Dec 1999 Shelburne Vineyard's second season:

Highlights: 1200 vines were planted April 1999, on a 2nd site, "Meach Cove", located a mile south of our original Shelburne Farms Breeding Barn site. The original site was planted last season with 2,000 vines.  Varieties planted this season: --More Riesling (A classic Northern European Vinifera variety). Several different clone variations were planted:  #239, #110, Konstantin Frank "Arctic"). --Zweigelt (another pure vinifera, originated in Austria).  This is the 1st red variety we have planted in any quantity. Its done well in the Niagara-On-The-Lake Ontario, Canada region.  We'll see what it can do in Vermont! --Traminette (a new hybrid of Gewurztraminer and native American varieties).  For white wine with a spicy nose. --NY73.0336.17 an experimental red hybrid (a cross between American and European Vinifera varieties) developed at Cornell University.   --Reliance....this is a seedless table grape. No crop was planned or anticipated this year....good viticultural practice mandates removing all fruit buds and fruit from the vines until the 3rd season. ________________________ Letter from Shelburne Vineyard December 21, 1999 With the summer of 98 the wettest one on record followed by the summer of 99 one of the driest, Shelburne Vineyard is surely initiated to Vermont and its weather. This is by no means a complaint, as the ‘99 winter lows were decidedly benign. No vines were lost over our first winter. The earth mounded up against the vines last fall for winter protection was removed in April and May. It was indeed a pleasure to do this work in dry soil. Though the vines did all survive, most of the upper portions of the canes died back to the soil mound level. Nineteen ninety nine marked the inauguration of our second site, and first planting, at Meach Cove Trust . Thus it was also the first season in which I had to manage both the Shelburne Farms Breeding Barn site and the new Meach Cove site on Bostwick Road. The trip by tractor between the two sites via a farm road takes about 15 minutes, making for a manageable situation. The new site at MCT was expertly prepared for planting in early April by Tom Bushey and his trusty John Deere tractor. Tom is a long time and respected Shelburne farmer. Twelve hundred vines were planted at the new site in dry soil in late April, with the help of MCT folks along with a few Ag students from UVM and St Michaels. We used a transplanting machine loaned to me by Horsford Nursery of Charlotte. It made for a quick and easy planting operation. Varieties planted at Meach Cove consisted of the white grapes Riesling (several clonal varieties) and Traminette, and the red grape Zweigelt (an Austrian vinifera) and the seedless table grape Reliance. It has been exciting establishing this wonderful new site. It brings my plans and dream for Shelburne Vineyard a very significant step forward. We have now met my goal of 5 acres of grape vines. Key activities over the growing season were weed control, trellis system construction and watering. It was too dry most of the season to sink the approximately 200 in-row posts at the Breeding Barn site, so, with the help of my summer intern, Matt Dees, from the UVM Ag program, we strung 2 applications of wire on each of the 58 rows from end post to end post. Then, after hurricane Floyd softened up the surface in September, we proceeded to sink the posts using tractor powered implements. Alas, with the wires already in place we could not position the tractor to do this work without damaging the trellis wire or vines. The tractor was just too  big! We learned an important rule: never, NEVER,apply wires to a trellis before all posts are in place. We did successfully install the posts, though, based on a suggestion from Chris at MCT, using an auger powered by a short and very maneuverable skid-steer. It worked so well I am considering using the auger-skid-steer combination to dig holes for my final planting of 900 more vines next spring. The trips back and forth between the two vineyard sites were mostly for weeding purposes. I was reasonably satisfied with weed control this summer. Vines at both sites were largely weed free most of the growing season. The weed badger tool was up to the job. Without it, I believe that chemical free weed control would be nearly impossible. Water! A key activity at Meach Cove this past season was watering the newly planted vines to hopefully keep them alive. I dragged the 1,000 gallon Meach Cove tank up and down each row, with my tractor countless times, dribbling a little water on each vine. Chris and his grandfather's water delivery method worked great!! Thanks so much! The vines seemed to maintain green leaves and some growth all summer. The two year old vines at the SF Breeding Barn site were on their own. It was not possible to water both sites in this manner. They also did manage to stay green all summer, while the grassed row middles went yellow and brown. Riesling seemed to do best while the Vignoles variety did show a little stress. Japanese beetles, though, did quite a bit of damage to the leaf canopy. Matt Dees performed controlled experiments with various organic pesticides. Neem oil looks quite promising for both beetle control and mildew prevention. Management of the bare earth row-middles at MCT was accomplished with a disker, and via a Bush Hog on the grassed row-middles at the Breeding Barn site. Both these tools were courtesy of Shelburne Farms. They did the job, but I could use a foot or two wider Bush Hog and a heavier disk machine. I'll be on the lookout for such tools this winter. The vines have now been put to bed for winter. They were hilled up, using my custom built, tractor driven, hilling tool (again in nice dry soil) the week before Thanksgiving. Now I'm hoping for another mild winter as the vines likely went into dormancy without the optimal nutrient balance (most importantly carbohydrates) due to the drought (and perhaps Japanese beetle damage). Proper carbohydrate balance make for winter hardy buds! We'll know next spring. I am grateful for the help, support and encouragement from all at Meach Cove and Shelburne Farms. A by no means complete list follows. At Meach Cove: a special thanks to Chris, Gary, John and Paulette. At Shelburne Farms: special thanks to Joel, Sam, Nathaniel, Marshall, Jeremey Andrew, and Steve. And, thanks again to Meach Cove and Shelburne Farms for giving this venture, and my dream, such critical support. Next season (2000) will hopefully be the first (small) real harvest. I look forward to sharing a grape tasting, followed hopefully by a wine tasting with all. Kenneth Albert