It’s been raining off and on this week. We only have a day or two of pruning left, but we’re not working. The cover crops are so high and wet in the rows that we quickly get soaked to the waist, and that’s miserable.The rainfall has been pretty evenly distributed this winter. Although the soil is pretty saturated, the cover crops have done a good job absorbing excess moisture. We haven’t seen a cover crop of this size in years. The vigorous growth is welcome, because the roots penetrate the soil. When the roots die back, they leave room for oxygen and water to move down deep, and the plants also break down into fertilizer and organic matter in the soil.

The vines look relaxed, in great shape … More…

KJ: Someone asked at a tasting recently about the benefits of spontaneous or native yeast fermentation. I said that they create little “flaws” in the wine. They are slower building cultures — not the quick, clean commercial yeasts of the 1970s and 1980s — and they produce more complexities, including higher volatile acidity (acetic acid), which merits our attention.

There are usually multiple indigenous yeasts present that start fermenting and add complexity, and then the strongest yeast cultures finish the wine. One facility we know used to be a sparkling wine cellar, so there is a strong bayanus resident yeast population there.

Such resident populations cause us to be very … More…