Reaching for the clouds
These Madeleine Angevine vines have already been trimmed once, but here they are, spurred on by this showery season, 2 ft above the top wire again. Our tactic of keeping at it with lightweight battery trimmers is working though - we're gaining on them, I think.
This warmish, damp air we've had over the last week is classic mildew weather so it's important to keep plenty of air circulating by making sure the rows don't get overgrown. Vine powdery mildew - Oidium Tuckerii or to give it its Latin name Uncinula necator - came from North America in the 19th C when native American vines were imported into Europe, together with the even more devastating phylloxera louse. These two pests laid waste to European vitis vinifera vines. To grow vinifera, ever since, they have had to be grafted on to phylloxera-resistant American vitis riparia rootstocks. Canopy management - keeping the leaf cover trimmed to allow good air circulation - is the best defence against mildew. Hybrid grapes, crosses between vinifera and resistant American native vine varieties of vitis riparia have been bred to be resistant to Oidium, and some hybrids are grown for this reason. Seyval Blanc most widely in the UK. But the taste of hybrid grapes is not the same and the true vinifera is what delivers quality wine. Both our varieties, Kernling and Madeleine Angevine, are viniferas (grafted against phylloxera of course), so in this weather we are very vigilant. At the moment the grapes look great - fat and green like peas.
Some nice publicity for us from Decanter magazine Regular vineblog readers will know that our Leonora's 2006 was Commended in their World Wine Awards this year - one of only two English wine awards in the Under £10 category. Decanter's PR people have been contacting our local press. The Western Daily Press carried our story today (here is a copy) and more to come. You can see the Decanter results here - search on location England.
Friday, 8 August 2008