This year is a much different story so far. It has been a dry winter for us here at Adelaida Springs Ranch with only 13 inches of rain for the season. Due to our proximity (12 miles) to the ocean, elevation (around 1800 feet) and south west facing slopes, we typically see over 30 inches of rain per year. The last time that we had a season this dry was 2007. Fortunately the early rains that we received last October, along with 5 inches in late January, have kept the countryside emerald green and lush for both our cattle herd and new flock of sheep. Hopefully we'll have some more rain to finish the season, which will help ensure a sufficient grape and grass crop.

We started pruning the vineyard at the end of February. Pruning is an annual ritual in vineyards. It requires cutting back last year's growth, which goes dormant each winter, to the first one or two buds per shoot. Those buds will provide the green shoots and fruit for this year's crop when they emerge in spring. It's a lot like pruning your rose bushes, except in our case there are 40,000 plants to grapple with. Some Paso Robles vineyards prune even later, hoping to delay bud break and reduce exposure to spring frosts. Luckily we are have good air drainage off of our slopes, which allows cold, frosty air to mostly flow out of the vineyard and settle in lower areas.

There are several changes taking place in the vineyard this season. The addition of our flock of sheep has created a new, hopefully more sustainable weed management strategy in the vineyard. Rather than spraying a pre-emergent herbicide underneath our vines to inhibit weed competition, we have relied on our sheep to graze. As Laird likes to put it, we are turning solar energy into protein rather than mowing it into the ground or destroying it with chemicals. It is amazing how efficient the sheep are at grazing. When they are put into a section with an oak tree, they will eat every acorn that they can find. We move them every couple of days to provide them with fresh feed and to reduce the risk of erosion from overgrazing. We'll move them out of the vines when green shoots emerge (called "bud break") and possibly back into the vineyard just after fruit set, when the grape berries are still green and unpalatable.

Since we cancelled our contract with Justin Winery, we are gaining 20 acres of mostly Cabernet for Rangeland Wines. We are excited to have the ability to use more of our fruit for our own wine production, and also have more control over canopy management, fruit load, and picking dates. Of course we will be selling a small portion of this fruit so that we will not be using the entirety of the 20 acres, but Rangeland Wines production will exceed 2000 cases for first time with the 2012 vintage-if Mother Nature permits.

We are excited to have our 2009 wines resting safely in bottle since August 30th.  We have made some changes to the packaging.  First of all we are using a color photograph of our ranch taken by the talented photographer Peer Johnson.  This photo was actually taken in November of 2009 after the torrential down pour of 12 inches rain on October 13th.  It is rare to see green grass and vines that still have their leaves.  Fortunately we had picked all of our fruit that year before the unseasonal rain.  The second change that we made, after some debate, was to discontinue using foil capsules on our bottles. Capsules are composed of predominately tin, manufactured overseas, and are merely decorative.  Many recycling plants are unable to recycle the foil capsules (check out this LA Times article).  Our nude bottle neck allows you to see the addition of our AS logo (Adelaida Springs Ranch) burnt onto the cork ends, which we think looks pretty nifty.

We have also introduced a new blend to our lineup named "The Watershed."  Our vineyard is planted on the watershed between the Jack Creek and Tablas Creek drainages, but we have also been using "watershed" to describe the remarkable 2009 vintage.  After we fermented and pressed the grapes, these wines immediately promised a new level of quality--even though we love our 2007 & 2008 wines. This "best vintage yet" reflects the cumulative effects of more mature vines (planted in 2002), more experienced farmers (us), winemaker involvement from field to bottle (this was my first vintage with full control) and a dry year (only 18" of rainfall)  that concentrated the fruit flavors. So if you enjoyed our 2008 wines we think you will be very pleased with the 2009 vintage. The Watershed is a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and 24% Cabernet Franc. Although still quite closed on the nose, it's showing intense cherry flavors, some spicey herbal notes and our trademark great acidity and super fine, vivid tannins. The Watershed 2009 will be released at the upcoming Harvest Wine Weekend and included in the next Rangeland Wine Club shipment.

Two-plus inches of rain in the early middle of harvest this week put a nasty bookend on a season that started with over 2 inches of rain on June 4-5. We are holding our breath for better harvest weather to get the bulk of our crop in. Thankfully we got our usual "Back to School" heat wave in mid-September (100 degrees), which helped our fruit ripen towards harvest.  We have experienced a weather roller coaster this year, starting with the April frost and then those June rains, which occurred right in the middle of bloom, or flowering.

It's springtime in the vineyard.  The vines are waking from their winter slumber and pushing out their first shoots. By the end of March our young Grenache vines were the first variety to start the race to fruit production, followed by Petit Verdot.  Each spring the fuzzy buds begin to swell and the first leaves push out. We call that budbreak, which is both variety and vine age sensitive. Young vines tend to break bud first. Varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Grenache, and Roussane tend to wake up earlier.  For vineyards that are in the frost danger zones, these details become more important.