Winter of 2010-11 is just about history and as always it can’t leave a moment too soon. Not that it was a terribly harsh winter here in Northern Virginia. We certainly didn’t get the huge snowfall we got last year. And we didn’t hit any records for extreme low temperatures either. It was just a colder than average, windy winter all season long. Or at least that’s the way it seemed. As far as snow accumulations, we received 10 inches of snow here in central Loudoun County on January 26th. Because of the colder than normal temperature’s, the snow remained on the ground for quite awhile. Other than that we just got a couple of dustings of snow throughout the season.
It appears we’ll be entering the growing season with a water deficit. Fortunately we had two pretty good rain events on March 6th and 10th which have added about 4 inches to our total. Still this is not enough to totally make up for the lack of precipitation throughout the late fall and winter months.
Our coldest temperature this winter was around 8 degrees F. on January 24th. We have not seen any sign of winter damage to any of our vines. Talking with other growers tells pretty much the same story. Pruning is almost done and we look to be in good shape for bud break, whenever that might occur. So far, this year seems to be closer to what I’d call normal. We had a couple of days in the 50’s and 60’s, but the nights have been in the low 30’s and upper 20’s. So while we’re seeing signs of life in the very early budding trees and bushs, the buds on the vines are holding tight. Still, we did put on the first spray last year on April 10th, so anything can happen in the next four weeks.
We’re expanding our vineyard here at Willowcroft in 2011. We’re planting about an acre total of Albarino and Muscat Ottonel in a field next to our Parker vineyard. We’ve ripped out about a quarter acre of Riesling from one of our leased vineyards and will be replanting with Petit Verdot. Plans for this year include switching GDC trained Albarino vines in my vineyard over to a hybrid Smart Ballerina system. I had originally planned on switching to either Lyre or VSP training systems.
I ran into Chris Hill during the VVA winter technical meeting and he made the case for switching to what he calls Smart-one-legged Ballerina. In this system, the downward trained shoots are just on the southern side of the eastwest running rows. If this proves successful, I’ll try the same technique next year in one of our leased vineyards with Cab Franc and Merlot.
We had a number of rows in our Parker vineyard partially damaged by strong winds last fall so we’ll be going on a post replacement program this spring. We’ll also be adding more post extenders and catch wires to nearly all of our VSP trained vines this year as well.
The wines of 2010 are either waiting to be bottled, (whites), or are resting awhile longer in barrel, (reds). The quality seems to be quite high. I still maintain that the aromatic whites aren’t quite as floral as we’d see with a cooler weather pattern from veraison to harvest. However they are more aromatic than I thought they’d be. I will be very curious to see how our winemakers handled the high brix readings at harvest. We should have some pretty powerful yet hopefully balanced whites from last year coming onto the market soon. The reds have the potential to be outstanding. It will be fun to sit in on the blending trials this summer.
At last count Northern Virginia has 64 wineries in its boundaries. This includes 6 new ones. Aspen Dale, Capitol Vineyards, Catoctin Creek, Crushed Cellars, Granite Heights and North Gate are all open to the public, open by appointment only or plan to be open in 2011. Another vineyard soon to be winery, located about seven miles south of Leesburg on Hogback Mountain road, is expanding their planting. The owners planted 5 acres last year to Chardonnay and Viognier. They are in the process of planting an additional 15 acres this year, all to reds.
Dave Collins, winemaker for Breaux Vineyards for 12 years, has taken a position with a new vineyard/winery venture in Maryland. Dave has been given an opportunity to become partner/manager of this new operation working from the ground up. They will be planting 20+ acres in 2011 with plans to start a 4000 case winery in the next couple of years. Dave has been a fixture in the Virginia winemaking community and has sold fruit to many wineries throughout the state. All of us in the Northern Virginia area want to wish Dave well and hope he has great success in the future.
Here’s hoping that the late spring frosts of last year spare us this time around. And while I’m making my wish list let’s hope that the brown marmorated stink bugs aren’t going to be as terrible in 2011 as some would have us believe. I wonder if I’m pushing the envelope on my wish list.