Gamay and Chardonnay, May 2021.
In early May, we planted our second vineyard block of V. vinifera: 600 Gamay and 600 Chardonnay vines. This time, we chose dormant bare-root vines—again sourced from our friends of leisure at Guillaume Grapevine Nursery in CA. They were not only easier to plant than the potted vines we used in our first vineyard block, but more importantly, they arrived from CA in better condition.”
If you are going across a continent in the back of a truck it’s better to be sleeping.
Getting the block ready for planting was easy—though ‘easy’ is a relative term—because we did a lot last season while preparing the first block, including subsoiling.
We had a great crew for this project. With Keara, Finnula, Chis Dearden and several of his Lacrosse teammates from DelVal, Charlie, Ari, and our neighbor Pat Succi, we were able to plant the entire block in one day. That’s plant, stake, water, and tube!
We didn’t install the line posts in advance this time, and I regret that decision. It’s easier to do these tasks when you don’t have to work around baby vines. Live and learn.