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