We were able to finish our Winter Pruning by February 2 which put us a wee bit ahead of schedule and gave us time to enjoy the beautiful evening sky.
Beautiful skies, Winter Pruning completed
In Memoriam
“Buddy” Faithful Companion and Vineyard Supervisor
December 6, 2004 – December 18, 2018
2017 Cabernet Franc available at Lost Oak Winery on January 23
Lost Oak Winery just posted the news about their upcoming Wine Release event on January 23, 2019 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM which will include the 2017 Cabernet Franc!
Check out the details on the Lost Oak website: https://www.lostoakwinery.com/events/Wine-Release
We promised to let you know when it would be available. Be sure to mark your calendars so you won’t miss your chance – the Cabernet Franc tends to sell out very quickly.
2016 Cabernet Franc wins a Gold Medal!
We’re thrilled to tell you that Lost Oak Winery submitted the 2016 Cabernet Franc to the 2018 San Francisco International Wine Competition and it has been awarded a Gold Medal! Congratulations to Lost Oak Winery for winning a total of 6 medals, we couldn’t be happier to have our grapes in their capable hands.
A Gold Medal wine is described as: “An exceptional wine that is near the pinnacle of achievement in its category; sets the standard for all wines of its type” and the during the competition “judging panels are provided with information on varietal and vintage, but otherwise receive no information that might bias their decisions”.
You can read more about the competition and the judging process on their website:
http://sfwinecomp.com/about/judging-and-awards
It is with mixed emotions that we must also report that the 2016 Cabernet Franc is sold out. It’s wonderful that it is in demand but it can lead to frustration for folks who wish to purchase it but miss the window of opportunity. The 2017 Cabernet Franc has been bottled and will be released sometime this year. As soon as we hear that it is released for sale we let you know. For out of state fans we’ll try to include the link for online ordering as soon as possible.
A big thank you to the many family, friends, and fans who have been rooting for us as well as those supplying harvest labor, we couldn’t do it without you!
Winter Pruning begins!
What better way to start the New Year than logging some hours in the vineyard?!
Our pruning season starts in late December with what we call Winter Pruning. We use a battery hedge trimmer to cut all the dormant canes just below the top wire and 12-18 inches above the cordon wire. We remove and shred all the canes as we go and build a compost pile along with the mulched leaves we collected at the onset of dormancy. Since we wrap the shoots on the top wire during the growing season it takes a little extra time to pull them off but we find the advantages are worth it for our vines (see the June 2018 post for more information on palissage).
Fall and Winter in the vineyard
October through December are a slower pace in the vineyard. After the last grapes were off the vines we hit the road to visit family and friends in Colorado, Minnesota, and Ohio then returned home to start planning the 2019 season.
There’s plenty to do before the next season: we summarize the past season; make observations on what went well and what could be improved next season; make a list of how many vines will need to be replanted (and therefore how many vines we will be digging out); clean, sharpen and oil all the harvest shears; and inventory fertilizer and fungicides.
This is also a good time to tidy up the barn and do maintenance on the equipment. A big shout out to Jon at Alpha One Mechanical who revived our faithful old JD 180 that we use to pull the wagon full of grape buckets during harvest and vacuum/mulch all the leaves that drop at dormancy. He also rescued our Ztrack mower that was overdue for service (oops) and got the gas trimmer and chain saw ship shape for another season.
Ready or not, here comes 2019!
Que Syrah Syrah
It’s always good to see a bit of fruit on 1st leaf vines just to confirm that there hasn’t been a mixup. In addition to tending all the established bearing vines the 80 new Syrah vines planted this spring kept us busy. We’ve heard that they can be gorillas (large and vigorous vines) but also that they can do well and make excellent wine so we’ll be interested to see how they fare on our site. Whatever will be, will be…….
Buy our wines with Vinoshipper!
We’ve been asked by those who live out of state about ordering our wines for delivery. Shipping out of state can be costly and difficult for small wineries, but we finally have a solution that will cover many states.
Lost Oak Winery also has a winery location in Fredericksburg, Texas under the auspices of 4.0 Cellars – a collaboration of 3 long-time Texas winemakers. Vinoshipper is a third party online store that facilitates purchase and shipping of wines to out of state destinations. If you go to vinoshipper.com and search for 4.0 Cellars as the winery you will see all the offerings of the 3 wineries as well as the states that can be chosen for shipping. If you scroll down you will find the following Lost Oak Winery/Burning Daylight Vineyards wines:
2016 Cabernet Franc
2016 Meritage (a red blend which includes BDV Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec)
2017 Sauvignon Blanc
2017 Quartet (a white blend which includes BDV Malvasia Bianca and Vermentino)
2016 Cabernet Franc is in the Texas Monthly Top 50 wines for Fall!
We just heard from Gene (Lost Oak Winery) that the 2016 Cabernet Franc is listed as one of the Texas Monthly Top 50 wines for Fall! Be sure to check out the article for more information (see link below).
Many thanks to all of you who help make this possible at harvest season, and congratulations to Lost Oak Winery for another feather in their cap. We couldn’t have asked for better folks to work with and look forward to more great vintages in the future!
Prepping for tomorrow’s harvest
I was able to hit the kitchen today and whip up a few goodies to tempt our hard working harvest volunteers tomorrow. Next on the list: head outside to do a bit of mowing and attempt to convince the fire ants to abandon a few of their mounds at least temporarily.
The forecast says no rain showers until afternoon or evening so we’re hoping that holds true and we can get finished before any rain appears!