Snow

Season's Greetings to all our loyal blog followers and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2011.

We've been closed during Christmas and New Years to take some family time. The break has been wonderful!

Cutting out dead canes, placing new ones and pruning is coming along just fine. We've replaced several broken end posts this year (three still left to do) which is very unusual. With all the torrential rains, we've also experienced some erosion in the vineyard rows.

It started snowing yesterday and continued through the night into this morning. We're still experiencing snow showers, but it has tapered off considerably and we are expecting freezing rain to start sometime this afternoon. In combinati0n with wet roads and below freezing temperatures tonight, the roads will become dangerous. Luckliy we're stocked up with food and goodies and will weather this storm just fine.

God Bless, Barry

Snow

We had our first snow on December 4th, which was also our Christmas Open House. The snows came in bands and by the end we had about an inch accumulated. Our wines at Yadkin Valley Wine Company are bubbling right along and we received the ten Hungarian oak barrels we'd ordered earlier this year.

I'm also making Malbec and Pinot Grigio for our family. It was racked yesterday for the first of four rackings. I cleaned the carboys, added some potassium metabisulfate (KMS) and filled everything back up to the top. KMS has potent anti-microbial properties and helps prevent spoilage. Next time I rack I'll add some oak chips.

We are sitting in the tasting room with the fire going strong and Christmas carols in the background. Merry Christmas to all. Barry

Outdoor Fireplace

Whoopie! The masons started on our outdoor fireplace today and it should be finished within about 3 weeks. They made good progress, with the outside block up to about seven feet and the firebrick flooring placement completed. Just in time, too, because the weather forecasters are predicting up to an inch of snow for tomorrow night.

We're sitting in the tasting room as I write this blog, listening to Celtic christmas carols in front of our indoor fireplace. Tomorrow is our Christmas Open House, so come sit by the fire with us and munch on complimentary goodies like Chili, veggies and cookies. And of course, Misty Creek wines.

Hooch says to tell everyone "Hi" from him.

Pre-pruning Has Started

Temperature here: 45 degrees with gusts up to 47 miles an hour. Tonight's low is 26 degrees, with tomorrow's high hovering somewhere around 45 degrees. This is warm compared to what we'll experience in January. Ha!

Today we retrieved the remaning harvest bins from the crush pad and they are stored on our trailer until the ground dries up enough to get back to the storage area. In the meantime, we have begun to cut out dead wood in preparation for laying down new cordons. Ground is too wet to get tractors or mowers in, so we wait. There's lots to do, so no is wasted time.

We're having a Christmas Open House here next Saturday, warm and snuggly at the tasting room; look for details on our web site calendar.

Cutting Grass!

Our family got to take a much needed break over Thanksgiving. Now we're back at it. After bird netting is completely off, we get the opportunity to get back into the vineyard rows and cut grass. I've been out today on Kathy's big Kioti & bushog, cutting in the area where the Cabernet Sauvignon was the last to be picked in Block A. Now that our vines are dormant we'll also be able to start laying down new cordons prior to pruning. Pruning usually takes a good 90 days.

Harvest is Over

It has been a long and interesting year at Misty Creek. Our Syrah developed way too early and Cabernet Sauvignon hung until the first frost before we picked it. Merlot was nice, and both Chardonnay and Chambourcin came to high sugars. Harvest is over and our grapes have gone to the crush pad on their first step to becoming Misty Creek's 2010 wines.

Frost has come to North Carolina, which is bitter-sweet evidence that snow is on the way. Vineyard foliage has turned from dark green to bright red and yellow, and is starting to fall to the vineyard floor. We'll mow leaves and grass together to provide nitrogen fertilizer. Everything above ground is dormant and soon pruning can begin. Plant roots have stored carbohydrates through the year in preparation for spring's first buds.

Today in the tasting room we have a fire in the fireplace and it's toasty warm inside. Wines are great, atmosphere is friendly, and all we need to complete the picture is you! Come on out and visit us. Barry

It's Friday night, and after two weeks worth of work we're only though shoot thinning on the first 3 acres; 11 left to go. After several hours of tractor problems yesterday (finally pinned it down to a bad ground cable from the battery) and a solution this morning, I was finally able to slip in 3 acres of preventative spraying. This spray includes Dithane, Rally and our old standby powdered sulfur. We expect rain all weekend, but with the tasting room on weekends, not much vineyard work will get done until Monday of next week.

We bottled two new wines this week: the 2008 Chardonnay and Misty Rose. We still have 5 cute puppies awaiting their good homes.

Raining!

This afternoon it started raining and it looks like it will continue for a while. At this time of the year we use a combination spray of Dithane and sulfur to protect against powdery mildew and other nasty things. A little rain is ok, but BIG rains like today wash it all off and we'll have to spray again by mid-next week. We'll probably spray 18 or more times during the 2010 growing season. The Traminette we planted the third week of April is really springing up, almost out of the grow tubes in many instances. I just got back from a winery tour with good friend Joe Jarvis. and we were amazed at the number of Virginia wineries that has sustained frost damage two weekends ago. We dodged that bullet!

Vineyard Update

5/15/10
Dear Friends of Misty Creek,

I've been in DC this week where the temperature was in the 60's and it was a shock to come back to North Caroloina and find 90 degrees. The irrigation systems were all on, but our ground is already starting to crack open. Contrast this with a visit to Jim Law's vineyards yesterday, where they had just sustained a hard freeze.

All our varietals are starting out to look great. The vigorous varietals (like Chambourcin) are really bushy at the head and will require shoot thinning to bring the crop down to less than 2 tons per acre. The Chardonnay is very fruitfull, which means we'll probably have to do some cluster thinning as well as shoot thinning.

In April we planted an additional 600 Traminette vines in with the Syrah. They have been slow to sprout, but are finally starting to come around. Traminette makes a great wine, with a very flowery aroma and crisp clean tastes. We'll probabvly make half the batch fermented to dryness and the other half sweetened somewhat.

We'll look forward to your comments and posts. Have any questions, let me know. Best, Barry Nichols