2013 Vineyard Notes

4/21/2013  Small Vineyard -(Sevin) 1.5 oz/gal
                                          -(Captan) (Nova/Rally)
                                          -Bud burst- 4"
Growth Bud burst occurred around April 13 with Catawba leading the way and Chambourcin close behind. Heavy T-storm the night of April 19. Sprayed the morning of April 21 using the mix ratio below. Sprayed Big Vineyard with 3tsp/2gal Mancozeb and 1.5 oz/2gal of Sevin.

4/22/2013

The news this morning suggested Tempatures in the mid 30s but windshields of our cars had thin coating of ice. Couldn't tell what kind of damage might have occurred in the vineyard….will check this evening and again tomorrow. Evening check…GOOD NEWS, no signs of Frost damage!

5/2/2013 Small Vineyard -No Pesticide
                                       -(Captan) (Nova/Rally)
                                       -4"- 8" Growth, visible flowers on all.
After doing some work in the Big vineyard on 4/27/13, I noticed quite a bit of frost damage out there. My thoughts are because growth was close to the ground instead of elevated, on wire. Hopefully all will recover. Rainy, misty, drizzly since Sunday. Temps around 70 during the day. 5/02/13-DEER Damage in big vineyard...need to fix this quick!

5/6/2013

Kept my I on things this weekend…Deer damage doesn't seem to be getting worse but plan to put dogs in there when fence is secure. Also, have had a few chickens go missing…the trap is set and I'm ready! Supposed to rain off and on through Wednesday (5/08/2013)

5/14/2013

Temps this morning were cold enough for a slight glazing of ice on the windshield. Frost this late is RARE! Small vineyard seems to be okay but will have to see. Big vineyard suffered from the frost in April so I'll have to check to see if any damage appears. Also, I need to get another spray in.

5/15/2013 Small Vineyard -No Pesticide
                                         -(Captan) (Nova/Rally)
                                         -12" - 24" growth, some flowers starting to open. Pre-Bloom Spray
Crucial Spray………….We seemed to have survived the frost threat, Sprayed fungicide only as pest damage is very minimal so far. Vines look healthy and flowers should produce lots of clusters. Deer still getting into Big Vineyard…saw 3 this morning and when they saw me they kept running into the fence…didn't see how they got out. I need a DOG!

5/24/2013 Small Vineyard -No Pesticide
                                         -(Mancozeb) (Nova/Rally)
                                         -Excellent Growth, no signs of fungus and very little pest damage. Bloom Spray
Crucial Spray………..It's been a misty, light rain kind of week. Heavy drizzle this morning hampered my spray efforts but sprayed anyway. Should be okay as drizzle let up soon after spray was applied…we'll see. Applied Mancozeb at 1 tbsp/gal and Nova at 1tbsp/4gal. Used my new 4 gall backpack sprayer.

5/27/2013

Small vineyard looks good. Signs of spray residue still present on leaves so hopefully flowers clusters are protected as well. Growth looks great…haven't noticed the normal red leaf issue on Chambourcin yet. Bushhogged big vineyard today…no signs of deer damage since my fence repair on 5/24/13, good growth recovery, I hope I can keep it up!

6/2/2013

9 days since last spray…Big rains coming this afternoon into tomorrow. Decided to wait until after rain to spray (hopefully tomorrow afternoon). Tied up loose and long arms from current growth. Saw lots of insect activity but not much damage (including Phloxera on leaves) Also, saw some early signs of minimal black rot, overall looks good but still cautious. Worked in big vineyard, lots of good growth and no recent signs of deer invasion. Still need to spray round up to control weed growth in planted rows.

6/4/2013 Small Vineyard -None
                                       -(Mancozeb) (Nova/Rally)
                                       -Chambourcin is not quite pea-size. Post-Bloom Spray
Crucial Spray………Sprayed early this morning as sun was coming over the trees. We had heavy downpours Sunday evening (6/2/13) and again last night (6/3/13). Chambourcin is not quite pea size but growing nicely. Will probably notice BR damage in the next week or so....hopefully sprays have been timely. All vines seem to be loaded with flower clusters.

6/9/2013

As predicted, Black Rot spots are showing up on a few leaves of Chambourcin. Not bad yet but noticeable when tying up arms. Berries currently look good at pea size. Also removed unwanted arms and smaller non fruiting arms from trellis. Traminette is showing some clusters with poor berry set but overall looks better than last year. Norton now showing a leaf yellowing "thing" where it start as a brown patch and causes leaf to turn yellow. It's not black rot I don't think but could be a spray/contact issue. Not a big deal right now but will continue to watch it. Leaf Phlyoxera starting to show up...will add Sevin or Malathion to next spray.

6/10/2013

This stretch between sprays has been very wet! TS Andrea came through Friday with another intense rain period Saturday morning into afternoon. Sunday was warm and humid and more heavy showers and T-storms expected this afternoon (Monday). I should be able to get a spray in tomorrow evening before the next round come Wednesday night into Thursday. We'll see...

6/11/2013 Small Vineyard -Sevin
                                         -(Captan) (Nova/Rally)
                                         -Large Pea-size to pre-berry touch.
Sprayed in the evening…some signs of rot but I guess that's to be expected with all the heavy rains and high humidity. Seeing an occasional JB…Deer still bothering me in the big vineyard.

Traminette 2010 part A

August 9 2010

We harvested 340 lbs from our friend Gerry and spent most of the day crushing, destemming, and pressing.

Our first decision was to separate 6 gallons of free run juice from the rest to see what taste differences there will be once bottling time arrives. Free run juice is the juice that runs straight through the press without pressing.

We ended with 6 gallons of free run and 24 gallons of pressed juice. Our goal is 22 gallons of wine!

The numbers...

Free Run(6 gal):

• Specific Gravity (SG) 1.090
• Brix (sugar) 21.0
• pH 3.42
• TA(Acidity) 6.9 g/l

Big Batch(24 gal)

• Specific Gravity (SG) 1.090
• Brix (sugar) 21.0
• ph 3.44
• TA(acidity) 7.4 g/l

Based on volume we added 3/4 tsp of potassium metabisulfite (SO2) to the free run juice and 3 tsp of SO2 to the big batch. We allowed the juice to cold-settle overnight before racking.

August 10, 2010

We racked all juice off the mud after cold-settling. The mud is basically all the grape solids that settle to the bottom of the carboys...we want straight juice!

After racking we added D-47 yeast to 21 gallons of juice while leaving some additional juice to settle the remaining mud. We hope for an additional 3 gallons.

Better Late Than Never!

Well, I just about let the whole year go by without posting a single thing about the 2010 season. It doesn't mean I haven't been busy with my hobby, just slack about writing a post. Overall this season will have to go down as one of the strangest for me....


The Spring started off well with plenty of moisture and healthy vine growth but the summer months didn't fair so well. First, the drought set in. Now I know you're thinking "I thought droughts were good for grapes?" They are, however, the wildlife need water too. So this year, instead of waiting for the grapes to sweeten a little, the critters decided to come in early to enjoy moist leaves and green grapes. I believe most of the damage came from the herds of deer I have around the vineyard but the vineyard damage wasn't the only problem to evolve this year.

While I watched my young grapes disappear, I also noticed an occasional missing chicken. Hmmm? So as I spent the summer trying to trap whatever it was getting the chicks, the vineyard went to pot. Very depressing.


Eventually, I caught me a monster raccoon but that didn't stop the massacre. Later on, I caught an opossum. After 6 or so yearsof raising chickens, this is the worst predator year on record. I have since provided better living quarters for the chickens and hopefully resolved my predator issue. Now back to the grapes...


Brad and I continued to rack and taste the 2009 vintage of Traminette and Chambourcin and on occassion, we bottled some. I will have to say we were doing something right....this stuff was good!


I decided that the 2009 Chambourcin we had just bottled was good enough for competition so, after skipping last year's State Fair competition, I figured why not. I also entered a 2008 Cayuga White that turned out pretty good also.


In August, Brad and I again purchased Traminette from Jerry Coburn and this year's harvest had much better numbers than last....because of the drought of course. I have been much better about keeping notes this year as compared to last and will post them a little later.


So, as the year winds down...what?...Oh. You want know how we did in the State Fair. Well, the 2008 Cayuga White again, won first. 2nd time. This is a variety I have decided not to grow but Brad loves it so he's getting my vines. Needless to say after winning 1st...twice, it's gonna be hard to tell Brad not to grow it. 2009 Chambourcin is a dry red wine that we oaked...Best of Show! That's right! Best wine at the 2010 Va State Fair. We are on cloud 9! How exciting!


Cheers!

Introduction

Welcome to Spring Run Vineyards!
My name is Matt Houck and I started dabbling in winemaking about 7 years ago. Well needless to say, I was addicted so in 2005 I planted my first vines.

In 2007 I entered the Winemaking Certificate Program at UC Davis and later that Fall we started clearing 3 acres. Over the past few years I have been buying grapes of different varieties and experimenting with fruit wines along with Mead (Honey wine). Also in 2007, I entered the State Fair amateur wine competition at a 2nd attempt to try and place. I won 1st and 3rd and followed it up in 2008 with a 2nd and 3rd.

My intentions for using Facebook is to promote my blog which will document my winery and vineyard activities...and on occasion share some photos and wine discussion. So remember, I am NOT selling anything, this is just a documentary of my hobby.

I hope some day to go pro but for now I’m just having fun with it. Maybe one day I’ll have a tasting for all the Spring Run Vineyard Facebook fans.

So enjoy your favorite glass of vino while reading about my progress.

Cheers!

Winter Winery Activity

My good friend Brad Lawler came by Friday to help with some basic winery duties...racking, testing and of course tasting. We also bottled 8 gallons of my 2008 vintage. And so for the 2008 vintage we tested pH...

2008 Chambourcin/Norton Blend pH: 3.64
Cayuga White pH: 3.42
No adjustments were made prior to bottling except we spritzed each bottle with SO2 before filling.

Then we moved on to the 2009 vintage for testing and racking. We split the cost in purchasing these grapes from Gerry Coburn in Dinwiddie, Va...

2009 Chambourcin pH: 3.83, SO2 was tested and adjustments made
Traminette pH: 3.37, SO2 was tested and adjustments made

After all testing was completed we racked all the wine. Brad mastered topping off carboys by topping off his glass in between. All was going well as we were wrapping up the Chambourcin until I dropped a 5 gallon carboy causing it to shatter and leaving us with 5 gallons less than we started...that was depressing. We continued on to the Traminette with less drama. We'll do all this again in a few months with hopefully the same amount of wine we have now!

Now I have to clean the basement "winery"!

A picture of Norton grapes happy in the heat of August!

Beginning in January 2010 I will begin to document my basement winery operations and as the weather warms I will also include my vineyard management and practices. Stay tuned!