World wine output falls to 60-year low!

So THAT's why prices are shooting up! (Maybe).

Read the article here. It's about the lousy weather across Europe last year. So it should be only a passing blip in the long history of wine. I hope. If the weather can be closer to normal, this year.

Speaking of, I attach the annual photo of one of the Epona vines' budding out (this one is Jupiter). I love how a grape vine can show you the four seasons, just about as well as anything else can...

Epona Vineyard harvest report

Cayuga: My next-to-latest grape (Regent being the latest to ripen); a favorite; hanging at 19.0 Brix and 3.12pH. Flavor is apple-moving to citrus now; a string of warm sunny days coming; I could make a good Riesling style wine with it now, if weather was turning bad, but by waiting I'm hoping for citrus-moving to peaches in the final flavor, when it tastes more like a Viognier. This one has EXCELLENT vinifera flavor emulation. No bird damage yet at all (unnetted, but scarecrows).

Leon Millot (pictured) : Picked 14 lbs per vine this week; sample berries were 24 Brix but the must is 21.5. pH is 3.56; that's not so high that I'm worried--I added 11% white grapes to fix color (same as adding Viognier to Syrah for same reason; it works), and let the ferm reach 88F as you taught me George. In my location, I prefer the big red style (actually tastes a lot like a good Pinot here) to Paul's rose style that is so delicious up on Salt Spring Island. I get nice purple fruits with a hint of woodsiness (not herbaceousness) here. 

Delicatessen: Picked at 21 Brix; pretty high for this variety. Nice fruit. Young plants, so low yield.

Jupiter, NY Muscat, Venus, Monastery Muscat: I make a rose from a blend of these. Jupiter had scraggly clusters (rained during bloom) and I got only 4 lbs per vine. Worse, the clusters shattered (right term?) during picking, so about a quarter of the berries fell to the ground. It reached 23 Brix, though. But if you want a good seedless grape here, why not grow Monastery Muscat? 23Brix and many large pretty clusters of large yellow grapes (13 lbs/vine) with superb flavor, compared to Jupiter's "fairly weak" flavor and Venus' "almost not there at all" flavor. NY Muscat (about 21 Brix) has superb flavor but has one seed per berry here. I should ditch the Venus and Jupiter (sorry, Arkansas) and just use NY Muscat and Monastery Muscat.

Mindon- what I call MIN(nesota 1095) x DON(skoi, which I read is probably the grape called Norway Muscat) is a winner here. David Roy Johnson's grape. 20 lbs from one vine, at 24 Brix. Nice flavor. No bird damage. I blended it into my Leon.

Regent- Sure like its fruit, but it's late here and the birds hit it hard. Only 18 Brix now and I have 33% bird loss already. I should really just give up on it. Makes a nice, full-bodied, Syrah-style wine, though.

Spring!

The Jupiter seedless grape is budding in the vineyard. From a dead-looking stick unfurls a gorgeous pink-tinged leaf, reminding us of so many good things: The opportunity for growth, not just in grapes, but in us. A reminder that we are still alive. The promise of renewed life. Advice that there will (nearly) always be a brighter day after a troubling one. The humble grape can tell us all this, if we only take a moment to pause, look, and see.

Spring! (early, but we'll take it)

I always try to remember to post a photo of one of my grapes emerging from winter's slumber. This is Jupiter, a superb seedless, oval, purple grape bred by the University of Arkansas. It grows well in the PacNW. It is emerging about 3 weeks early this year, but I think we won't have a late freeze (and it was a very mild winter), so the grape leaves/flowers should be OK.

It does mean we may have an early harvest, though.