AMR: After a warm January and early suckering, we aren’t so early any more. The last three weeks of cool weather have really slowed the vines. I estimate that we have another two to three weeks until flowering, and mid-May is normal.

I should explain suckering. It means removing undesirable shoots from the vine, whether they are too small or in the wrong place. This practice takes its name from pulling off “ground suckers” or water sprouts on the rootstock. But because Pinot Noir likes to push out more than one shoot per bud, and sometimes three, we remove additional shoots to make sure the canopy has the potential to ripen the fruit. Pinot Noir requires more leaf surface to ripen a given quantity of fruit than other grape varieties. We need a certain caliber of shoot – it must be larger in diameter than a pencil and grow up to the first wire of the vertical trellis to support one cluster. Even with more vigorous shoots, two clusters is our maximum.

Anyway, we had almost an inch of rain this week, and the timing was great. Everything looks nice. Unless we get drastic rainfall, we should be ok for vine vigor.

KJ: My friend just returned from Burgundy where he tasted the 2006’s, and he said they are very similar to our Pinots. Then I got to thinking how similar we have been to Burgundy for the past five or six vintages. The 2001 wines were well-balanced, 2002 was hot and the wines had impressive structure, 2003, hot and big, 2004 balanced, nuanced and elegant, 2005 near-perfect, 2006 wet with botrytis and sorting, but it’s turning out well.

AMR: We’ve had pretty much one of every type of vintage and managed to make good wines from each.

KJ: Yes. Consider 2002 and 2006 – total opposites.

AMR: This year we’re not rushed. We’re ahead in our maintenance work and we have time to organize. We’re finishing suckering, but we’re not ready to move the wires up. It’s getting warmer, but it’s perfect, not overly hot. And we are safe on water. The vineyards look very good.

KJ: What’s intriguing is the role of heat spikes, like July last year. Also, in 2003, we had 100 degrees every month.

AMR: And you wonder how that affects the plant. Perhaps we should not be so aggressive pulling lateral shoots after we move the wires and leave some so that we have more young shoots and new leaves. Then if the heat cooks or damages some leaves, we still have enough to fully ripen the cluster.

The French like laterals and they always trim only. Younger leaves will function fully throughout a long season when early leaves no longer do. It’s always a balance between having the canopies sufficiently open and having enough foliage to ripen the fruit. Maybe we should always prepare for heat spikes, selectively hand-trimming rather than pulling out laterals.

KJ: In Oregon, they don’t remove laterals, but they do a lot of mechanical trimming.

AMR: When you cut a shoot, it does some things hormonally. Healing a wound throws the plant off a little bit, but we have enough time to compensate.

There’s an argument that if you hedge, you should do it often. Don’t allow the shoots to get more mature and thicker. Cut them when they’re lighter. In the vineyard at my house, I do part lateral and part leaf removal, so the fruit is protected but not shaded. How are you doing?

KJ: I’m behind schedule. I’m late in blending because I had to wait so long for the malolactic fermentations to finish. I’m finishing barrel trials and ordering oak for the 2007 vintage. And I’m getting ready to rack some blends before putting them back into barrel. Some lots were stars this year that were not in the past, like blocks 290 and 390.

AMR: They may be maturing, coming into their own. Do you rely on the same coopers or are you using new ones?

KJ: I have my favorites, all Burgundian, like Francoise Freres, Villon, Remond, Mercurie, but almost every year I try at least a few barrels from a new cooper. For example, I liked Hermitage so much I’ve bumped up the amount significantly.

It’s amazing all the distinctive nuances that different coopers can add. I try not to get stuck in a rut, but we have developed a style, and you hope that coopers remain consistent. But barrels are a natural product, and if they vary, you may question the direction of a given cooper.

I have learned how to put different coopers and forests (sources of oak) together. Often with a given wine lot, there’s one cooper, forest and toast level that just nails it, that’s perfect. And sometimes there are coopers that are complementary, that match up well.

I have gotten away from using, say, barrels from four different cooperage houses in equal amounts, because that can be a wash. If there’s a barrel I really like, I say let’s dominate with that wood, then use some other barrels to fill in with nuances. I’ve really come to enjoy this process, and it’s often as simple as picking a favorite.

When you have really good fruit, that in some regards doesn’t need any wood, then you don’t have to build anything with oak. You want a barrel that showcases the fruit and doesn’t intrude upon it.

AMR: What are you accomplishing with racking?

KJ: Besides removing the wine from its lees (sediment), I am starting to assemble the blend. I’m rarely concerned with aerating Pinot Noir. I may rack once, put the wine back into barrels and then rack again right before bottling. Or sometimes I only rack once, just prior to bottling. If I have pulled all my barrel samples accurately to assemble composites, then there should be no surprises in the final blends. On the day of racking, I do go through and smell each barrel to make sure I don’t have one that’s flawed.

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