It's going to rain tomorrow. Actually, its going to storm tomorrow.

As of last week, our harvest was still under 50% complete.

What happens to wine grapes when it rains? They get wet.  If the rain only lasts for a day or two, the grapes will dry out and the harvest can continue. However, it the rain lasts for more then a day or two, the grapes are susceptible to rot. Also, the ground is wet and the tractors carrying the picking bins can't get into the vineyard. 

This one looks like a 2 day storm. That's what we are banking on here. So we will be back in the fields collecting the grape bounty on THURSDAY.

My dad, typical of the high tech executive that sees a problem and wants to come up with a resolution, sends an email to one of our winemakers this morning saying "It's going to rain tomorrow. What's the plan?"

Our winemaker's answer? "Pray."

“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!

At this time of year, our vineyard manager Ben Scorsur is very concerned about the birds. Birds love to eat sweet grapes. So when the sugars get high enough, the birds flock, ready for a feast of a lifetime.

For many of our small vineyards, Clos LaChance uses bird nets. The Estate Vineyard is much too large for nets. They are expensive, take a lot of labor to put on and take off, and birds do get caught in them from time to time. Last year, Ben looked into more sustainable bird control options. He came up with what I like to call the Squawk Box.

The Squawk Box is a series of distress calls from different types of birds, on tape. A horror movie for birds, if you will. Turn your volume way up and check out this video.  The device is located up in the tree.

 And voila...no birds!  It seems to be working. It replays every 30 seconds or so. Although the birds do get smart, so Ben and his team move the box around the vineyard from time to time.

We are gearing up for harvest here at Clos LaChance. Winemaker Stephen Tebb has predicted that we will start on August 26 with Sauvignon Blanc from the Estate Vineyard.

Please click here to visit the first of Stephen's Harvest 2008 Video Blogs. In this edition, Stephen discusses the 2008 growing season...the ice, the fire, the wind...a challenging growing season, nevertheless.

Click on play below to see our very first video blog.

I sit at a window...which on most days is a lovely experience. My view is the garden entry way , with beautiful flowers and lovely trees and CordeValle's pristine golf course in the near distance. I often have hummingbirds buzzing around as well, which is kind of surreal since hummingbirds are a cornerstone in Clos LaChance's branding.

Anyhow, I was typing away at one thing or another this morning, when this pops up in my window.

I screamed and yelled and jumped out of my chair. There are a ton of coyotes around here and my split second initial thought was that one had gone rabies mad and was trying to get in and eat me alive.

And then it suddenly became clear....

Tom Morrow, our funny-man maintenance supervisor was just getting a laugh. He got me. But that thing certainly looked real.

What is this crazy coyote statue for you ask? We have a large gaggle of wild turkeys that love to plop over our deer fencing into the vineyard. And once they are here, they gorge themselves on grapes.

This turkey "scarecrow" apparently works, so hopefully we will not have as many gobblers here this year eating our crop. And, this ugly coyote is actually part of Clos LaChance's commitment to sustainable agriculture...solving a pest problem without chemicals or other environmentally harmful pest eradication programs. For more about Clos LaChance's commitment to Sustainable Agriculture, please click here.

The vineyard team has been hard at work pruning the vines over the past few weeks...getting them ready for new spring growth. After last week’s torrential rains and winds, we are enjoying some spring weather this week. I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see budbreak sometime soon.

Most of the vines in the Clos LaChance Estate Vineyard in San Martin are "spur" pruned. The technique our crews use is tried and true, originating in France at the end of the 19th century. The cordons (arms) are trained along a wire. The spurs arise along each cordon. Each spur is cut to include only two buds. Each bud on a two-bud spur typically produces one shoot. See my fancy doctored up picture for a visual example.

Cane pruning is another method developed by the French. Each vine is pruned to one cane with 6-8 buds and one spur with 2 buds. We use cane pruning in our Semillon block, cutting the canes a few weeks before harvest to create the dried-up grapes that make the delicious Nectar dessert wine (more on that later!).

In a nutshell, pruning is an important part of the grape-growing process. When vines are pruned correctly, most of the buds will burst successfully and the shoots will be vigorous. However, if a vine is pruned too lightly, too many buds will burst, causing an overabundance of shoots and berries. Because the plants energy is limited, the shoots will be shorter and the number of grapes and size will be smaller. However, the yield of the grapes will be larger--threatening the completion of ripening.