Been asked more than a few times in the last couple of days......how are the grapes doing with all this cold weather and will those great Snake River Valley grapes be ready to make their way into Huston Vineyards wines in 2013?
The question is real.....hovering in the low teens during the day,dipping close to 0 degrees in the early mornings, one starts to wonder how do plants, especially Mediterranean grape plants, continue to do their “thing" in these miserably cold days.
It is surprising how resilient these little producers of fruit can be in what one would consider to be harsh conditions. If there was any real bright spot in these current harsh conditions it would be the timing of when the real cold commenced.
The little grape plant has had a relatively long period of time to shutdown since last harvest....Oct 13th… and has continued to acclimate to the cold, developing what we call ...cold hardiness. The varietals we have planted in our vineyards have relatively high cold hardiness at this time of year especially for the primary buds.....which is next year’s fruit.
Cabernet Sauvignon can incur some really cold temperatures to -8 degrees below 0 before seeing a nominal amount of bud damage of 10% or less. Merlot is -9.5 degrees and Syrah is -7. Cane damage can occur around 0 degrees and usually the bulk of small cane is pruned off in February and March. Trunk and bark damage occurs at much colder temperatures usually -10 or below. For those techie readers you can find detailed info @ the following link http://wine.wsu.edu/research-extension/weather/cold-hardiness/
The net...net….. looks like we say our prayers and ask for a plentiful harvest in 2013. One never really knows in the farming world......but it looks like it may be okay. Sure excited to hear the weather forecast this evening....a storm blowing in…just might rid the valley of this COLD inversion, warming the temperatures to 40 degrees.
Check back for more developing details.
Cheers
