Tighten Up

Below are two photos of our Meter by Meter block, currently undergoing a heavy-duty haircut. The first few rows are mostly covered in wild oats. As we delve deeper into this block we encounter a sea of Vetch. We're cleaning all of this up right now and training these rapidly maturing vines in a vertically staggered gobelet (head trained) manner.  This is the 3rd leaf for this block (3 years old), and we should get a decent little harvest from these vines this year.  This is own rooted Estrella Clone Syrah planted in extremely cramped-quarters. It will deliver smaller-than-usual berries with nuanced flavor. 

Until next week, 
MCA

Apr 24, 2019 at 11:11 AM Permalink

Welcome to the Jungle

We've all heard the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for."

California and I were in cahoots for more rain and we got it.

The native plants and grasses on the ranch are happily going off, growing wild and free, while the vineyard is slowly being tamed.  Our biggest challenge right now is addressing the explosion of Vetch in the Meter by Meter and Orchard blocks. Vetch loves it here here, and while sometimes considered a weed, this nitrogen fixing legume is great for vineyards. It's just a pain in the ass to navigate while organically tending to the baby vines underneath it. 

As far as the rest of the vineyard is concerned, it's relatively smooth sailing. I've made several passes with the mower, alternating rows or blocks as the weeks go by in order to make sure the grasses can alternate as well. When the pattern changes, a fresh new swath of vegetation has popped up. Clover, Lupine, Yarrow, Vetch, Oat, Barley and dozens of other wonderful little plants rope though the rows with a vigor I've never seen in my 40 plus years on this property. 

It's pretty cool.

More next week. We're hooking up the drip for our baby Syrah which has been transplanted from the nursery into the OG Ledge block. 

Thanks for visiting.

MCA

 

Apr 17, 2019 at 11:11 AM Permalink

Git Along, Little Dogies

Lulu and some other dogies in repose at the Adams Ranch


While I do enjoy the challenge of balance, I've taken to stacking these cairns mostly for the well being of our mower. I can't tell you how many times (especially while mowing the Lake Block) that the tractor has breezed past a football-sized hunk of stone only to hear a "ker-chlunk!" as it gets scooped up into the blades of the mower. Lulu has been wise to keep her distance. Shards of sandstone have gone whizzing past her head more than once. Good girl, Lulu.

I'll be heading cave side tomorrow to check in on the 2017 and 2018 Ledge vintages. We will bottle the Adams Ranch and James Berry 2017s soon. The 2018s have recently gone through malolactic ferentation and are really starting to shore up flavor wise. We are very excited to share these new wines with everyone. The 2017s will include the usual suspects: Adams Ranch Vineyard, James Berry Vineyard, Rolph Family Vineyard and the amalgamation of all of those vineyards in the MCA Cuvée, the only non-vineyard designate in the batch. The 2018s will see the same lineup with the addition of a Bien Nacido 100% Syrah. Stoked!

Ranch wise, the nursery has been transplanted and the vineyard soil is plenty saturated. We designated the Bunkhouse Block as a field blend, with Syrah, Grenache, Counoise, Cinsaut and Roussanne planted for the estate red blend, and Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Clairette for the estate white blend. Ultimately we pick these grapes together in order to coferment them, but it is entirely likely that we will pick them seperately for optimum ripeness.

For those in the Los Angeles area, I will be pouring at Mission Wines in Pasedena this Friday the 12th. I look forward to seeing some old pals and of course making some new ones.

Arrivederci, 

MCA


 

Apr 10, 2019 at 11:11 AM Permalink

Transplant Song

Whelp, we found our window of opportunity and took it.

The rains stopped for about a week and we were able to transplant thousands of nursery vines into our vacant vineyard infrastructure.

Not much else to tell you right now. The photos below show how magnificently the cover crop continues to flourish, as well as a comparison between baby, adolescent and mature, fruitful vines.

Little Blue & Owls Clover in "The Fin" (Grenache)


Grenache Blanc in the Nursery


Newly Transplanted Syrah in the Upper Ledge Block (Syrah)



Lupine in the Orchard Block (Grenache)


Vitamin B-1 Transplant Solution & Counoise in the Nursery


Owls Clover in The Fin (Grenache)


Syrah Cuttings in the Nursery


Pre-Gobelet Grenache in The Fin


Gobelet Grenache in The Fin



 

Apr 3, 2019 at 11:11 AM Permalink