The Wine Knows

Today has been blissfully sunny and warm, with temperatures in the mid-70s and nary a cloud in the sky over Washington's Columbia Valley.

In my humble but growing backyard vineyard, nine of my 10 Brunello clone Sangiovese vines are leafing out quite nicely. The 10th is just finally showing full bud break but is a good two weeks behind the others. Odd. Nine of the vines are entering their fifth leaf, and the 10th (though not the one slow in leafing out) is a cutting from late 2006 that I planted last spring.

Of my three Riesling vines, one is pushing out leaves and the other two are showing signs of breaking buds. These were planted last spring and were slow to take. A fourth never did anything, so I might go pick up another vine. I hope they will take off this year so I can get a decent crop in October 2009.

If my wife lets me, I'll plant four to eight Petite Sirah vines this year. That's probably as much as I'll get away with in our backyard.

My intention with these vines is to better understand the viticultural side of the business. Additionally, it is a lot of fun to see how well the grapes grow, considering my genetic lack of a green thumb.

Most of the grapes go toward jellies and sorbets. I have several liters of frozen juice in our freezer, with which I plan to make more jelly, as well as some popsicles for my daughter. I also gave nearly five gallons of juice to my friend Ken, who made several bottles of bone-dry red bubbly, most of which I've already drunk.