Hail

We are often asked about how we are adapting to a new climate. There are still too many unknowns for us to come up with a comprehensive plan, but some pieces are starting to fall into place.

Earlier this week Hardscrabble was hit by hail (both Avenius and Boisseau were spared). Unfortunately this is becoming a common occurrence. In the recent past, we’ve had some form of hail almost every growing season. Hail bruises or splits the berries. The damage depends on the timing (May is better than July), severity, and wind speed (in June 1998 we lost 75% of our crop to hail combined with 60mph winds).

Hail events over the past several years have fortunately been early and very light with little or no damage. However these hail storms did catch our attention enough to change our growing strategies.

Leaves can act as umbrellas, protecting clusters from some of the damaging impact of a light to moderate hail storm. We used to remove a significant amount of leaves from around the cluster zone to improve air circulation and sun penetration. This practice gave the wines more weight and ripe fruit characteristics. It also exposed the clusters to even the most minor hail event.

This year we did only minor leaf removal and only on the east side of the canopy (our hail storms always come from the west). It paid off. While some exposed clusters did suffer, most were spared significant damage. At this stage we’re not sure what the impact will be on harvest and the wines, but we do know that it could have been a lot worse.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: July 29, 2022