Tasting Notes: from the vineyard

Dispatch from the Vineyard Vol. 1.

The grass is starting to green, flowers are popping out of the ground, the treeline is turning red. You know what that means: Spring Training! The vineyard staff here loves to talk baseball, and we are all excited that Kevin Youkilis, Robinson Cano, and Oliver Perez (go Ollie!) are in Florida getting themselves ready for opening day. But its spring training here at Jonathan Edwards Winery too. We're getting the vineyard in shape for the growing season.

Our opening day doesn't usually happen until the first week of May, but we've got plenty to do to keep us busy. We're finishing the pruning of the Pinot Gris today. Pruning is a lot like managing a baseball team. You have to make cuts. Imagine a baseball field crowded with hundreds of players. Dudes would be tripping over each other and the best players would get lost in the shuffle. When pruning a vine you can only keep a certain number of buds if you want to make high quality wine. Good roster decisions help you win baseball games; good pruning decisions help you grow the best fruit. And growing grapes in CT is like playing in a tough division (like the AL East), you have to be on top of your game if you want to succeed.

After the pruning is finished we still have to train the vines by wrapping the fruiting canes (a one year old shoot that doesn't get cut out which contains this seasons crop) around a "fruiting" wire, which runs straight down the row a few feet off the ground. If we don't do this then the law of the jungle prevails, which makes for bad team chemistry.

On warm days (temp > 50) we practice pitching, fielding, and batting during our lunch break on the wiffle ball field. Guy's curve is still a few inches outside the strike zone, and Dan's fielding is a work in progress but by the time the season starts I'm sure they will be ready to go. I usually give up the most bombs (home runs) while pitching, and the guys seem to be happy that I'm already in mid-season form.

I feel like our lineup is pretty solid going into the season. Our Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc provide steady production and are just entering their prime. The Gewurztraminer is looking to rebound from a tough 2009 campaign (rain, hail, wind driven rain, and more rain during bloom crippled our yield) and is my preseason pick for comeback player of the year. And like many talented baseball pitchers have done, the Pinot Gris is poised to breakout after solid rookie and sophomore seasons.
Next time you visit the winery take a walk outside to see how the training is coming along.

Chris Moore