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 Over at the
winery we’re lovin’ the four-plus feet of snow that’s blanketed the Brandywine
Valley the past few weeks.  It’s
turned our Snow Bar into a snow Igloo and everyone’s warming up with hot mulled
wines and hands over the fire pit. But out in the vineyard, it’s pretty rough
and tough.  Sure haven’t seen
anything like this before. The electricity keeps going out. The roads are
dangerous.  It seems like we’ve
been snowed out of the vineyards more than we have had access.  There’s too much snow on the hillside
farm roads to drive in. The days you park below and walk in, the wind about blows
you back down the hill. When you finally face the vine rows you find yourself
towering three feet over them because the snow is so deep and you’re standing
on top of it.  So you start digging
but you don’t have time to do much of that since in theory you’re there to
prune the vines – our critical winter job when we trim off last year’s dead
wood – not shovel show.

That’s the
part I hate and want to moan, moan, moan about…But, there’s a good side too,
actually a really good side. Number one, the vines are buried in 32° F
insulation.  Those suckers are
living large in what they feel is warm and luxurious accommodations. Number two,
we don’t have to worry about winter trunk damage with this kind of snow
cover.  No problem.  Absolutely guaranteed!

Job wise,
we can’t do a thorough job pruning off unwanted wood when half the plant is
buried, but it’s no longer a problem for us at the Miller Estate Vineyard.  The fact is (due to the ice storms we usually get) we stopped trying to do one
final pruning in winter several years ago.  It’s now our practice to leave 150 to 200 percent of the
buds actually needed for the upcoming growing season, kind of an insurance
policy, and then go back three or four times over the course of the spring and
summer growing season to fine tune the green growth and our crop
potential.  So, when spring has
sprung and the sun is gently awakening the vines from their winter dormancy,
we’ll go out to do our first pass and snip the few canes we missed – in much
kinder weather.  That’s when most
of we winegrowers really enjoy being out there in the wild green yonder.

And if you
haven’t heard enough foolhardy vigneron optimism lately, take a look at the
Farmer’s Almanac.  It predicted
this winter’s snow and now promises a hot and dry growing season.  I’m enthusiastically embracing that
forecast because I want so badly to believe there is life again after losing a
good portion of my grapes the last two vintages: ‘08 when we had to drop most
of the fruit on the ground after a devastating hail storm that damaged the
berries, and ’09 when the cool damp season caused me to declassify my Barbera
down to Sangria.  So I think the
odds are in my favor for one kick-ass, oven roasted, lip smacking,
born-to-be-wild Cabernet, 2010.

Now on with
the boots and back out to the vineyard! 

Eric

P.S.  The attached photo was taken at our
vineyard in Elverson in mid-March.