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Finger Lakes UPDATES


Don Giovanni

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Zuccarino Report : FLX with the frost damage coming in fro the cooler sites...it's looking like for Riesling over 50 % damage... this will lead to a small crop... but the good news is the vines had 3 extra weeks growth so the vintage should be a great one ... with small crops the vine energy will make that small crop very intense... looking for a small but great vintage...

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FLX Hot , hot, hot... up over 100 F in the vineyards for several days in a row now... can this help us ...?... Cornell says yes...with the help of UCD pathologist Doug Gubler...on powdery milldew risk...

Will the hot weather reduce powdery mildew pressure?

The 90 degree forecast made me reflect on Powdery Mildew risk indexes used in the West, but rarely applicable here in the Finger Lakes – because it doesn’t often get that hot. Well, it’s that hot, so is it going to help us out with powdery mildew pressure? I looked up UC-Davis pathologist Doug Gubler’s PM model to refresh my memory. Basically this model uses temperature to assign a ‘risk rating’. ‘High risk’ is defined as hours with temperatures between 70-85 degrees F – the optimum for PM growth. At temperatures above 90, the model shows ‘intermediate’ risk – at 90, PM growth essentially stops – and above 95 the model lowers the risk rating (because hot temperatures kill the PM fungus).

The model then recommends longer spray intervals (up to 14 d for sulfur) for ‘low risk’ conditions, or shorter ones (7 d for sulfur) for ‘high risk’.

we are 12 to 14 days ahead of LT averages...

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EARTHQUAKE 2007 ZIN Phillips produced

Strong enveloping opulent rich dark indigo color followed by vanilla overtones... smooth rich texture... that finishes dry with no RS ... alc by vol 16% and not overpowering due to balance...

enchanting nose...

you have on of those OMG moments tasting/smelling the rich old vines... plum, dark cherry plush velvet ...

93/94 points min she delivers ... one of the best produced wines I have had in a very long time...

go and buy some $19.99 ... get the 2007 she will live for 8 to 10 years more...

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well it that time of year when the bottling is getting finished... the winter this year has been cold ... but not instant cold from a high temp thus the vines seemed to be acclimated to the cold very well... last night we got down to -1 F ... I have been pruning the vines and need it to warm up just a bit more... today is a great day in the vineyard...

hope to have the pruning done by mid march... looking forward to another vintage... a winemakers life is measured in vintages... with over 10 vintages commercial on my own behind me I still have many more be it G-d's will ahead of me... been making wine since I was a child learning the family methods... it's good to keep on keeping on...

Cheers !!!

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talking about another 9 inches of snow... jeesh ... I have had enough... we need to sell wine this Saturday the reservations are coming in this time of year... looks like one more pass with the tractor for snow removal... maybe we could get lucky and it will too warm... only warm wishes I guess...

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  • 2 months later...

Spring in the wet finger lakes... the vines look ok bud swell and soon bud-break will happen ... due to all the rain... people want to know how is this for the vines... the vines are fine the tractors aren't the equipment is too heavy to use in the mud... do we must dry out as we should and then we will be fine ...

www Wine 101 TV Zuccarino::: Vintage 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OglGzhQGylw The Show # 143

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UPdate.../ the weather has sucked by far the worst ever ... rain has now turned a slow bloom into a hazard of molds... like mildew...etc...it's been extremely hard to use heavy tractors in the vineyard... we have resorted to a few good horses to do the job... it has not been fun...

we need sun or nitrogen deficiencies will make for a even more challenging season... as the vines just can't take it up via the wet root system...

at this point I am very disgusted... optimistic, only because the Ark is almost finished... Cheers...

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7/14/2011

well we now have great vine vigor... the high water table has given the vines plenty of water to take up ... now with the very dry weather the roots are working to find water and grow this gives the vines strength for long term growth... mildew alerts have subsided... Japanese beetles are present but not as heavy as years past...looking great for a nice vintage...long way to go

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8/23/2011

ok we are still 10 days ahead of LT averages... we were very wet this spring then summer came and we went totally dry... after one week of moisture the fields are plush and now we need dry weather... hurricane alert for rain to come to us as the storm makes it's way up north...we really need the dry weather to finish out a great growing season...

all eyes on the clouds...

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9/1/2011

well what a few days of nice sun will do to the soil... we are getting great amplitude high temp's during the day low temp's during the night this produces very complex acids and sugars just what you need for a good to great vintage... what the hurricane did was slow us all down we were ahead 14 days the Irene now we have been pushed back one week... smart growers ate letting early ripening fruit stay on the vine to dry out ... also clay soil works better dry with heavy equipment...

looking for the closing of a very nice growing vintage... thus far knocking wood... we are in for a treat with 2011...

cheers !!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

officially I am calling this year 2011 a 6.5 to 7 out of ten in grape quality... in the FLX region... due to the wet summer end... we are dealing with split skins, ants, and bees...

this will be the year of the wine-maker to show skill in production in order to make a good wine...

Cheers....

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2/2/2012

Finger Lake region :::

the weather has been very much a big surprise ... @ 50 F the last past two days this has been the norm not the deviation... whilst the natives are happy heating bills are down and it's been the warmest winter in 117 years... it has really scared the crap out of me at this point...

I still have the vine kill of the winter of 2004 fresh in my mind... you see the vines go into dormancy and set cold hardness at two zones... the first being 50F to 32F and the second 31F to sub zero...

two zones that float, so vines set complex starches etc... to become winter ready... now the thing to keep in mind is if vines can take up to-7F this can only be done by first going through each zone very slowly thereby setting the vines winter hardiness in stages... you can't go from 59F to -7 and have a vine that will live...you need a slow cold acclimation where the vines become more winter hardy as it gets colder...so the colder it gets the more winter hardy they get in stages...

my fear is for sub zero temps to hit us for over a 24 hour spell this would bring winter damage depending on the stage the vines are at ... right now they are the equivalent of Floridians being dropped off at the north pole it just would not work...they are at the least winter hardy for this time of year and most in dangered...

moisture has been adequate... so holding my breath for the next six weeks... and a big caution flag is up with a wimpy vine warning sounded ....

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pruning now as opposed to early offers the vine the ability to go into shock and delay bud-break... in strange years like this it's best to delay pruning as we have done... with over 80 F in the vineyards you have to go back over 117 years to find weather close to what we are having... remember out frost date is May 10th ... in theory after that date no frost...

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FLX:: update...

as expected we are going to have a hard freeze after a few 80 F days...and many 70 + days ... the cherry trees in some places bloomed... they are done for as this hard freeze will eliminate the crop... the grape vines are swollen with sap and will have some damage from this freeze...

it is what I expected ... farmers gut call at this point will be 35% damage this year due to the stage of the vines and the reality of the weather ... the last frost date is May 10 th...

Next 5 Days Today

Mar 26

Mostly sunny; breezy, colder 38°Lo 19°

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Nibor thanks...

FLX::::: we had a hard freeze down to 20 F last week the vines look ok thus far nothing fried to the eye... does this mean we are safe... #ell no... the vascular system might be damaged and we won't know this until the season and the fruit sets and the vines respond... we go down to 24F for two more nights... we are one month early and this spells trouble maybe 35% damage this spring , just a wild guess...

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FLX

we have 5% bud-break and soon in a week it will be prolific... we had some hail this AM... this year the hail factor with frost will be heavy pressure on the vines...

it's been observed vines like to suffer, this year they will get their wish... temp dipped down to 31F in my vineyard near the tasting-room other areas got colder... clear frost date is may 10 th ... we are one month ahead of LT averages in vine development ... that said it's been earlier each year the past 7 ...

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