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In the Vineyard : Spring /Summer 2002


	Michael Davies

By Michael Davies, Chehalem Cellarmaster and Vineyard Manager (aka MD 20-20)

I have been part of the Chehalem team since harvest 1999 and feel very lucky to work alongside such characters as ‘Harry Potter’son-Nedry and Cheryl ‘Frodo’ Francis. You may wonder why I allude to two of the biggest box-office hits of the last 12 months… but you shouldn’t!…when one considers their combined wizardry in making such fantastic wines! (Besides have you ever seen the size of Cheryl’s feet?!)

Here on Middle Earth, or is it Muddy Earth, we have just completed the pruning, pulling of brush and the tying down of approximately 64,000 vines at Ridgecrest and Corral Creek vineyards. Fueled by the lunchtime consumption of tacos (the running count for 2002 is 1,346 tacos consumed), our dedicated crew of nine people has pruned about 7,000 vines each. We like to have the vines tied down before the sap starts flowing and the buds swell, but by pruning a little later than some of our vineyard brethren around the Willamette Valley, we hope to delay bud-break by a few extra days. This delay is a physiological response to the ‘wounding’ of the vine in pruning. With any luck this delay translates to our tender young shoots avoiding the last of the spring frosts.

With pruning behind them, the vineyard crew’s focus shifts to tasks such as:

Trellis maintenance—replacing any of the approximately 12,800 posts that may have been damaged by person, machine or elements, and equally, the 180 odd miles of trellis wire in our vineyards.

Weed control—our worst enemies, but not our most ubiquitous ones, are blackberry and poison oak. The vast majority of weeds in our vineyards are controlled by either physical means, hoeing and mowing for example, or with the aid of an herbicide. During 2002 we plan to implement straw mulching in certain trial blocks as a weed suppressant, whilst simultaneously increasing the organic matter content of the soil and reducing the use of herbicides.

Soil tests and amendments—As part of an ongoing commitment to healthier vineyard soils we conduct soil tests every year and these analyses enable us to monitor the physical and chemical nature of our soils and any trends that may be occurring. The reports in conjunction with our firsthand observations of the soils and the resident vines help us select amendments (if any) we might want to add. For instance, in one block of vines at Ridgecrest, we will be applying small quantities of an organic fish-based fertilizer to allow greater nitrogen and phosphorus uptake.

AS FOR THE CELLAR… The 332 barrels of Chehalem red wine are resting comfortably, being topped regularly to compensate for wine lost via evaporation in their constant 60 degree Fahrenheit home whilst we await the completion of malolactic fermentation. A new cellar equipment addition this spring controls humidity at a high, constant 85% to minimize elevated alcohols and wine loss due to evaporation. Across the crush-pad, in our lower cellar we have three eager white wines approaching their day of reckoning – or as we call it around here…BOTTLING! To get the wines to this stage they have been racked, protein-fined, cold-stabilized and are soon to be filtered. Before we bottle these wines (2001 Pinot Gris, 2001 Pinot Gris Reserve and 2001 Dry Riesling) the winemakers have one final opportunity to ‘tweak’ the wines, but otherwise we are at your mercy! Or are you at ours?