Missoula Vinyard

[OilnH2O]

Spent the afternoon getting the juice off the skins -- had used a
food-grade "brute" style 32 gallon "garbage can" - no pictures,
though. About 100 lbs. of grapes yielded about 9 gallons of juice.
Bubbling nicely! (Marachal Foch)

(Rich, I tried to get off the skins 24 hours after pitching the yeast
-- these spent about 48 hours on the skins with yeast at about 50* -
there was no activity after the first day. In the garage, the must was
at 43-45* overnight.)

 

[OilnH2O]

I love Montana!

Days have been above freezing; nights below freezing since Valentines Day. (Remember when it was St. Valentine's Day?

)

So, a couple afternoons this week and the pruning is done! Can't really tell from the photos, but I ended up with lots of debris on the ground. Almost all the cuttings showed green under the outside layer, so... Spring's around the corner!

 

[grapeman]

Your grass looks almost green there. I hope my pruning goes as quick!

 

[OilnH2O]

Wonderful spring so far -- but dry. We had little snow over the winter and while that won't make any difference here because of the ability to irrigate it could bode ill for agriculture during the summer if we don't get spring rains.

My biggest concern is the buds... they are starting to show a little life -- lots of white fuzz appearing. Leon Millot is below, and Pinot Noir the second picture. What we don't need is bud break and then a late freeze -- which can happen in these parts! We had that last year... That will not be good!

Pinot below...

 

[grapeman]

Hey Dave it is good to see you again. Yup those are starting to swell a bit, but not a lot yet, which is good. Hope it all goes well this year and you win the battle over those big 4 legged foragers.

 

[OilnH2O]

Here is a spring up-date from Montana --

Pruning done late February (as above); buds showing a little fuzz in late March (above) and now, on 18 April things could pop any day. Buds are much bigger, and green when rubbed off the main stem. This is a Leon Millot

And this is an Edelweiss - the shine on the pruned surface is showing oozing of liquid so the vine is powering up!

Grass is getting green and will need mowing this week -- spiders are "ballooning" in that webs are everywhere spring is here. Now, to avoid a late hard frost. We had that last year in early May and it reminds us that, while we may have mild weather in February or March, it can freeze just about anytime!

Dave

 

[grapeman]

Good luck with the vines this year Dave!


Looks like you are just a little behind us here and we have had an early spring.

 

[AlFulchino]

looking great...i am only at the halfway point in pruning....had a rainy three days...start up again tomorrow and hope to complete in 7-10 days....i hope you and i dont hit a late frost

 

[OilnH2O]

Al, seems like my buds are at the same point -- about as big as they can get without busting out. This is Marachal Foch... the second is Edelweiss. Both are half again as swollen as last week and I think it will take just a little rain and a warm day -- and they'll POP!

The pinot is a little farther behind, but not much. Days are 60's after 84* last Friday, but nights still in the 40's with upper 30's about every 4th or 5th day.

It would be interesting to see, of all the folks here with vines, just what the range of "bud-break" is across the country!

 

[grapeman]

Mine are just about that stage Dave. I found a LaCrescent vine planted last year that the leaves had just popped on, but that is the only one.

 

[AlFulchino]

looking great.....i like the thickness you cut back to in that 2nd pic...wood looks good and healthy

 

[Waldo]

Looking good !!!

 

[OilnH2O]

We're so close to bud-break -- probably they've technically "broke" but the "leaves" are still tight! (Marachal Foch - one of Bilbo's!)

I'm actually happy though -- this was during a "sun break" today -- we've had strong winds and the temp outside is 38* and on our 10 o'clock news they said that would probably be both our low... and our high for tomorrow!

Last year we had 27* overnight on 4 May and it really knocked down the grape production -- now you know why my reaction to that global warming buzz is "bring 'er on!"

 

[OilnH2O]

Oh, MAN!!!

Deja' Vu all over again! Last year on this date we had an overnight (as the post above) low of 27* -- and then today we had a fast-moving high come in and now the weather-guru's are saying this for Missoula tonight... ouch! Luckily, the buds look the same as the picture above... if that could be "lucky!"

I think I'm saying my bedtime prayers a little extra special tonight!

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[grapeman]

I hope your early morning lows weren't too low Dave. This year is yet again a roller coaster ride.

 

[OilnH2O]

It's 26* as I write this -- I turned on the sprinklers at 6am so the neighbors probably think I'm crazy! I guess we'll see!

 

[OilnH2O]

I sure do hope this works!

For those of us "on the margin" and for those who are getting into this backyard vineyard game -- a key point is not JUST what "zone" you are in, but the dates between frosts. We've had a typical spring -- snow is gone by February and doesn't always hang around on the ground all winter. But, we can still get "winter" weather at any time, depending on elevation of course. We're at 2,500' msl and under most of that spring/fall snow-line (we just had snow last Thursday, but the snowline was above us). But we can still get killing frosts in May and September. As I've posted in this thread before, last May on this same date we had a similar overnight low, and it really hurt my production as well as Ten Spoons across town -- and he has 15 acres in production. So, there is a lot to this, but it's still fun!

(But now I know a little of what those orange growers feel!

)

 

[OilnH2O]

I know I like pictures - so for my Southern Bud's (and everyone else too!) -- here is what it's like when they say, "Springtime in the Rockies!"

This is a Marachal Foch

And a Pinot Noir, three-year old vine

Almost looks pretty... in a perverse sorta way!

 

[AlFulchino]

holy cow...how did these fare?

we may get in the low 30's sun night into monday and then also into tuesday...between the vines and the annuals and tropicals we have outside ( w no room in the greenhouses) we could be in serious trouble

 

[ibglowin]

Thats going to be me in a few years Dave! I am at 6400ft and we have had 3" of snow on Mothers Day a few years back.....

Keep us posted on how the ice coating worked out!