Please welcome my husband, John Manion, who is the wine maker and VP of Liquid Assets at Domaine de Manion. We have been on this journey together from the first idea of a vineyard, and what a ride it has been. John shares his thoughts with you, from time to time on our vineyard and wine making. 

Hello, I'm the Vintage Vigneron, (aka the husband John) to provide an update on the wines and vines.

I’m just finishing up barreling the 2012 vintage and putting it to bed for the winter. Overall, it was a good vintage in both quality and quantity with our vines providing us with our second largest harvest at 600 pounds of fruit or for those that support the "farm to table" movement, that would be 17 cases of our estate Syrah wine. The Vintage Garden Gal and I typically purchase additional bulk grapes from local sources so we can make some interesting blends that include our Syrah. The annual output of Domaine de Manion has been steady at 35 cases for the last number of years.

The vines are now turning autumn colors and shutting down for the season. Syrah vines tend to hold their leaves the longest of most varietals so we won’t see naked vines until late December–early January.

We’re heading into our rainy season here in Southern California and the vines will be really happy to get a big dose of water as they ready themselves for the next growing season. I get concerned calls from friends (I think they worry that production will be down) when a frost hits.

Here is Southern California frost is not really a big concern because of our typically mild winters. Remember, grape vines are deciduous plants that evolved in climates that have hot summers and cold winters. The frost actually helps shut the root systems of the vines down and inhibits needless growth if it warms up during the winter season. We want our vines rested and ready to grow once we prune them in the early February time frame. The one time we don’t want the frost is after we prune the vines – that effects the budding process and does effect the production of grape clusters. That’s why we hold off pruning until we think we’re done with the cooler winter temperatures.

It’s nice to be finishing up the 2012 crush, reviewing the lessons learned from the growing and wine making season, and taking a little breather.

I’ll check in again when we start the pruning process.

Harvest at Domaine de Manion was September 8, 2012. We had a generous bounty of 600 pounds of estate syrah grapes, an army of enthusiastic friends and family, and a harvest lunch to rival any three-star country chef. The weather was warm, but not the record-breaking heat experienced the follow Saturday close to 100 degrees. Grapes were picked at 26 brix (sugar percentage) and should yield about 35 gallons of wine which equates to about 15 cases of bottled wine.

We had our ritual "blessing of the harvest" and continued gratitude to all who were able to participate and share with us this day. All of our "fruits of labor" from this past year culminating on this special day. This was our fifth harvest. Our harvest is always an event, with cherished family and friends. It transcends generations, and always brings a universal smile to all. Our families who live out of town, migrate annually to join us, and make this an extra special occasion.

Vineyard nets were removed from the rows of vines and rolled up for next year. Eager harvesters started down the vineyard rows in teams, filling orange lugs with ripe grape clusters. Filled lugs yield 40 pounds of grapes each, giving us our poundage count. Lugs were carried to a sorting table, to sort any grapes that might not make the cut.

Grapes destined for wine, were sent through an augured crusher/de-stemmer machine. Next step in the process, food-grade plastic barrels were filled with slightly crushed grapes and dry ice. Dry ice allows the grapes to sit on their skins and cold soak. A day later, yeast will be added and fermentation is kicked off. Another vintage is underway, with many more steps in the process, and time to age in the oak barrels.

Two hours later, and with everyone's help our harvest is in. Everyone is hungry for a well-deserved harvest lunch, served with award-winning Domaine de Manion vintages. It is now time to relax and reflect on the day. We had smoke ribs--brined for two days, paella cooked on the grill, assorted cheeses, fresh fig appetizer, tomato tart, garden salads, fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries and many more sinful desserts.

One has to reflect on all the fun, happiness, and joy surrounding this day. It reminds me of the quote, "Uncork the wine, enjoy the dance, and let the Gods decide the rest.!" --Horace

Please share if you have ever experienced a grape harvest. Please share if you visit wine country at harvest time.

It is that time of year. The vineyard is abundant with grape clusters, and the veraison process is just beginning. Veraison is the stage or process when the green grapes begin transitioning from hard to soft to the touch, and their color changes from green to eventually their particular harvest color, depending on the grape varietal. In our case, mature syrah grapes are almost black in color at harvest.

We net the vineyard for protection reasons. It is the same concept, if you net or protect fruit trees with sun-ripened ready fruit. Birds of all kinds (even domestic chickens), and wildlife such as raccoons, coyotes, can feast on a vineyard and in some cases quickly eat your entire crop for the year. We have heard of vineyard owners who had their unprotected vineyard  crop eaten in a weekend. Please note, netting is a good practice and economical for backyard vineyards. Commercial wine regions that have acres and acres of vineyards are not usually netted.

Netting is a simple way to protect your harvest. The optimum net size is the entire length of a grapevine row plus two feet extra per end post to cover end posts. Nets are rolled out along side the grapevine row. Thrown over the row of grapevines, and clipped at both end posts and and at each grapevine above the drip irrigation with wooden clothespins. A netting source in California is Jim's Supply .

Right before harvest, we have our enthusiastic friends and family remove the clothes pins, and roll up the netting for the next year. Please share if you use netting to protect a crop from wildlife.

Fall is such a busy time here at Domaine de Manion with the harvest. It is a time when many related activities surrounding the vineyard and making wine seem to converge. When we have a sunset like this one, it is nice to pause, relax, and reflect over over the fall vineyard and it's beauty. Another year of grape-growing has been completed, and the new wine is in process. No, this is not Santa Barbara or Provence, it is San Diego North County.

A vineyard has four-season interest, and in the fall, the vineyard's leaves turn autumn colors of red, brown, and amber. The vines have borne their fruit. The temperature is cooling. The vines are in the process of going dormant for the winter. Soon they will drop their leaves entirely and shut down until next year's early spring . A good, long, watering of 4-6 hours through our drip irrigation will benefit the vines for the coming year.

Please share if you associate vineyards in the fall timeframe. Please comment if you have experienced a fall vineyard, and winemaking.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme....

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My husband, John, and I like to have our backyard syrah vineyard here in Southern California pruned by early February or Super Bowl time frame. It is a necessary and important annual task for the vineyard. At this point in the year, the vines are dormant and barren with no leaves to be seen. The vineyard has its own structural beauty showing the trunks and cordons of each vine.

The pruning task at hand is trimming last years shoots, that have matured into canes back down to the fruiting zone of the vines cordons or arms. If you look carefully you can see and count the buds along last year's canes, close to the cordons. There is usually one bud underneath, and more buds follow on the top side. Count one, two buds on top side of mature cane, close to your cordon. Trim at a 45 degree angle an inch away from the second bud. Mature canes trimmed to the two top-sided buds become your new fruit spurs on your cordons. It is ideal to have fruit spurs straight and perpendicular to your cordon arm, and towards the front or the cordon for better sun exposure.

Pruning is a technique that kicks off the entire grape growing season once again, for the year ahead. It is also time to review each vine. It takes some time, because each vine needs to be assessed. Do you have your 4-5 fruit spurs on each cordon. Are your fruit spurs about a "closed fist" length apart. Are there any dead wood parts of the cordon which should be trimmed off. Do you need to pull a mature cane over and create a new cordon, replacing a cordon that is not doing well. Are your fruit spurs out of the central "v" area of your vine. I call it "purposeful pruning".

Your time invested now in meticulous pruning yields all kinds of benefits this coming year such as greater fruit yield, better quality fruit clusters, good canopy management, and allowance for sun exposure and air circulation. Please note there are various pruning techniques for grapevines, not all grapevines are pruned in the technique we use here at Domaine de Manion.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

The word is out. The 6th Annual Encinitas Garden Festival & Tour is Saturday, April 30, 2011. Save the date! Please go to Encinitas Garden Festival for more detailed information.