Meanwhile in the vineyard

Pruning is about 80% complete at Devoto Garden, I was up last week to help in the 828 block. The vines are "cordon/renewal spur" pruned; each vine is 4 feet apart, each cordon/arm is 24"; the goal is to leave each arm with six "nodes" about 4" apart, each node trimmed back to two buds on one of last year's canes, which will become two fruiting canes this year.  Simple, right?  You'd be surprised...

Pruned vines on right; those awaiting haircut on left.  Wood left in rows to be mulched by tractor with flail.








My over-matched, minimalist Japanese shears; need to get new ones more to the task of working the woodier spurs.  A source of amusement to others in the field.

Younger replacement vines will be bent to their training wires soon when things are a little wetter.  Conversely, not great to prune when wet due to eutypia and other diseases spread by water that can infect pruning wounds.

2012s resting

Shot from the top of the barrels; they do sway just a bit when a 160lb man (okay, 165-170 really) is up there topping them up...






Went through all 15 barrels looking for any off aromas, tastes, chemistry.  Liked the new barrels (Damy, Francois Freres).  The one-year olds were sublime, always a favorite.  I have a particular tight grained 2010 Taransaud barrel which by my lights continues to contribute a subtle weight and spice.

Color looks nice, no?  Some folks add enzymes and other products to their musts to enhance color -- we do not.  This year we did not add yeast: the ferment was strictly driven by the native yeasts on the grapes.  This is the color the soil and fruit gave us, the color of good Pinot Noir we think: a shimmering brick red, not a deep ruby purple like a Cabernet or Petite Syrah.

Here's the aeration/titration set-up for assessing free SO2 in the wine. Free SO2 and pH are a predictor of molecular SO2, a critical factor in wines' oxidative and microbiological stability.  Time consuming to gather this data, but an important factor for my Pinot, where our goal is to neither rack nor filter prior to bottling.