On Monday, I walked our estate vineyards in Carneros with Dr. Phil Freese, our esteemed viticultural consultant, as well as with Kenneth and Nabor. Having successfully weathered the first week of this month and its five days of high 90- to low 100-degree temperatures, we decided to take stock of The Donum Estate.

Last week we brought our (early-ripening) Dijon clones in from Nugent Vineyard in the Russian River Valley and also harvested Dijon fruit from the small vineyard around my house located due south of the city of Sonoma.

Yields at both vineyards were very low -  about one-third of normal. Yes, that’s correct, we are off over 60% in tonnage this year. In the Russian River, we had heat with single … More…

Last Friday, just before we left work for the long Labor Day weekend, Nabor and I sat down to discuss where we are with the 2008 vintage. That conversation follows. The holiday weekend brought moderate temperatures, but this week is warming up again and the heat should peak on Thursday when we plan to start picking the Dijon 115 clone planted around my house.

NC:  I saw Anne’s last post about thinning an already light crop. I prefer to say that we are adjusting the crop, improving it. We are balancing each vine, one by one, according to the capacity of each shoot, whether it can accommodate one, two or zero clusters.

It’s important how you approach the vineyard. We have a commitment to quality. Adjusting is not a formula and not simple. You must adjust to the crop size and situation each year, and we have to maintain our focus – … More…