A Wellington Wine Blog (of sorts)

Now that I’m retired, David asked me if I would be interested in resuming blogging activity. For those of you who weren’t following w00t ten years ago, I wrote a somewhat regular blog in 2007 and 2008 called Random Ramblings of a Weary Winemaker. The idea for this new theme and title came from David; I’ll start out with that concept and see where it leads.

What Would I be Doing This Month (May) if I Hadn’t Retired

I was both a hands on farmer and a hands on winemaker, a bit of a rarity in the California wine industry. I will write about grape growing and winemaking separately in order to give a relevant portrayal of what’s going on each month. I’ll be happy to answer questions and I’ll welcome suggestions for subject matter. As you read this, I’ll be out of the country until mid June, so if you have any questions about this initial blog you’ll have to wait a while for answers.

May is always one of the busiest months in the vineyard. I always spent more hours on the tractor in May than any other month. Disking (plowing) is performed in a relatively small period of time when the soil has the right amount of moisture. It can commence when the ground has dried enough to allow tractors to enter without getting stuck, and is best and most easily completed before the surface dries and hardens. Just think about how much easier it is to dig with a shovel when the soil is damp. Disking requires multiple passes at a low speed (1-2 mph), so it is time consuming. At the same time, grasses are also growing rapidly in vineyards with permanent cover crop, and mowing is also a time sensitive chore. Mildew control (in my case, dusting with sulfur) starts when the weather is warm enough for mildew growth, three days in a row with at least six hours between 70 and 85°F, usually late April or early May. I remember spending a fair bit of time wrestling with heavy farm equipment as I had to switch implements frequently.
The vines grow very rapidly in May, and it requires a lot of handwork to keep up with suckering, shoot thinning and selective leaf removal. These functions take much more time if you get behind schedule, because, as the leaves grow it rapidly becomes difficult to see which shoots to remove. May was always my highest vineyard payroll month and sometimes workers are as hard to find in May as at harvest time. Bloom starts in May for most grape varieties in most years, and late May / early June is the worst time of year for rain, high wind or excessive heat, as these all can inhibit successful pollination.

Nothing dramatic is going on in the winery during May, and there are few time sensitive work demands. It is a time for racking, stabilizing and blending, as we move wines along the path towards bottling. By now all the wines of the previous vintage should have completed primary and malolactic fermentation, settled clear and been racked off lees (fermentation sediment comprised of yeast and grape solids). We do a lot of tasting trials as we fine tune wines by blending, changing the amount of new oak, and considering fining, alcohol or acid adjustment and/or other treatments. My winemaking philosophy was to manipulate or treat wine as little as possible, specifically only when it would significantly improve the wine.

Bottling activity is increasing in general this month, but varies from winery to winery. The industry giants bottle year-round, the next tier might bottle more or less continuously from December through August, while smaller wineries bottle irregularly, typically using a mobile bottling line. Very small wineries that focus on one or two varietals might bottle everything within the span of a week or less. At Wellington Vineyards we bottled six or seven different times each year because we produced so many different wines. A typical May bottling for us would be entirely comprised of red wines 16-18 months post harvest; this May we probably would have been bottling more than one of our 2016 Cabernet sauvignons, other Bordeaux varietals and blends.

I’ll check in mid June, answer questions, and if anybody gives me a really good suggestion I’ll address it in next month’s blog.

~ Peter Wellington