Category Archives: Viticulture

A Cool, Wet Spring Means Phomopsis.

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Bud Break

Bud Break, 12 April 2013.

Ah, spring!  Winegrowers have a different spin on that old ditty:  ”April showers bring May . . . Phomopsis.  More specifically, Phomopsis viticola, otherwise known as Phomopsis cane and leaf spot.  The weather this spring has been perfect for it — cool, wet days with relatively cool temperatures in the range of 59 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  We haven’t seen it in our vineyards for about four years, but this past week the tractor was being serviced so we had to miss spraying fungicides one week.  The infection seemed relatively small — just a few patches — but it must be controlled.  One can expect to see it anytime after bud break, which this year occurred around April 12 in our part of the world.

Readers of this space probably don’t care for the ugly details, but those interested in learning more can turn to any of several sources: Virginia Tech’s Online Guide to Grapevine Diseases and the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management Program are excellent, Cornell University has theirs, as do most every other university agriculture program.  The bottom line is it ain’t pretty, and if not controlled, it can ruin your crop.

How do you fight it?  You treat it the same as all of our other loveable fungal infections: downy mildew, powdery mildew, botrytis, black rot — with a fungicidal spray, applying once a week or so or after a heavy rain, being mindful of the limits specified on the label for the application of that particular product in a particular growing season.  There are a range of products effective against it, such as copper and sulfur (for those focused on organic production), but our personal favorite is a Dupont product called Manzate, which contains manganese and zinc.  The rules for its application vary by location and crop.  In California, for example, it is illegal to apply Manzate to grapes after bloom, yet east of the Rocky Mountains you can apply it up to 66 days before harvest (referred to as the “pre-harvest interval,” or PHI), yet for squash and melons, the PHI is 5 days.  Go figure.

However, all of these are contact products and need to be re-applied after the next heavy rain, and need to be applied again anyway to protect the growing shoots.  The inoculum overwinters in the vineyard, so a dormant application of lime sulfur is probably in order this fall and again before bud break next year.  This is also effective for botrytis and powdery mildew. Our usual practice is to combine two products in each tank mix — one that targets powdery mildew and the other downy mildew.  Fortunately the products that fight both of these are good for Phomopsis.  And for good measure, we include a tea of fermented Horsetail, as prescribed in Biodynamic practice for fungal diseases.  Whether it works or not is of course subject to debate, but it definitely can’t hurt.

No doubt Phomopsis is making an appearance in vineyards up and down the eastern seaboard this year.  This is certainly not the end of the world — we just need to be extra-diligent with our spray schedule this year to make sure we contain the infection so the disease doesn’t infect the fruit, and be prepared to spray in the dormant season to keep it from becoming established in the vineyard next year.

Six Inch Shoots, 3 May 2013.

Six Inch Shoots, 3 May 2013.

Pruning.

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Winter Work.

Ah, pruning!  After the restorative rest of winter, its time to get to work.  You would think pruning a grapevine is a simple thing, but like everything else in this business, nothing is ever easy or quick.  It takes a while to get the hang of it, but even when you think you’re doing great, along comes something to burst your bubble.

That something is our vineyard consultant, Paul Mierzejewski.  Paul has been with us since before we acquired the property.  In fact, he came to walk the land the day we did the structural inspection on the shell of a house we’ve restored.  He picked the first vineyard sites and gave his blessing, and the inspector pronounced the building sound, so here we are, seven years later.

We don’t like to begin until after the winter solstice, and better to do it as close to bud break as possible.  With an eye on the natural cycles so important to biodynamic agriculture, François Bouchet, writing in L’Agriculture Bio-Dynamique (1978), explained the timing and importance of pruning this way:

Following the Twelfth Night Feast, traditionally set on January 6th or twelve days after Christmas, softly comes the period of breathing which separates the centripetal phase of autumn and the centrifugal phase of spring.  The days already start to lengthen, while the inversion of the sap flow, or, according to our physiological model, the apnea phase, is also beginning.  It is possible to begin pruning, since risks of eutypoise contamination are on the decrease from now on.  The vine is ready to weep at the slightest warming brought about by a sunny day, thus preventing spores from being moved toward the inside…. From this point forth, we need to start thinking about the harvest.  Sometimes we don’t realize the important role that good quality of pruning plays in a successful crop.  When teams that lack training take up pruning, I start worrying for their harvest.  It’s always the dark spot in large vineyards.

The first few years we took his benevolent counsel and did the best we could.  Then Paul would arrive, not too pleased with what we had done — some canes too short, others too long.  Too many buds here, not enough there. Not tied down right — what were you thinking?  There was no pleasing him, so since then we bring in a crew of professionals and peace is restored in the kingdom once more.

IMG_1835 IMG_1836 Cabernet Franc Cordon.

Get the Artillery: Critter Control in the Vineyard.

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With the Presidential election upon us, we made a long weekend of it, staying at Annefield from Saturday through Tuesday.  Incidentally, since low voter turnout is so distressing in some quarters, why isn’t Election Day mandated as a Federal holiday?  Hm?  We needed to make a delivery to one of our best customers, Charley’s Waterfront Café in Farmville, and we took it as an opportunity to catch up on a lot of things, namely work in the vineyard.  Time for winter weed control while its still warm enough for the plants to metabolize the chemical.  We also needed to knock down the weeds in the vineyard rows.  In a perfect world we would grub them up with a horse and plow, which is what some biodynamic producers do.  But lacking the time, to say nothing of the horses and plow, we have to rely on herbicides.  In this case a substance marketed under the name Rely, which is safe to use around grapevines because it isn’t systemic, like glysophate.  If the chemical gets on a leaf, the leaf dies and falls off; none of the poison enters the plant.  Working this way is in the spirit espoused by Christine Vrooman of Ankida Ridge Vineyards — La lutte raisonée — “the reasoned struggle”, which simply means we do our best to be kind to the land, but economic reality and other factors force our hand.  Synthetic chemicals are used only if absolutely necessary.  Like now.

The first order of business was taking a powerful, brush-clearing herbicide to the fence line so we can install another layer of protection.  Each year the perimeter is breached by all manner of animal; hard to say which — we remember seeing a brochure at Château Morissette Winery that featured night-vision photographs of animals feeding in their vineyards.  A virtual rogues gallery: opossum, raccoon, turkey, deer, fox, bear — it would be comical if it were not so tragic, and expensive.

We hadn’t traversed the fence line since the end of the growing season.  We were amazed to find this 12 inch square hole chewed into the fence, with the added insult of some of the bird netting pulled through from inside through the fence — to build a nest of some sort?  What’s going on here?  What needs an opening this size?  We’re horrified, and fascinated.  It’s probably a fox — what else that size builds a den?

In the coming months we’ll reinforce the base of the fence, but Lord knows if that will be sufficient.  It’s likely we’re heading in a direction more akin to Bill Murray vs. the Gopher in the film Caddyshack (1980).

What is Your Price?

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Neala. Photograph courtesy of Joseph T. Samuels, Realtors.

Surely you’ve heard a variation of this old joke, credited as an anecdote and alternately attributed to one of two great wits,  Sir Winston Churchill or the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

At a late night dinner party, an inebriated gentleman asked an attractive woman whether she would sleep with him for a million pounds.

“Perhaps,” the woman said coyly.

“Would you sleep with me for one pound?”

“Of course not, what kind of woman do you take me for?” the woman responded indignantly.

“Madam, we’ve already established what kind of woman you are, now we’re just negotiating the price.”

We all have our price.  If someone came along and offered a sufficient sum, we’re confident any winery owner would sell — the right price dispels all sentiment.  For those with a hankering for the “winery lifestyle” (whatever that is), we thought we’d look to see which wineries and vineyards are currently actively for sale in Virginia.  Most listings, however, do not describe which varieties are planted, since in most cases the realtor does not necessarily offer the property as a going concern so as not to limit its marketability.

Information in most of the listings is limited, especially data on the vineyards.   Where vineyard information is provided, we include it here.  Of the wineries, we did not assume that they grow everything they produce, since fruit and finished wine are both easily purchased.  We tried to list the actual listing broker for each property, but realize that many agents dealing in higher-end properties will include listings on their websites not their own in an effort to find buyers.  If we inadvertently credit a listing to the incorrect broker, we regret the error.  There may be other wineries actively for sale that we may have overlooked, and there is the phenomena known in the business as a “pocket listing” — a property not actively on the market, but that a broker knows is available for sale should the perfect buyer turn up.

Marketing these properties is problematic.  In the case where the winery is the main feature, you are selling the business and the universe of buyers is rather small.  Those properties that feature large, historic houses, on the other hand, may have an advantage in that they would appeal to the person looking to have an important estate as a weekend retreat (assuming the buyer is looking for such a place, rather than a “working farm”), and for those properties the broker is emphasizing the house, dependencies and land, leaving the vineyard as an afterthought, often barely mentioning it in passing.  The reader will note that in the case of the higher-end properties, the vineyard is not the main feature of the property, appearing to be a caprice rather than a commitment.  The vineyards may produce, but rest assured the owners of those properties likely have others to look after them.

Whether there is a vineyard on the property or not, it can takes years to find the perfect buyer, because finding bank financing for this sort of property is difficult.  Usually its a cash sale, and not many buyers have this much cash at their disposal.  Still, a buyer can rationalize the acquisition as an investment, especially if the vineyard is leased and there are tenant houses to rent.  Pastures can be rented to cattlemen, timber can be managed and harvested.  This sort of “gentleman farmer” requires convenient access to transportation, given that their jobs are likely elsewhere.  At least two of the properties listed below (Eastfork and Albemarle House) have facilities for helicopters.

Chances are, the prospective winery owner might not want the varieties already in cultivation on a particular property, or has other ideas and prefer to start from scratch.  Perhaps your vision calls for a higher elevation for the varieties desired, or you don’t want (or need) an old house with its special challenges.  Then there is the expense of planting your vineyard and designing and building your winery — no small feat, especially when you factor in the time needed to get the thing established.  Virginia’s leading vineyard and winery experts have produced two excellent references: Dr Tony Wolf (et. al) Wine Grape Production Guide for Eastern North America (2008), and Dr Bruce Zoecklein’s Winery Planning and Design (16th ed.).  Going your own way may be a saner, more affordable approach, since you build what you can afford on your own time and to your specifications while not living someone else’s dream deferred.

Wineries for Sale

West Wind Farm Vineyard & Winery

  • Price: $1,950,000
  • Size: 105 acres
  • Under Vine: 5 acres
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Wythe County
  • Residence: 3,122 square foot c. 2003 house with 3-bedrooms, 2-bathrooms, 1-half bath
  • Broker: United Country

Molliver Vineyards & Winery

  • Price: $2,400,000
  • Size: 134 acres
  • Under Vine: Not stated
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Halifax County
  • Residence: 4,658 square foot c. 1800 house
  • Broker: J.W. Shelton Auction & Realty

Lost Creek Vineyards & Winery

  • Price: $2,999,900
  • Size: 50 acres
  • Under Vine: 21 acres
  • Varieties:  Not stated, planted c. 1999
  • Residence: 3,608 square foot c. 1997 brick house with 4-bedrooms, 4-bathrooms, 1-half bath
  • Broker:  Weichert (under contract)

Neala Estate Vineyard & Cellars

  • Price: $3,750,000
  • Size: 209 acres
  • Under Vine: Not stated
  • Varieties: Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier
  • Location: Madison County
  • Residence: 4,788 square foot c. 1840 Greek Revival brick house with 3-bedrooms, 5-bathrooms, guest house, farm manager’s house and other dependencies
  • Broker: Joseph T. Samuels

Swedenburg Estate Vineyard [we omit the link because our search engine warned that the site has a virus; visit at your own risk]

  • Price: $3,750,000
  • Size: 128 acres
  • Under Vine:  Not stated
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Fauquier County
  • Residence: circa 1792 stone house with 3-bedrooms, 3-bathrooms; c. 2007 2-bedroom, 2 -bathroom caretaker’s house
  • Broker:  Re/Max

Vintage Ridge Vineyards

  • Price: $3,750,000
  • Size:  44 acres
  • Under Vine: 7 acres, planted c. 2002
  • Varieties:  Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Petit Verdot
  • Location: Fauquier County
  • Residence: 4,000 square foot house, constructed of three re-purposed barns imported from New Hampshire
  • Broker: Virginia Estates and TTR Sotheby’s International Realty

Pearmund Cellars

  • Price: $4,750,000
  • Size: 25 acres
  • Under Vine: 15 acres
  • Variety: Chardonnay, planted c. 1976
  • Location: Fauquier County
  • Residence: c. 1994 3-bedroom A-frame house
  • Broker: Virginia Estates

Vineyards for Sale

Villa Vita Vineyards

  • Price: $1,500,000
  • Size: 28 acres
  • Under Vine: 7 acres
  • Varieties: Chamboursin, Viognier, Traminette, Vidal Blanc
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: None.  Improved with a barn
  • Broker: Virginia Estates

Eastfork Stables & Vineyard

  • Price: $2,225,000
  • Size: 160 acres
  • Under Vine: Not stated
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Augusta County
  • Residence: 11,189 square foot c. 1991 Greek Revival house with 7-bedrooms, 5-bathrooms, 3-half baths.  Includes two additional houses, dependencies, helicopter hangar
  • Broker: Frank Hardy Realtors

Glendower

  • Price: $5,250,000
  • Size: 579 acres
  • Under Vine:  11 acres
  • Varieties:  Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc, Chamboursin
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: 8,500 square foot c. 1808 Federal brick house with 5-bedrooms, 5-bathrooms, 2-half baths; numerous dependencies
  • Broker:  Roy Wheeler Realty Company

Ivy Creek Farm

  • Price:  $6,950,000
  • Size: 100 acres
  • Under Vine: Not stated
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: 10,122 square foot c. 1875 Federal brick house with 7-bedrooms, 7-bathrooms, 3-half baths; numerous dependencies
  • Broker: McLean Faulconer

Seven Oaks

  • Price: $8,950,000
  • Size: 100 acres
  • Under Vine: 15 acres
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: 8,870 square foot c. 1847 Greek Revival brick house with 4-bedrooms, 6-bathrooms.  Numerous outbuildings and tenant houses
  • Broker:  Stevens & Company

Tra Vigne

  • Price: $11,500,000
  • Size: 137 acres
  • Under vine: 14 acres
  • Varieties: Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Chambourcin
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: 20,068 square foot c. 2002 Tuscan villa with 4-bedrooms, 7-bathrooms.
  • Broker: Frank Hardy (under contract)

Albemarle House

  • Price: $16,000,000
  • Size: 98 acres
  • Under Vine: Not stated
  • Varieties: Not stated
  • Location: Albemarle County
  • Residence: 18,000 square foot c. 1985 45-room Georgian style brick house with 8-bedrooms, 13-bathrooms; numerous dependencies, including a chapel
  • Broker: Roy Wheeler Realty Company