So yesterday our email, phone and cell service all went down for 18 hours thanks to this yahoo. It was a little surreal being completely out of touch, but kind of nice. I got some deep thinking done—made some decisions about production planning and cleaned out my desk a little.

We also went out to lunch as a group—which never happens. Since the winery is 10-15 minutes from restaurants and take-out food places, most of the time we all bring our lunch and eat here. Don’t get me wrong—I love our lunchtime here. We all eat together and talk about the topic of the day—movies, stupid people, bodily functions (don’t ask), Dominic’s passion of the month etc.

So on the way out to lunch, I made Claudia stop the car—cause in the vineyard there were four HUGE turkeys. Two male and two hens. It was really cool. Of course we don’t want to see turkeys in the vineyard when there are grapes on the vines—they eat them. But the shoots are just starting to grow on the vines right now…so no harm, no FOWL.  But there was something really surreal about these huge birds just walking up and down the rows.

I wonder sometimes if I don’t notice these types of things on a regular basis because half the time I am driving in and out of the winery I am looking at my Blackberry  (yikes) or dialing my husband to let him know when I will be home.  Did the cell service being down cause me to take the time and look around these gorgeous surroundings?

We discussed this a little in the car on the way back from lunch and then started listing some of the other creatures that we see around here, outside of the turkeys.

-White Herons
-Blue Herons  (saw a huge one yesterday right near the turks)
-Magpies, really pretty black and white birds.
-Deer (thankfully on the OTHER side of the fence)
-We have a few ducks that come back to the ponds every year to have their babies.
-Turkey Vultures (that’s how we know something is dead on the road)
-Brown eagle (we have one that come back every year in the summer. Its wingspan is HUGE.
-Mountain lion (one time when Bill was driving out at night, there was a dark colored mountain lion creeping beside his car on the road. We have only had that one sighting though).
-Hummingbirds. Tons of hummingbirds. Of course.
-Another type of bird that is black and red. Not sure what kind it is.
-Rattlesnakes. The baby ones are scary.
-Tarantulas. The guys like to bring them into the office to freak us all out. Ugh. So gross.

Supposedly there are some wild pigs in the hills too.

I hope I can continue to take time to enjoy the surroundings in which I work every day. I am lucky to have 100 acres of vines and gorgeous views just from my office window. Hopefully it doesn’t take another outage for me to appreciate it.

“Contrary to popular belief, Clos LaChance is not in the business of growing weeds.” 
Bill Murphy, Founder and CEO, Clos LaChance Winery
April 2, 2009

Why the statement from the big boss at our weekly company meeting?  We have some weeds in the vineyard that are growing over the vines. We’ve noticed them, and most importantly our guests have noticed them…and asked what the heck is going on.

Vineyard Manager Ben Scorsur explained that he really tries to shoot for only one herbicide application before Spring. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. A vineyard is always a work in progress.  Ben and his team are constantly dialing in best practices and applications.

This year, the weeds came up a little early. So we have some big (5 feet tall) weeds. No big deal. The guys are spraying as we speak (we have seen budbreak out there….so we don’t want the vines to have to compete for nutrients and water in the soil now that they are awake)  and they will burn down (from the herbicide) in a few weeks.

But reducing our applications of herbicides to one pass instead of two is important to note. Less chemicals, reduced man hours, less tractor emissions and soil impaction from the tractor passes. It’s all part of our quest to be more sustainable as a company.  

Gone are the days of vineyards with perfectly manicured rows without a weed in sight. Weeds grow on bare earth, unless you continually scorch it with chemicals.  So what we want is grasses and plants that are beneficial to grape growing….and encourage them to grow on bare earth vs. spraying a bunch of chemicals on the ground.  For example, legumes are a natural way to increase the nitrogen levels in the soil.

So if you come to Clos LaChance this Spring—and you most definitely should (this weekend we are excited for our Odd Bottle Sale), don’t dis our crop of weeds. Ultimately, they are helping the environment.  Function over form-who cares how the vineyard looks...let's just grow some good grapes!