Bud-break, like it or not, IT’S GO TIME!
Well, it’s that time of year again when the soils around Parker-Binns are warming up enough to wake the vines from their winter slumber! The Chardonnay is the usual suspect for March Bud break and 2022 is proving to be no different. On March 19th, in real-time as I was making my final cuts in the Chardonnay, I watched bud break happening. It was so surreal to see the vines come to life right in front of my eyes! We were making cuts as close to bud break as possible and there is a great reason we use this practice at PBV. Timing of the final cut using a “delayed-pruning” method is critical. If you cut too soon, frost threat increases significantly, if you cut too late, you’ve essentially wasted the vines stored carbohydrates from last season to jumpstart this season. It’s a dicey game we play BUT, if we time our tasks well, we can mitigate some risk from frost AND have almost zero impact on the vines ability to set the volume of fruit we expect from healthy grapevines. Like so many other things in life, it’s a risk-reward mode of thinking. I’d say we hit the first Bullseye of the year! The timing of our final cuts were perfect. However, many more targets to hit until October!
So, the Chardonnay has shown its face and we are certainly hopeful for some warmer overnight temperatures until April 16th. (The last full moon in April this year) Until then, we’ll be ready to kick the tires and light the fires if mother nature has other plans. Wish us luck!
Much love and as always,
Cheers!
Cory
SoldSupply and demand.
With harvest and now Thanksgiving in the rear-view mirror, we will start to look at the 2022 growing season. 2022 will be a big and busy year for the team at PBV. That doesn’t seem too unusual as I write this, but there is an important addition to our goals for the 2022 season that I believe will excite you all as much as it excites us.
Adding 3 acres of vines is certainly on the list of things that will make 2022 different from recent years. Some of you may have even heard us talking about vineyard expansion over the last 6 months around the tasting room. This decision has been coming for some time and quite frankly, we may be late by a year or two. The tremendous support we’ve received over the last 2-3 years and beyond has put us in a position where we need to grow and craft a larger volume of wine. Mainly to keep you all from throat-punching us when we sell out of your favorite label! All jokes aside, in our minds there is no such thing as a “good problem” as we’ve heard this dilemma referred to countless times in the tasting room. We certainly appreciate the wide-spread understanding of our club members, new patrons and returning PBV family customers as we navigate these tricky and integral decisions on the future of the farm.
Some of the grapes we will plant this upcoming spring will include one additional acre of Malbec, one additional acre of Muscat and the first planting of a new grape to PBV, one acre of Vidal Blanc. We envision this expansion giving us the volume necessary to help keep your favorites (such as Maggie, LuLu White, LuLu Rose and Pea Ridge White) on the shelf year-round.
The newest vines will be added to the Southeast side of our newest vineyard block. This block is visible from the parking lot as you arrive to the tasting room. With that said, keep an eye out for more changes as we approach this next season of growth at Parker-Binns Vineyard!
We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with friends, family and loved ones as much as we did. Let’s get ready for a great and productive December and you’ll hear from us again in 2022!
Much love and as always, CHEERS!
-Cory
Read more