Dry

How do you know when you are in a drought? When a winegrower hopes for rain. It has been almost six weeks since our last significant rainfall. The hit and miss thunderstorms have consistently missed Linden.

We are now seeing signs of hydric stress in some sections of the vineyard. At Hardscrabble Vineyard we purposely plant Cabernet Sauvignon on our rockiest, thinnest, and least water retentive soils. In a typical growing season this is a wise choice and these blocks produce our best wines. In a typical growing season the vines are usually just slightly stressed. But now we are seeing some younger vines (10 years or less) on our poorest (but usually best) soils looking more parched than we would like. Climate is what you plan for, but weather is what you get. 

Notice in the photo below that a berry or two is starting to turn color (veraison) and that the base of some of the shoots is turning brown (hardening off). This is precocious. Too early to be normal, these are signs of stress. Fortunately most of the vineyard is very healthy and almost thriving under these dry conditions. But we could still use some rain.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal/Field Notes: July 29, 2023