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-=*=- Vineyard View Directions Chardonnay Winemaking Events Home -=*=- New Shoots Cluster Close Hedging Bird Nets Spraying Harvest Fred 
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A View from the Vineyardby Vineyard Manager Robert HamiltonJuly 19th, 2003
I'm predicting a reduced crop load this year due to the early season weather conditions and slightly more aggressive canopy management (I wanted to reduce crop load a bit anyway). It's important to note that I've seen nothing yet that will affect fruit quality, so we are on track there. To give you an idea of the impact the excessive rains have had on the local region, I've included a couple of shots of a flooded young vineyard in west-central Maryland. Please note: These are *NOT* pictures of Hidden Spring Vineyards! Our site is located on top of a ridge and has excellent drainage.
On the sales and marketing side, I've already received orders for approximately 1000 lbs of HSV Chardonnay. With the anticipated reduced crop yields, I'm on the downside already for 2003 quantity with approximately 2 months to go. If you're thinking about ordering, you might want to do it soon! An interesting thing to note is that I've seen increased interest in out-of-state purchase of Maryland wine grapes. The web is turning out to be a wonderful tool to expand the market for locally grown wine grapes! I've got out-of-state customers coming to pick up fruit from as far away as New Jersey. The farthest customer being shipped fruit is from Mass! MD grapes are leaving the state!
The recent storms have resulted in some shoot damage, but there are still plenty of fruit clusters in there waiting to bloom. Bloom is the next major event. It happens quickly so I'll try to catch it with the camera. I missed it last year. Basic canopy management including tying and positioning the shoots, along with weed control is also in the works. Contact me if you would like to help out with the canopy management. On the retail front I've already received emails and telephone calls for fruit. Remember, if you are a repeat customer you will get ready picked Chardonnay for $1.00 per pound. We will also have quality Maryland Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon for sale this year priced at $1.25 per pound, ready picked.
Final brix for the 2002 crop came in at 22.5 to 24 depending on the row. I finally got around to putting some harvest and winemaking pics in the photo section.
Some changes for this year - We are offering Maryland Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon in addition to Chardonnay. These varieties are not grown at Hidden Spring Farm, but I have access to large quanities of this fruit. I've personally made Chambourcin from this source and the fruit is excellent quality and makes nice clean wine.
There will be a spring wine tasting event for those of you who purchased our Chardonnay in 2002. I'll be contacting you all via email shortly with the details. The purpose of the event is to bring along your Chardonnay so we can all taste each others efforts. I'm looking forward to it. I've already tasted Brian's 02' Hidden Spring Chardonnay and it is excellent!
August 30th, 2002 Rain at the wrong time. We picked up about 2-3 inches of rain in the vineyard. The results from an entire vineyard sample show a lost of roughly 1 degree brix. We're at 21. Acids are coming in at .5 to .6 and the pH is in range at 3.2 to 3.3. I suspect that we don't have much malic acid this year due to the drought so I'm having a friend run a chromatography test for malic acid. If the level of malic acid is low, the sampled acid levels will be close to the final acid levels in your wine. You shouldn't lose much acid to malolactic fermentation. I'm going to let the fruit hang another couple of days to see if we can get the sugars back to 22 and higher. We will *not* be harvesting this Sunday on Sept 1st. I'm now targeting Wednesday Sept 4th for harvest and potentially into late next week or weekend. Check the website and your email for details. It won't be long now! See you at harvest! August 21st, 2002 Just a quick note to everyone as things are starting to get busy here at Hidden Spring Farm. We're coming down the home stretch! The earliest possible harvest date is Sunday Sept 1st. I'll keep everyone posted. Early August Brix measurements came in at 14, 14.5 and 15 degrees. August 18th Brix measurements came in at 18, 19, and 20 degrees. The drought conditions are really having an effect, both positively with high concentrations of sugar and flavor, and negatively as the vines are showing a bit of leaf discoloration. Bottom line: It's really dry out there! The 10th spray went on August 18th. There is a touch of powdery mildew in some small spots, but it is under control. The nets went up on August 10th and I must admit they are doing a great job of keeping out the birds! We're in great shape for a good harvest. Just a couple more weeks to go! If you're purchasing fruit you may want to start organizing what you will need to transport it. I use 10 gallon industrial plastic buckets with screw on lids that I purchased new (never used) from Bob over at The Flying Barrel in Frederick. The screw on lids keep stuff inside even if they tip over. Check out the Flying Barrel at: http://www.flyingbarrel.com For Chardonnay you will want to press your grapes as soon as possible. I usually rent a press from either The Flying Barrel in Frederick, or Maryland Home Brew in Columbia. Give Chris a call over at MDHB. They have a really nice basket press you can rent complete with a ratchet that's really great for doing large batches of fruit. Check out Maryland Home Brew at: http://www.mdhb.com Directions to the vineyard have been posted on the website. http://www.hiddenspringvineyards.com/directions.html
See you at harvest!
Things are shaping up nicely in the vineyard for a good harvest. Dry conditions are keeping moisture out of the canopy reducing the chance of disease. We really need the rain but lack of rain through harvest will really help to concetrate those flavors and varietal charactistics! There is little to speak of in the way of disease pressure. A solid spray program with 7 sprays on to date is keeping things in check. Spray number 8 is scheduled for the end of this week. The Japanese beetles have done a bit of munching on the shoot tips but with the early warm spring weather there's plenty of canopy to go around. The current spray program includes sevin and imidan for beetle control. We've just completed a pass through the vineyard hedging the top of the canopy. Some additional shoot positioning and leaf pulling to open up the clusters was also done. Check out the vineyard pictures at http://www.hiddenspringvineyards.com to see how the fruit is shaping up! I'll be attacking the weeds next and the bird netting is waiting in the wings. See you in the vineyard! Copyright © 2003 Hidden Spring Farm |
June brought bloom as the lead picture on the homepage shows. The heavy rains and more correctly, the lack of sunlight for most of the month of May, led to blooms late arrival this year. For Hidden Spring, bloom was approximately 1 week later than prior years. The vineyard experienced some poor fruit set on the clusters that bloomed first, resulting in loss of the entire organ. Industry reports from the region indicate that fruit set problems are prevalent this year with vineyards in Virgina getting hit hard. Misery loves company! :) For an excellent technical discussion on what's happening, check out 
The wet month of May has led to a record number of sprays and little time for anything else in the vineyard. It looks like the effort is paying off as there are no visible signs of disease anywhere.
Average shoot length is in the 12" to 18" range with the larger shoots already reaching and passing the second wire. Check out the pics in the 
I'm doing this to encourge repeat business. I haven't set the prices yet for the 2003 Chardonnay. If it's a good growing season expect prices around $1.25 per pound.
We made it through the 2002 harvest without a hitch. Thanks to all those who came out to help including the gang from E-centives (Ricco, Kathleen and friends), The Husemans, Jeff Braun, and others.
Winter rough pruning is approximately 1/3 complete. Special thanks to Brian Butler for helping out. More work is needed. 
There have been several Fred sightings recently in the vineyard. Rumor has it that he saw a rather large ground hog checking out his shadow and he scared him away! Fred is gearing up for the 03' season!