a lunar schedule and shrug off these cooler temps to push through winter in order to get on with their job for the season.

We can hope that this is a sign of good weather to come over the next few weeks.

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With the first day of spring arriving last week, we are hopeful that these winter temperatures are not going to be around much longer.  We noticed much more chatting from the birds this past weekend and the vine canes are bending a little easier.  Thus, we decided to get back on track in the vineyard and start to wrap up tying for the season.  We expect to be done in the next couple of weeks, so keep your fingers crossed for spring-like temperatures.

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From a winemaking aspect, there are usually a few tanks of Riesling that are fermenting into the new year.  Once those have completed, we cold stabilize the wines and begin blending trials. The blending trial evaluation can take weeks to complete with all the different variables (i.e. 8 different tanks of Riesling from 3 different sites to make 5 unique Rieslings can take a fair bit of time).  While the 2012 Pinot’s are resting in the barrels, we still have the 2011 Single Vineyard Pinot’s to prep for bottling, along with the 2011 Barrel Reserve.  Additionally, we still have all the post-fermentation chemistry to catch up on (yes, there is the science aspect to winemaking too).

The vineyard needs an annual pruning, which usually takes a few weeks.  This is followed by tying the young trunks to the stakes to keep the vines upright.  Finally, once things begin to warm up, we can tie the canes to the fruiting wire for the season.

What does the winery dog do when it’s this cold out.  Well, her Swiss roots really come out with snow on the ground.  Check out the latest vineyard snow romp from our pooch:

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So here is what has been going on:

Rolling Out The Nets

Once veraison started, it was time to minimize the damage to the fruit.  Birds of all types can contribute to a myriad of problems including higher disease pressure or turning a cluster to vinegar.  To avoid this, we have to protect the fruit:  especially red varieties, and especially those that ripen early such as Pinot Noir.  There are several different types of nets that can be deployed – nets that cover multiple rows, cover one row, or nets that cover the fruit zone.  We selected the type of nets that cover the fruit zone which will allow us to continue driving the tractor down the rows without issue.  Also, we will be able to simply roll up the netting and connect it to the trellis wire at the end of the season – so that in years to come, we can simply release the nets and drop them into place.

Leaf Removal In The Fruit Zone

Another critical step for the success of a tight cluster variety like Pinot Noir is the removal of leaves in the fruit zone.  This step allows for proper air drainage along with sunlight penetration to dry the fruit out more rapidly when we have either rain or morning dew.  However, we must be careful of the quantity of leaves removed along with the side of the canopy from which the leaves are pulled.  Typically, when rows run South to North, we would only want to remove leaves on the Eastern side of the row in order to avoid having the grapes be damaged with sunburn from the more intense afternoon sun.  Pictured is our assistant removing the Eastern leaves from the fruit zone on the middle block of our vineyard.

Prepping For Harvest

There are a number of little things that need to be cleaned up, oiled up, and double checked to make sure they are still in working condition.  Most of our harvest equipment is used in a span of 6 weeks, so now is a good time to start cleaning out the cobwebs and testing it out.  It should only be a few weeks before the first fruit arrives so the pressure is on!

Pinot Noir Clusters 7/27/12

Pinot Noir Clusters 8/15/12

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Veraison represents the transition from vine growth into berry development.  Thus, the vine (ideally) will slow down the growth of the shoots and begin accumulating sugars in the berries.  This is also a sign to others in the animal kingdom that the fruit is ripening and is much tastier than earlier samples.  Therefore, our next move over the next week will be to apply netting to the fruit zone of these vines to protect them from predators like birds, turkeys, and deer.

Normally in the Finger Lakes, veraison occurs a little later in August – so we were fairly surprised to stumble upon these clusters in the last couple of days…. Harvest will be just around the corner!

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