Over at the winery we’re lovin’ the four-plus feet of snow that’s blanketed the Brandywine Valley the past few weeks.  It’s turned our Snow Bar into a snow Igloo and everyone’s warming up with hot mulled wines and hands over the fire pit. But out in the vineyard, it’s pretty rough and tough.  Sure haven’t seen anything like this before. The electricity keeps going out. The roads are dangerous.  It seems like we’ve been snowed out of the vineyards more than we have had access.  There’s too much snow on the hillside farm roads to drive in. The days you park below and walk in, the wind about blows you back down the hill. When you finally face the vine rows you find yourself towering three feet over them because the snow is so deep and you’re standing on top of it.  So you start digging but you don’t have time to do much of that since in theory you’re there to prune the vines – our critical winter job when we trim off last year’s dead wood – not shovel show.

That’s the part I hate and want to moan, moan, moan about…But, there’s a good side too, actually a really good side. Number one, the vines are buried in 32° F insulation.  Those suckers are living large in what they feel is warm and luxurious accommodations. Number two, we don’t have to worry about winter trunk damage with this kind of snow cover.  No problem.  Absolutely guaranteed!

Job wise, we can’t do a thorough job pruning off unwanted wood when half the plant is buried, but it’s no longer a problem for us at the Miller Estate Vineyard.  The fact is (due to the ice storms we usually get) we stopped trying to do one final pruning in winter several years ago.  It’s now our practice to leave 150 to 200 percent of the buds actually needed for the upcoming growing season, kind of an insurance policy, and then go back three or four times over the course of the spring and summer growing season to fine tune the green growth and our crop potential.  So, when spring has sprung and the sun is gently awakening the vines from their winter dormancy, we’ll go out to do our first pass and snip the few canes we missed – in much kinder weather.  That’s when most of we winegrowers really enjoy being out there in the wild green yonder.

And if you haven’t heard enough foolhardy vigneron optimism lately, take a look at the Farmer’s Almanac.  It predicted this winter’s snow and now promises a hot and dry growing season.  I’m enthusiastically embracing that forecast because I want so badly to believe there is life again after losing a good portion of my grapes the last two vintages: ‘08 when we had to drop most of the fruit on the ground after a devastating hail storm that damaged the berries, and ’09 when the cool damp season caused me to declassify my Barbera down to Sangria.  So I think the odds are in my favor for one kick-ass, oven roasted, lip smacking, born-to-be-wild Cabernet, 2010.

Now on with the boots and back out to the vineyard! 

Eric

P.S.  The attached photo was taken at our vineyard in Elverson in mid-March.