January 8, 2010

I was actually close to being happy.  It looks like we’re going to get some form of health care reform soon, as to whether it’s perfect, who knows, but it’s a start, and we’ve started pruning.  While pruning may appear to be, and can be work, there isn’t anything that is more gratifying than looking back over a well-pruned row, and no better way to beat the recession blues than being the one who pruned the row.  The guys love to prune and they are very good at it, which is good, as pruning has to be the most important annual vineyard task.  According to Prof. Ron S. Jackson: “It [pruning] permits the grape grower to establish a particular training system and regulate individual vine yield.  Pruning can permit the selection of bearing wood (spurs and canes), and thereby influence the location and development of canopy growth.  This can affect grape yields, health and maturation, as well as pruning and harvest costs.”

Note carefully the underlined word, ‘affect.’ Recently an accountant was surprised how we can’t seem to program our blocks to consistently yield five tons per acre.  Please understand accountants are not bad, often they are good, this one accountant, meh, he clearly fails to grasp the challenges of growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the cool, cool, Green Valley of Russian River Valley.

For more please go to

http://www.ironhorsevineyards.com/about-us/biographies/laurence-sterling-blog.html

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