Vintage 2021 Begins

After harvest we let the vines rest. They’ve worked hard all season, and are best left alone in October and November. Their senescent leaves sent the last bit of nutrients back to the roots to be held in reserve for spring’s first flush of growth.  

This vineyard cycle dovetails well with the winegrower’s responsibilities. For the last few months we’ve been in the cellar nurturing young fermenting wines. By December the wines have settled down and are put to bed. 

Pruning marks the transition from one vintage to the next. It is also the winegrower’s transition back to the vines. The pace is slow and without time pressure. We have until April to finish. Grapevine scientists argue that we should hold off pruning until later in the winter. They may be correct, but a winegrower’s soul also needs the nourishment of pruning as we reconnect with our vines.

This year I decided to start pruning in a young planting of Sauvignon Blanc. It has been a problem block, and I am determined to turn it around. In 2014, just two years after planting, a massive cold front tumbled down from Canada in early March. The previous week had been unseasonably warm, and the young vines had woken from dormancy. Their sap was flowing making them vulnerable to freeze damage.

The damage was not noticeable at first, but as the growing season started, shoot development was disconcertingly uneven. Then some vines collapsed. Over the next several years, additional vines died. We started removing and replanting dead vines. This went on for years. 

This now presents us with a management challenge as there are a mix of vines ranging from one to eleven years old. Each individual vine needs to be pruned according to its capacity. Some vines are strong enough to produce a full crop, others so young and small that they should be prevented from cropping at all. The pruner has to make that decision.

(to be continued)

The combination of cold weather and COVID has reduced Linden’s ability to safely receive visitors. However, we are shipping by UPS to Virginia, DC, and (finally!) Maryland. Linden Direct

We will take a pause and close during the holidays and the month of January. We will then re-evaluate our options.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Update: December 2, 2020