A mid-summer's update Date: July 31, 2001 We have reached the mid-point of the summer. From a respectable distance, the vineyard appears to be in terrific shape with lots of good, healthy, green foliage. Closer examination reveals a few quibbles. An early infestation of potato leaf-hoppers left some of the leaves, particularly in the Merlot, cupped and yellowed. These are symptoms that in earlier years we attributed to a potash deficiency and tried to treat with more fertilizer. Now it is a matter of changing the timing of an insecticides pray or two. The little #@$%'S have returned, so what started out as a fungicide and foliar fertilizer spray last Thursday turned into afungicide, fertilizer and insecticide spray. Current major concern in the vineyard has been an absence of rain. Where the heck is all the stuff that deluged us last year? We have had a couple of sprinkles that have settled the dust, but nothing that has really penetrated the soil for a very long time. We now have to watch our footing in the vineyard to make sure we don't twist an ankle stepping in the cracks (an exaggeration, but not a large one). The established vines are holding up well so far, but any of the replacement vines less than two years old have been expressing signs of discomfort. I have been through the vineyard twice now using the 200 gallon sprayer as a water buggy to water each of the younger vines. A slow process that is now one of my excuses for some sloppy weed control. The hot, dry weather provides the preferred conditions for mites so we are starting to see some early symptoms of mite damage (a general bronzing of the leaves). If the warm, dry weather holds and the damage starts to get significantly worse, we will have to consider a control spray but ... At this point the drought is starting to have an impact on crop size which points to lower volumes, but more fruit intensity. Growers with water access have been irrigating. That is not an option for us. Our small pond is used for our spray water and for the first time in several years, it looks like I am about to find out what the bottom of it looks like. Major out of vineyard concerns relate to the Niagara Escarpment Commission's proposal to effectively ban wineries on anything less than 20 acres (we have 13.4 so guess what). The 20 acre minimum proposal has been at least in part instigated by the Wine Council (and the major wineries that control it). This is the same Wine Council that out of one side of its mouth is pushing a "land bank" concept for the Niagara Peninsula that would increase grape production at the same time that it is pushing for major reductions in grape prices because of a pending "surplus". Its not just grapes that get squeezed in Ontario's grape and wine industry. Remove grower options then apply pressure! At least the grapes will be a lot sweeter than my current frame of mind. Don Eastman TOP of page | previous diary entry