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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