Chelsea, Glenn, Dave and Amos at Kick Ranch

Farming decisions in a high end vineyard focused on quality wines are difficult to make. There are so many non-controllable variables. Will we have a warm or cold spring, a late spring frost, no spring rain, a lot of spring rain, will the summer be hot, cool……who knows.

We do approach the growing season with a plan, believe it or not, a written farm plan. We make projections of grape tonnage, state the planned vine architecture, and define all the expected farm activities such as mowing, excess shoot removal, vine training, canopy management (we actually position the grape clusters relative to the sunlight through the adjustment of canes, selective leaf removal, and selective lateral removal), nutrition additions, irrigations, and disease control.

In a perfect world, we approach veraison with the crop load in balance relative to the volume of leaves, the fruit is growing in exactly the right position, the fruit is uniformly ripening, and the weather consists of warm days and cool nights. I don’t know about you guys, but my relationship with God is not so good to insure all those things align.

Hard Spot 1:

Fruit Thinning is a must in a high quality vineyard. I am not one of those people who equate low yields to high quality. However, I do equate quality with balance. Each grape cluster must have its own space…..no touching! That decision is easy. But when we make this fruit drop, that is when a lot of vineyard owners become somewhat surly. They see big money on the ground. And to add insult to injury, they paid me good money to put it on the ground.

This year, we did not have to do much thinning because of “balance”. Mother nature took care of that during May when a somewhat abnormal late season rain washed the bloom off the grapes resulting in shatter (fruit cluster that failed to develop normal grapes).

But we did have to make a pass through the vineyard and drop the fruit that was ripening late compared to the majority of clusters. Even ripeness is a non negotiable issue for the top winemakers. It wasn’t fun explaining to the vineyard owner why we must take his already small crop and make it smaller. I really don’t remember a management skill related to this type of counter intuitive customer discussion being taught in graduate business school.

Hard Spot 2:

“The sugars are high but the pH is low” is the first almost universal winemaker comment I hear when the time to pick is nigh. Although sugar levels are only one part of the quality assessment of grapes (taste, tannins, acidity, have to be right also or the grapes will not make great wine) grape contracts are normally defined by sugar levels. The vineyard owner has completed his part of the bargain and met the contract requirements……but the winemaker will not pick.

Our job now becomes one of mediator, magician, and I guess, “whipping post”. The vineyard owner, who pays us, wants the maximum tonnage he can get and still obtain the desired quality. The winemaker, who holds our reputation in his hands, wants the optimum quality. We are in the middle.

In fairness, nearly all of the wineries we are dealing with are paying prices per ton of grapes that are significantly above county averages. They pay the premium so they can request more time to let the grapes hang on the vine after they have achieved “contract ripeness”.

The hard part for us is the management of irrigation that can help preserve fruit volume and weight (growers likes this) and the management of irrigation that promotes flavor. (winemakers like this one). You guessed it, these two irrigation approaches are not remotely similar. If I am a successful magician, this works out great. If I am successful as mediator everyone is satisfied but not ecstatic. If I am not a good magician or mediator, I am……the whipping post.

(Now if you have been following the blog and taking note of how well I eat you will now realize there is more to the story. When you find yourself in the whipping post situation there is a distinct advantage to being the largest person in the discussion)

Hard Spot 3:

It is harvest season and it is raining. Our biggest fear has manifested into reality. We still have hundred of tons of wine grapes worth millions of dollars and they are drenched. Some varietals can handle some rain and come through OK, others are now at risk of rotting in the vineyard.

Every winemaker and grower wants me to tell them exactly what the options are and exactly what the outcome will be. Do we risk the crop for a chance at great wine? Do we pick early to preserve the crop and risk a mediocre wine? This is a situation when I want to give that lawyer like answer, and leave the decision in the hands of the client.

So, I try the lawyerly approach and lay out the options, explain the risks associated with all the options, and wait for my vineyard owner and winemaker to respond. Then I get the question I already knew was coming, “If it was your vineyard or your wine, what would you do?”

I love this job, just not today.