Tag Archives: wilkinson

2013 Vineyard status and Improvements for 2014

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2013 TURTLE VINES VINEYARD

– For 2013 we harvested 5199 pounds of grapes this year vs an estimated 1190 pounds in 2012! We hope to eventually harvest around 11,000 pounds.
– By carefully restricting the water from set to veraison, we were able to reduce the pH at harvest from 3.9 to 3.76 even while harvesting at a higher brix! Still need a ways to get to optimal winemaking.
– With the help of Patrick Hamilton, a SRJC student, we staked up the irrigation hoses, eliminated twins and improved the cane pruning process.
– Our gopher population increased dramatically over recent years but so did our capture rate. Twenty three as of this date.

IMPROVEMENTS FOR 2014

– Remove mystery vines and weak vines in the fall or spring
– Outsource to Wilkinson Vineyard Management some of the more labor intensive operations.
– Improve the process of harvest as we will have around 4+ tons of grapes.
– Decrease further the potassium uptake with prudent watering and magnesium supplementation of the soil.
– Implement a petiole analysis program.
– Add a second irrigation hose to around 20 rows in the vineyard for the weaker vines.
– Investigate biodynamic vineyard practices

 

2013 Harvest – Turtle Vines Pinot Noir

Harvest 2013!

2012 was our first harvest, and we made wine with the 1190 pounds, which turned out great!

This year we picked 1037 pounds on Tuesday Sept. 10th just for us and our wine and sold the rest of the grapes.  The rest we picked on Wednesday Sept 11th.  Wilkinson Vineyard Management showed up at 10:15am with 13 pickers.  In 1 hour 45 minutes they finished the entire vineyard.  They ended up with a little over 2 tons, split 0.8 tons 667 Clone and 1.3 tons Pommard Clone that was delivered to Horse and Plow Winery. So…with both picks we harvested 2.6 tons!

Here is a picture of our truck and borrowed trailer delivering the grapes.

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Awaiting the final weigh tag.

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Joey harvesting for our wine.

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Setting up the destemmer.

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First punch down of grapes with 30 ppm sulfur before they get 5 days of cold soak.

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