Villa Ventoux Weather Report:   The Diary Archive

August 14, 2004.  A hot week in P Land, and here.  John Kerry came to Hood River to windsurf but must have got skunked because of cloudy weather today.

Grapes: The 777 Pinot Noir is turning red!!  Verasion !   Verasion !   Just thought I would note it.  One cabernet with a red leaf (mite?) problem is also generating some red fruit.  Isn't it amazing that grapes will try to hasten reproduction if they are sensing potential mortal threat?  If only it worked with fungus. Found some mildew in the Cab Franc, Merlot and Barbera. Went to the next weapon in the arnsenal: Kaligreen, which is Postassium Bicarbonate which upsets the fungus' cell walls. Hit 'em with it. Then went over to Anne's vineyard, which has not had much attention, and found that the irrigation had broken at one joint, causing no water to several rows and little to others. A few plants may not make it. Still, the new grapes are doing real well compared to previous years.  Anne's vineyard needs some weed control.

August 8, 2004.   July was a warm month, and except for 3 days last week, August is so far warm too.  Most days are in the 80's but last week we had some rain and a couple days it was cold. Places in the Willamette had hail.  Did a rad mountian bike ride with Jeanne - zig zag with the knob hill loop, past the bench, down the south side and back tunnel road.  About 2 hours.

Grapes: Most are doing well. Lost one 115 Pinot to gophers so put the sonic repellers back in last week. I decided to add more fertilizer around the base of any small ones, mostly the new pinot, to see if it helped. I sprayed with copper sulfate last weekend (?).

July 12, 2004.   A warm, still weekend after a week of wind and moderately warm temps.

Grape notes: Flowering is finally done and grapes are forming. Some pinot are about pea sized. Most cab and merlot are just starting. In comparison, a syrah vineyard on the Wahluke slope I visited yesterday had grapes about half their final size - large peas or bigger. 

I sprayed the estate vineyard with about one half the usual dose of Serenade fungicide as that was all I had left and there is no sign of mildew in the vineyard. I included a healthy dose of seaweed extract foliar nutrient. Things are still looking good, vine health wise.

June 26, 2004.  Another fine weekend and my birthday.  Windy but temps in the 70's here, 80's down on the river. Last weekend here we did not have wind so there were two days of cool mountain biking. I did a new route (to me) I call zig zag. I went down the corner road, out the logging road (zig) back on a trail off it in the middle of the clear cut (zag) til it met with the uphill Anerobic Hill route (zig) then through the gate and back north along the fence (zag) and through another gate where it went down hill on step switchbacks (zig, zag, zig, zag) until I exited half way down the corner road hill and returned. Nice and somewhat technical on the steep stuff - one crash was recorded.

Grape notes: Sprayed copper and sulfur to ward off any thought of mildew. Growth continues, and most plants are in flower.  The Willamette is at the end of flower while I am just getting going. Some plants don't have much fruit either due to the winter cold or too aggressive bud nicking on my part early on.

June 3, 2004.  We have had a great week with Jim and Phyllis and their new son Jamie, plus Ben and Gaye Smith. The real result was a week of work in the vineyard and winery, with a lot of food and drink at night.

I tried something in the estate vineyard - added boron in the form of sodium tetraborate decahydrate (a.k.a 20 mule team borax) to every other pinot in row 7 (clone 25) and row 11 (clone 115) to see what the effect is on the growth or fruit.

May 30, 2004.  A cool wet week this past 7 days may mean lower fruit yields as the fruit is developing. It is not yet flowering so perhaps we will be ok. I plan on spaying with sulfur today to rotate anti-fungal agents.

May 23, 2004  Planted 80 Pinot Noir 114 on 3309 vines in Anne's vineyard today.  Also sprayed both vineyards with Stylet Oil (2%) and seaweed extract for foliar nutrition. I plan on rotating mildew prevention to sulfur next, then Serenade a biological fungicide (bacteria).

May 15, 2004  A weekend of vine work. I planted replacement 777 and 115 Pinot Noir and 10 Pinot Gris.

Grape Notes:  Noticed some wind damage in the estate vineyard. Chardonnay vines show some lesions on canes, possibly mildew. Canes are about 4 inches. Sprayed again with 4% sylet oil in the estate vineyard. Sprayed 2% stylet in Anne's vineyard.

May 1, 2004.   Great day with a high near 80.  Tilled the vineyard and the neighbor Susser's garden spot. 

Grape notes: all the vines are budding. Some shoots are 3 inches, especially those near the end of the canes. Added fertilizer to the new vines in the old vineyard to spur them on. All looks pretty good. Sprayed vineyards with 2% horticultural oil (Stylet oil) to fight mildew.

April 30, 2004.  We planted replacement grapes in the old vineyard last weekend. The Pinot Noir 777 and 115 had taken a small beating from the cold I think over winter. In the new, Anne's vineyard, we replaced 20 Pommard Pinot noirs and found more that were probably dead. A combination of irrigation problems last year and killer cold over the winter did them in. But now we are back to almost 100% and making preparations for more pinot this year. The 114 should be ready in 2 weeks. Holes are dug, aisles are tilled and we just need to get the posts and wire.  

Very warm today, for April. 72 degrees on my conservative temperature probe. 

Hoping for another great Saturday tomorrow.

March 14, 2004.  A weekend with Anne and Jeanne's parents. I bought compost and distributed it on a pleasant but cool Saturday but I did not get a chance to turn it in. Sunday morning, we woke up to 30 mph winds. Hope the compost did not blow away.

March 7, 2004.  A great couple of days.  We met new neighbors and had a good mountain bike ride down the hill.  I need some more conditioning to be ready for the summer season.

February 29, 2004. A quick trip to remove the camper and install the canopy on the truck. Beautiful sunny weather and 45 degrees - feels like 60. Lite wind.

February 14, 2004.  We still have 5 inches of snow on the ground. This valentine weekend we are having guests here for some skiing. The snow pack is kinda crunchy under the new snow that fell last night. Plans this weekend are to do some wine stuff while Jeanne and Linnea go out for a ski.

February 1, 2004.  The huge snow of January pretty much melted, then another 5 inches fell just before we arrived this weekend. A very picturesque landscape presented itself, with good ski able snow and laden trees. We hot tubbed in another snow storm and woke up to two more inches this morning, glorious sun and mountain views. Nice weekend retreat.  I worked on the website but was unable to fix the graph problem - I have it set for recording the last few days of wind speed and temperature but it insists on trying to display the last year. Computers! 

January 17, 2004.  The great winter blast of 2004 happened last week.  The cabin had about 4 feet of snow on the ground, but over 5 feet fell.  A house on tunnel road recorded 79 inches. All is white and travel is done in snow shoes. I spread seed out for the Junkos and a flock has arrived to peck, and flit around and fight over the best spots. A stellar jay arrived and gulped down great beak fulls of seed.  Lhotse and Trango can just walk on top of the snow, an ice layer from recent warming holds them up  but not me. When lhoste gets up about 50 birds rush away only to return shortly.  Lhotse lies on the snow for hours, he is well insulated it seems. 

The grapes are sleeping under the snow. Should be no danger of cold related mortality, but I won't konw til spring. I ordered another 200 grapes to make up for past losses and to expand Anne's vineyard with another 100 plants. The snow has weighted the wires and caused several to fall. Looks like I need a week off in May to tend trellis and plant. 

October 17, 2003.   A warm day for October this year.  71 degrees here and beautiful tho I did not get to see it until sunset after work.  It has been a cold week with wind and rain most of it, and we are going to get a few days respite before it rains again Sunday. 

Grapes:  I left the cab franc on the vine and it seems to have been a good thing. Every grape tastes good now. I will do measurements tomorrow. The bunches are beautiful.

October 2, 2003.  A day in heaven. Starting with innoculating 150 gallons of grape must with yeast. Wine is now inevitable. Things look good.   Followed by an awesome session of 4.2 at the Hatch. Huge swells, crashing waves, etc. Now some wine and a great sunset with Stevie Winwood keeping me company.  Lets hope for more...

Grape notes:  The Pinot are ripening!! A sample looked good so I took a larger one. Brix is 21.5 and TA is .79, pH is 3.2  I think we will pick on Saturday as the weather is supposed to turn on Sunday.  The cabernet Franc looks to be 19.4 brix.  The chardonnay are 21, and the crows were eating the only uncovered row so I picked it and put it in the refrigerator.   This ought to be a busy weekend. 

September 28, 2003  CRUSH!!!   This was the day for 2100 pounds of grapes to start the journey into wine.  Ken and Carol came and helped us haul the Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, Wahle Vineyard. The grapes are great, the trip was very long and the crush went well. See photos on the link above.

My grapes: My pinot appear to be close to ripe as well. Brix is 22 to 25 and stems and seeds are a nice brown.  I discovered an old plant tag in the vineyard from the planting in 1996 and it says they are Pinot Noir 25, a clone I don't know much about and can't find much on. 

September 12, 2003  Another great day.  Mid 70's and no wind. Sky is clear.  I painted the future winery 'tasting ' room inside.  Took 5 hours, much more than expected.  Took more paint than I thought too, abou 1 and a half gallons.  

Grape notes: we put the rest of the pre-cut netting over the grapes. One chardonnay row is not yet covered. A large flock of starlings was seen today, so I think it is timely. The chardonnays in particular are showing what might be downy mildew so I sprayed today. Merlot on the deck is at about 17 brix. Most of the pinot is turned red, but not all. Around 50% of the Cab Franc is red. Seems to take a long time this year.

September 1, 2003   Labor day and I labored at building some new steps on the deck. Weather has been beautiful and all is good but for the numerous bees around. The yellow jackets are prolific this year.

Grape notes:  Pinot are about 30-50% veraison now. Still see some of the grunge on several plants, despite use of sulfer and elevate. Jeanne weeded several rows.  Growth has stopped, and water is on very low, except for new plants. 

August 23, 2003  A quick weekend to tend to the vineyard and hopefully do some sailing/biking.  Today, I got here at 3:30 and went to work on Anne's vineyard.  I put in more fenceposts and got wire on the inner fence. Saw two deer on the road on the way up, so I hope to get the fence functional before they run out of other green stuff to munch on. Also worked on the water, as the top (north) row of grapes is not getting nearly the same amount of water as the rest.  I found that the overall water pressure is pretty low, possibly due to the water filter being clogged. But Jeanne is home from her hike so I am going to help get dinner going and deal with it tomorrow. A beautiful day, light wind and 75 degrees - probably warmer tomorrow since a pesky low pressure system has gone east today.

Grape notes: the first Pinots are turning red (verasion).  This is about a week earlier than last year. I still see some dark lesions of an unknown source (fungus) or something. I need to get that figured out. The Cab Franc look real good, as do the Barbera. The cab sauvignon are small but coming along. 

August 3, 2003 - A great weekend at the cabin with Jim and Phyllis, their friends Jeff and Nannette; Charlie, Kathy, Allison and Gordon Brown. Weather was cool and cloudy (70's) tho.  No sailing on Saturday as the wind was too fluky.  

Grape notes:  Things are coming along ok.  Saw a bit of rot on the canes of one pinot on the south side and so sprayed everything well with Elevate, sulfur and acadian (a seaweed based foliar nutrition product).  

July 5, 2003 - A Poem "Incubate and take the wind a moment. then, with a rip, leave it in a spay,do soar and worship the enormous light symphony, like it is, the essential frantic whisper of my summer."

July 4, 2003.  A great day on the water for Steve. 4.7 sail at Dougs Beach for a couple of hours that discovered some sore muscles.  A fine day, warm and windy, swells were good on the river. 

Grapes: Adams view vineyard is looking good, still some losses from winter, some vines making a comeback. Anne's vineyard is doing ok, only a few plants seem to be suffering from some water issues - the first drip irrigation emitters I installed are not pressure compensating meaning that the ones downhill, towards the west are getting more water than those to the east. The north row especially is lacking some water on the east end. I changed the emitters to pressure compensation and most vines are doing better.

June 22, 2003.   Dropped in on sunday to clean out the garage prepartory to doing modifications to it.

Grapes:  The vines look healthy but I lost some over the winter. I don't know if it was the cold or not, as it was not very cold. Spring has again been cool, but flowering has begun in the Pinots, beginning with the one with a tight wind screen around it. Almost to a day the same timing as last year.

June 16, 2003.  Back after 3 weeks in France. Everything is overgrown, the vineyard seems submerged. Time to get out the tractor and go to work!

May 4, 2003.   The grapes are finally budding out here, 2 weeks behind the Williamette valley and probably 3 weeks behind the ones at our house in Portland (different varieties).  We generally catch up to the Willamette valley as our summer is warmer.  I also pruned the windblock bushes to try to maxmize the density of the leaves and block more wind. Also yet to do this year: cover yard irrigation, install sprinkler heads in yard, connect new valve to system for the yard and set up grape irrigation.  

It is a cold windy weekend with a little rain, but I  have to finish the trellis and irrigation in the new vineyard over at Anne's.  I got the trellis up yesterday, and today I will install the irrigation.  Next weekend we plant the new vines. There will be a small party, probably 4 of us doing it. Ought to be quite the event.

The neighbor dropped by to tell us he has an offer on his place. He has 20 acres on the edge of the canyon with trees, seclusion and view - pretty nice. 

April 18, 2003. A warm saturday after a lot of rain for weeks.  I talked to a contractor about a concrete retaining wall around Anne's wellhouse.  Then I installed a water filter on her water supply. In between was preparing the mower for the season, working on the wellhouse, getting the hot tub hot, and inspecting the vines. 

I am looking forward to planting a hundred Pommard Pinot Noir clones next door on Anne's place in a few weeks.  And I have a contractor getting me a quote on the remodeling of our garage so I can make wine in it. 

The dogs had a great day, Lhotse is still running around all over the place at 14 years, despite some arithitis. Trango managed to run into some barbed wire and suffered a puncture wound. 50 bucks later we left the vet with some anitbiotics.  Sigh.  But the hot tub erased all ills, and I am ready to catch some Z's, hopefully a lot of Z's.

March 29, 2003.   Back again to work on the fence, prune the vines.  Jeanne bought some irrigation pipe, now we need to figure out how to dig a lot of trenches easily, quickly and preferrably with my small tractor rather than renting something...ideas? 

March 15, 2003.  The ides of March find us with the knives safely packed...et tu Brute?

 January 26, 2003.  Dropped by to start the fence for the new vineyard near Anne's place and help the well house get installed for her.  The winter has been mild. Today it is 51 degrees, yesterday a little cooler but fine for working outside. Today it is also raining like snot so I am  hibernating.  Pretty muddy near construction areas...

November 30, 2002. A quick visit to meet the man about a driveway.  We will have rock over the clay topsoil that we use for a road here shortly. Something long overdue. 

November 10, 2002.  Another quick visit overnight to discuss regrading the driveway with the neighbor and get dimensions of the camper's raer features to build a rack from. The rack will hold sail boarding equipment, I hope, for our Baja trip. Anne is here again to put up the rest of the gutters on her place, weather permitting.

Grape notes: Last year's vintage Pinot Noir was bottled yesterday.  It is very flowery in the nose, but a little thin on the backbone. Still, I am pleased it came out ok.  The chardonnay, and cab franc wines seem to be stuck at the end of fermentation. I will give it a little more time then take some steps to fix it. 

The final tally for degree days this year was 1909 by the averaging method, 1840 using mean temps not average.  Using the proposed method to account for length of season and sunshine, not just temp, the Time, Temp and Precipitation method (Days over 50 degrees times mean temp of the warmest month minus the mm precipitation) is 2529.  For comparison, Pommerol is 2910, Christchurch is 2570.  So, I am somewhat comparable to New Zealand.....

November 3, 2002.  A very cold week required a special trip Thursday night to make sure the pipes did not freeze. This would have been a good weekend for ice wine, had the Riesling been mature but as it was planted this year it was not to be. Temperatures dropped to 18 degrees one night...perfect for a very frozen grape as is needed for ice wine.

Anne was here with us to put gutters on her new place.  I put a new page on the site to hold pictures of things as they go up. She has a very nice cottage - Le Cottage.  

Wine notes: I pressed the wine Friday night. Acid levels were high, so I am hoping the malolactic fermentation will help, and I will plan on cold stablization. 

October 19, 2002 A fun weekend ahead with Jim, Phyillis, Kevin, Anna and Anne.  

Grape notes:  I measured the brix by refractometer as I planned to harvest tomorrow. The Pinot in row one was 22.5.  The Pinot Noir in row two was 21.5.  The Pinot Noir in row three was a surprising 20.4.  I investigated farther, and found that the last two plants in row 3 had low readings..mostly in the 19 range. The east half of the first plant in row 2 was also low.

The cab franc was also interesting. The plants in row one were all about 21. The first two plants in row 2 were about 21, then the others in row two were 17-19.  The Cab Sauvignon was 21-22. 

October 12, 2002.  Once again we are here to experience a fall weekend.  The choke cherries have pretty much turned color, though the grapes and cherry tree are still green.  It is a grand time of the year, not much work to be done in the field, watching the grapes mature and anticipating harvest.  Jeanne and I went to Allen's property and "explored" some old ATV trails. You know, the ones that were made by 250cc machines that go UP hills a little better than my legs.  Ok, I whined, satisfied?  Next week, Jim Blilie comes home to see his place. It should be a great time. Kevin and others may come as well.

Grape Notes:   After a fairly cold week, I measured the brix again.  First row Pinot was 20, second row was 21 and the last row was 20.  The chardonnay was mixed together and came up twenty. The cab franc was 19 (composite sample).  The real surprise is the cab savignon. 3 berries measured at random were 21, 22 and 23 brix respectively! They are clone  7 on their own roots.  It is tough to watch things go so late into the year and wonder if you are making champagne or still wine. But, the weather report says that it will be dry, sunny and we may make it up to the mid 60's. Given that, I want to see what these grapes will do! I love this time of year, all the efforts, all the pruning, hedging, cropping, spraying, tilling, training come to fruition, literally.  Only mother nature can undo everything we try, but since our options are many, champagne to fine Pinot, we should prevail.

October 5, 2002.  First, a computer note: the power went off on Sept 30th and the computer did not recover. So, no updates! 

I dropped in by myself as Jeanne is in Seattle. I picked up a new toy for the tractor - rear blade to move snow and grade the road.  Great day - I measured the grapes, measured the easement Anne needs for her access road, got the rear blade, and took the first hot tub of the fall season...lovely blue and orange colors lit the sky for the sunset from the tub...

 Grape Notes:  I measured the grape ripeness with a fractometer today.  Pinot in row one was 18 brix. Chardonnay in row 1 were 18 brix. Chardonnay in row 2 was 18 brix, and Pinot in row two was 18.5. The Pinot in the last row, was 19.   The weather for next week is forecast to be good. So I hope it will be enough to raise things 2 degrees or I may have to learn how to make champagne. 

It is a mystery why the Cabernet Sauvigon is also about 19 brix. It should be behind the Pinot. Overall this has been a cold year. I anticipated 2100 degree days of heating and got about 1900 this year. 

Sampling was done by taking 1 or 2 berries per plant from the middle of the bunch and avoiding any obviously unripe or overripe berries.  I tested one that was a bit rotted, and it measured 24 brix. 

September 22, 2002.  Quick note: I added a archive page containing past diary entries to speed up this page load.   

Grapes:  went through the vineyard and took out more grapes. Now I am down to 8-10 bunches per plant.

September 20, 2002. Another fine September weekend.  The cold is definitely in the air, but the days are comfy.  The wind is changing, it was a strong easterly today at the other (west ) end of the Gorge, meaning we had relatively light winds here.  Jeanne and I note that there are less bugs around...but we have not had a freeze yet to kill them off, that I know of. I guess that 45 degrees is enough to do the job.

You may be wondering about the gopher attacks on the irrigation tubing.  This week, there are no new problems.  Last week, I installed a gopher repeller sonic device next to the irrigation hose. The sounds of the repeller should travel along the tubing in the water.  I hope this indicates it is working.  I am spending a lot of time, hose, hose clamps, and lost water to those critters.

Tonite we have Jeanne's mother, father, sister, sister and me here. it is fun to see them, as they live on the east coast save one sister.  It is  a lot of fun to talk to them about politics, hair transplant and all sorts of vital topics......................

Grape notes: The pinot are about 80% red. The brix is about 17 outside the one plant with a wind block. I am going to need a very warm rest of the month and into October to ripen these.  I may not have time to learn about making champange.....

September 14, 2002.  Two weeks away from the place and it is great to be back. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with friends Hannah, Bob, Brenda and Tom at Ocean Shores last weekend, but I was worried about the grapes here.  Today we are entertaining Cheryl and Eddie and Anne has joined us too. Anne is excited because she now has a building permit for placing a home on the land next to us and has put down the money.  We talked to a contractor about repairing the road, and putting in more gravel around our garage so maybe we won't be walking in mud this winter.  

Grape notes:  One Pinot Noir vine is at 19 brix now.  It is the one I experimented with by putting a wind block up in front of it.  Most of the others are at 16-17 brix.  The chardonnay is at about 15. Needless to say, it is a cool year, and things may not ripen.  I will need to learn how to make champagne in such years!!

I placed the bird netting over the Pinot, and cut off more crop in hopes of ripening at least it this year. I also cropped the cab franc and the barbera.  Interestingly, two Cabernet Sauvigon plants are at verasion. 

Overall, things are at about 60% verasion for the Pinot, and about 10% for the Cab Franc

August 29, 2002.  At the end of a great vacation, I have a sense of melancholy as I watch another great sunset from atop our floating knoll in the Columbia River Gorge.  Vivid blues and oranges dominate the western sky while a few wisps of crimson feathers float in the east as the sun sets on another great day.  Tomorrow we return to the 'real' world of Portland and work on Tuesday. Sigh. Today we enjoyed Anne's visit, although a short one, as we discussed her future plans and the possibility of relocating to near us in Portland or here in White Salmon.  We are looking forward to seeing a lot more of her....

Today I weeded and thinned the grapes, and we had a good talk session with the neighbors about Anne's impending house construction.  The neighbor, Dave, reports seeing an unusual sight - a large bird on the ground, about 3 and a half feet high.  His property sits on the edge of Major Creek canyon, without a fence, so we wonder if a local farm is missing an Emu.  Other speculation is that it is a large turkey (I want that one for Thanksgiving!) or a tall peacock.  The sighting was quick so we are left wondering. 

I  did some work on the website to add a vacation page and slots for pictures of Anne's house going in. The photos will be added this week from Portland so nothing will turn up when they are selected for a little while.

I think I have the water figured out.  The control starts all valves on the programmed time, in sequnence, so valve 1 goes first at 6:00 pm for the proscribed half hour then valve two for the proscribed hour. So that mystery may be solved. Last night I got up at 12:00 am to turn off the supply as the water kept coming. We shall see if it is resolved.

Grape notes: the fungus that afflicts the Symphony and some Cab franc is present in limited quantities on the chardonnay and on a very few Pinot Noir.  Treatment with Captan has been slightly effective. I am looking for Abound, which is reported to work well and be of limited environmental impact. Nonetheless, there are more pinot berries turning red finally.  I need 30 good days after they become red (verasion) before they are ripe, so  I am anxious for a hot Sept.  I plan on waiting one to two weeks into October  before I harvest, so I have 5 to 6 weeks for things to happen. 

August 28, 2002.  We have returned from a brief vacation in Idaho.  The weather is hot here, but was rainy in Idaho, and the grass is very dry.  Fires nearby have not threatened us.  The news is full of rememberences of the Sept 11 disaster last year and Bush's desire to attack Iraq and unseat Saddam.  What will the next year bring?

Grape notes: uneven watering has left some new vines withered. Others are doing well. The grasshoppers are everywhere and hurting some new vines.  There is still a bit of rot on some. There is no verasion yet, except for a few pinot clusters, including the new vines on the deck.  

To address the water problem, I installed another automatic valve and went to work repairing lines that had been eaten by the gophers. Amazing what these little critters do to thin walled PVC hose. I am not sure if they are just irritated by something in the dirt with them, or if they are trying to get a drink from the water inside the hose. I had four leaks at various places.  I usually bury the hose about an inch down which appears to be a bad depth for gopher attack. The only way to ward them off is a ultrasonic repeller, but  I would have to have a hundred of them to cover all the tubing installed...hmm, maybe I can get the vibration from one repeller to transmit inside the water in the tubes and thus protect them all? Worth a shot. Otherwise I will have to installed hard walled (tough) pipe all over....

I fear there is nothing to do about the grass hoppers. We have not seen any swallows recently, despite large flocks earlier in the year. I wonder where they go at this time of year? We have several kestrels that are reputed to feed on them, but a few aren't enough. I think they are coming in 7 to 8 year cycles.

August 17, 2002.  The weather has been warm the last two weeks. We skipped a week here in order to go to PA and see Mom in her new abode.  Today was a busy one getting ready for vacation. The new camper (see photo links on the left) is packed with climbing gear, fishing gear and mountain biking gear and a trailer hitch rack in back holding the boat motor.  It is exciting to see how this arrangement will work...should be alot more comfy than previous arrangements we had.   We have a few ripe tomatoes, and the beans are voerripe. 

Grape notes: Starting to see stress on established vines as I turned down the water. Unfortunately I fried a few of the new vines, so had to turn the water back up. I noticed the bunch rot on a few vines, so I got out the Captan and sprayed. I hoped the copper and sulfur would hold it off, but looks like not enough. The symphony have the most of it, which is what I recall from last year. A little in the chardonnay.  Things are also suffering a little from the weak trellising in the old section. I really should get it updated. Hope things will be ok when we return in two weeks.

August 4, 2002.  More of the same.  Very nice Saturday with Matt, Lisa, Ryan, Ben, Gaye, and Cara. Goor firends and good food.  We stared to prepare the new camper (see the links to the left) for our upcoming vacation.

Grapes: Had to spray with sulfur and copper again as it rained on Sunday a brief bit.  A few leaves on the pinot are turning red without going through yellow.  I took photos to possibly send to the extension agent for an opinion.  Otherwise, it looks good.

The tomatoes are turning red and the beans are maturing. The peas are done - we took them off last week. I fear we will miss some tomatoes while on vacation. 

July 27, 2002.  Another nice weekend. Clear here, cloudy in Portland means wind which means windsurfing after taking care of some mowing and vineyard chores. Unfortunately, the nice wind and waves resulting in good jumping and a reminder that parts of my body are still sore.  So, it was a short session.  Jeanne and Anne came down in the afternoon from Seattle.

Grape notes:  Everything looks good. I decided to cut back some of the cab franc as the canes were long and waving in the wind. I took out about half the fruit as well.  I need to crop back the other rows too. Grapes are about pea sized now.

July 13, 2002.   A very warm weekend.  The climate data shows it was 105 a few days ago, and it got to about 96 here on Friday. Saturday was cooler and a bit windy - 87 degrees.  Steve went sailing at Doug's beach but only sailed a short time before the wind died there only to come up again a few hours later. By that time Steve was doing more errands elsewhere.  I made plans to try sailing downwind tomorrow from Viento to the bridge and pick up the car that Jeanne leaves there - a perfect match of activities as Jeanne is biking up from the river to the cabin - about 2 thousand feet up great single track trail in the woods up the "corner road" , a well shaded nice grade ending a mile or two from the cabin. This ought to be a great adventure for both of us.  Cell phones are mandatory for both of us....

Grape notes:  most grapes are in the last phase of flowering.  All of them are looking quite healthy. I sprayed again today sulfur and copper to ward off the fungus that hurt me last year.  The temperature made spraying a bit dicy - anything over 85 degrees can burn the grapes if you spray with sulfur. My mix was on the light side, and the high was only 87 so I trust I did no damage.  I am almost to the point of not spraying. 

We have plenlty of weeds in vineyard. It had been tilled twice in the early season and I may need to do it again to keep them down. It is a toss up whether to keep tilling or let them grow. The grass and weeds could harbor beneficial insects and offset the bad ones, or it could harbor the bad ones like grass hoppers. At this point, the hoppers are a worse prospect so I may till again to keep the bad stuff down. Since tilling can't get all the weeds, I will have to come back with the weedwacker to get the rest.  But, again, the vines look good.  I guess all the attention is working....

July 7, 2002.   A good Fourth of July weekend at the cabin.  Quite warm and little wind meant that it was time to do cabin chores. I put up more trellis over the new vines, thinned all the rows, tied things up, weeded, fertilized the cherry trees and wind block trees, weeded and tied things up in the garden, planted tomatoes and mowed all over the place.  I also tried to kill the weeds coming up in the boule court. 

Grape notes:  almost all the plants are flowering.  They all look vigorous and healthy.  I tried to tie up the long shoots vertically, and thinned to provide more sun to the grape bunches.  Afterward, I reflected that the white grapes may not need as much so I will try to do less hedging on them in the future.  Interestingly I noted bees and other insects visiting the flowers - maybe grapes are not as self propagating as we believed!  Also noted that the Merlot on the deck is fully flowering but the ones near the well house have not flowered much.  Again it suggests that a wind block is helpful.

We saw nighthawks this weekend.  Brilliant stars were out each night which has been moonless.

June 29, 2002.  Another short weekend.  Mildly windy, and good to give the body a weeks rest from windsurfing so we went moutnain biking.  Exercise is good.  

The grapes are flowering, at least the Pinot, the Cab Franc (just starting) and the Chardonnay.  I sprayed again as there had been rain yesterday, apparently a lot of it.  

June 23, 2002. Another windy day but my body can't take another day sailing. So I am spending my time in the vineyard.

Grapes notes:  Wind damage in the chardonnay means I better get the trellis fixed up.  Cab Franc looks ok. One Pinot with a wind screen is flowering now behind the wind screen.

June 22,2002.  Good wind today. Steve sailed at Doug's Beach on a 4.2 meter sail and had jumps and wave rides aplenty. Also managed to land hard enough to knock the wind out of me but it was fine. Long waves mean long smiles.  Jeanne had a good hike up a peak near Carson but on the south side of the river. Good views down into the Gorge from 3 thousand feet up I hear.  So, we both retired to the hot tub to trade stories and drink wine. Tis the life.

June 17, 2002. Fantastic weekend.  Took an a day of vacation to make it a three dayer.  Sailed on Saturday in so-so winds, but Sunday was classic - 30 mph and even Bingen was good.  Jim and Phyllis are here from Minnesota, Kevin and Natalie from Vancouver and Dave and Ashley from Seattle.  Quite an evening party.  People did hikes and talked about moving here someday.

The grapes seem ok, but a little behind due to the cold spring. Some show wind damage on the fruit..it will be interesting to see how that develops.  No flowering yet. 

June 1, 2002.  Wow, great day.  Got here last night and weeded in the vineyard - things are growing out there! We had a beautiful pink sky sunset last night. Both mountains were lit up.  Jeanne and sister Anne arrived today.  I got to sail for the first time this year, it is amazing how much better I feel after a good session on the water at Doug's beach (4.7 and amazingly consistent wind).  Then we enjoyed the hot tub and a good dinner of Provencel Chicken.    

Grape notes: we have about  4 inches of growth on the vines, everything looking good.

May 25, 2002.  Memorial Day with Ben, Gaye, Kara, Matt, Lisa and Ryan.  Grand plans were made to do some hiking and biking, but mother nature decided to clean up with a rain shower at 2:00.  A good day to look forward to the hot tub, I think.

May 18, 2002.  Another too quick weekend.  I have a business trip tomorrow so we hurried here to finish pplanting and tending new plants for this week.  I drilled more holes for end posts for the vineyard trellis and for Anne's new fence (or marking posts for the new boundary for her property).  The vines are starting to bud out - our grapes in Portland have 4 inches of growth so we are about 2 weeks behind here.  I rototilled the vineyard to let the rainwater in - the ground under the old part where spring grasses are growing was quite dry while the ground in the new portion was still damp when tilled up. I guess that tells you what the grass and weeds do with the moisture!  Our good friend Keith Wegner stopped by. He is located in Texas now but used to own the house just east of us here.  He comes back twice a year to see old friends.  He invited us to a picnic with friends Bob and Arlene Allen.  It was good to see them too, as we knew them a little when they owned a large piece of land nearby on the rim of the Gorge but sold it to the Forest Service under the scenic act provisions. Anyway, the Allens family used to own large amounts of land around us, including ours. He told us that our land was a pear orchard that was planted in 1903 or 1904 - meaning the 3 remaining trees could be 100 years old!!  There also used to be an apple orchard nearby. We have one tree on our property.  He thought the tree was a Transparent graft on Macintosh root stock..who knows.  Finally, Jims' property next door was the original homestead and a lot of the old rust equipment was left over from when his grandfather sold the place.  Pretty wild stuff and real interesting local history.   We still find burnt wood a foot or so underground when we dig around here, presumably from when they cleared off the orchard and planted alfalfa.  I guess the apple market went down at the time they decided to grow alfalfa.  

We finished the day with a hot tub as it started to rain a bit.  I guess this is a colder than normal spring.

April 27, 2002.  Another day planting in the vineyard.  Last weekend we planted 28 Pinot Noir (777 clone) after preparing the entire vineyard area for about 70 new plants. Today we put the other 42 Pinot Noirs in. There are 28 115 clone plants and 14 Martini clones - a champagne variety. I also have some replacement chardonnays going in, white riesling and Pinot Gris yet to plant...whew. When done, we will have a half acre planted, it seems like a lot but should be reasonable to maintain. The day was mildly windy and sunny.

April 13, 2002.  A good day working in the vineyard. Pruned almost all the vines. There is so much yet to be done - remove battered ground cover, replace rotten stakes, till between the rows, spray sulfur to prevent the fungus that ate Villa Ventoux last year.  I am trying a new trellis system - Guynot - with the Pinot Noir. It seems to be popular in Oregon. I hope it helps up the quality.  Next weekend I go and fetch some 60 vines I ordered to fill out the enclosed vineyard space, so I need to put in the posts at the same time for the trellis. 4 more rows. I think that makes the vineyard about as big as I can manage by myself. So, I went and ordered another 100 vines for next year...logical, isn't it? But if I am ever going to make significant quantities of grapes happen, I need more plants with less yield per plant to up the quality.  This little hobby is getting a little big.

Today was also a special day because my cousin and great friend Gary had his 60th birthday! We had a great time with his friends at a party. It was also special because we took possession of a new pickup today - a Toyota. We have had two in the past and they served us well. It looks like we will repeat it again. This is our first new car in 7 years (as opposed to a new used car.)  We are happy campers.

Tomorrow back to Portland. I am looking forward to summer and windsurfing.

April 6, 2002.  At last spring has come. The Meadowlarks are in full sing mode..what an amazing repertoire of different songs they have. I did maintenance on the tractor and tilled the area where the new vines will go plus the garden.  The willows are budding and the wysteria looks like it might, but nothing else from other species yet, except the grass which is very green.  We took a grand mountain bike ride down the hill from a local neighbors (ex) house.  It was a nice downhill to a big meadow overlooking the river. Small wildflowers are making an appearance there.  Then a grueling uphill back to the cabin....I guess we need to get out more. Lhotse and Trango had a lot of activity barking at the neighbor's dogs.  All that, followed by a hot tub to work out the kinks....sigh, what a nice day.

March 30, 2002.  A quick visit to pick a battery for the starlet we keep here.  Cloudy last night but clear today and brilliant, both mountains are huge snowcones.  The Bluebirds have returned to claim their boxes, and the swallows mean to challenge their claim. A lot of swooping and fighting going on. The good news is that a lone starling came by and everyone ganged up on him to drive him off.

March 9, 2002.  A cold March that came in like a lion left a couple of inches of snow for us. The website has been a real problem, as the modem drivers or something have kept it from updating. Hope to have it fixed now.  Left a load of vine clippings from the other house here, and brought in some vineyard supplies. We will be planting about another 90 vines this year.

Febraury 17, 2002.  A beautiful weekend in White Salmon. Calm and pretty clear, we had brillant stars last night, and a good view of Jupiter through the telescope. The immature Marsh Hawk is still with us, gracing the air just above the grass on the hunt for rodents. Its white head is like an eagles, but the white/grey body recalls that of a Osprey. The older hawk is not around today. A wonderful sight.

I have installed a new version of weather software with the hopes of fixing the update problem. 

January 26, 2002.   Another fine visit. Yesterday was skiing with the Portland Nordic Club on Mt. Hood in deeeeep powder followed by one long nice hot tub soak.  A new friend from the club joined us, Linnea.  4 inches of snow have everything nice and white, with the sun peeking through low clouds today.

January 19, 2002.  First trip of the new year for me, Lhotse and Trango. Lhotse loves his freedom and is doing really well after his injury in Baja this year. He runs, and does minor jumps without apparent problem. The weather is cool,just above to just  below freezing, but no snow on the ground here except what has been left behind from December snows. 

I unpacked from Baja and applied some sulfur to the vines to try to kill any fungal spores.  Jeanne is in San Diego to do a half-marathon. 

A wonderful evening ensued, with the Marsh Hawk and the dogs for company, I watched the clouds and the snow come and go, giving peaks of the constellations as I soaked up a very hot tub with some Santa Duc.......oh, and a half inch of new white stuff fell as I inhaled the tub's steam........

December 1st, 2001. First snow of the year fell during the week and we have 3-4 inches here but it is melting fast due to SUNSHINE. WE have clouds to the north, south, east, and west but not overhead. The dogs have had a great time romping and rolling in it.  Unfortunately when we started the water for the cabin, we found that one valve was broken on the supply line to the dishwasher. Since that line was left disconnected, the broken valve let water pump out onto the floor. A moment of panic set in until we had the pump off and sponges out to soak up the spilled water. Now we hope to get the heat up in the cabin and dry things out.

The time has also come to prepare for the trip to Baja. I plan to sail for up to 8 days if the wind blows. We have work to do on the truck to get ready....2 weeks to go til I leave. Jeanne will join me after christmas.

November 18th, 2001.  A quick trip to find glorious sunshine and 69 degrees on a Saturday. Jeanne and the dogs got here first, then me.  Jim joined us for a wonderful dinner and hot tub, and then.....the Lenid meteor shower.  I crashed from traveling at 10:00 PM but die hards Jeanne and Jim slept on the deck to see as much as 3 meteors in 2 seconds. 

October 27, 2001. One more time. The weather grows cooler, the leaves are turning, the hot tub is a major attraction as we prepare for hibernation.  Rototilled the vineyard and garden last weekend and today.  I really need to get the new vines on order. Too much going on as usual...

October 13, 2001.  Just a quick visit to pick the remaining grapes.  Very windy week, hit 38 mph today, but bright sunshine while it is cloudy in Portland. Time to turn my attention to the other house and bid a fond adieu to the cottage for a little while.  Back in a week or two..

October 7, 2001. Picked pinot noir!  Brix was 23.5 on the test batch, 22.5 on all of it picked and crushed

September 29, 2001.   I added a temperature panel to the site.  This weekend is painting and some road bike work on my new LeMond!  Cooler nights but warm days still persist...gotta make the most of them!!

September 16, 2001.  At the end of a week no one will forget.  The world sits in shock. To forgive or to retaliate....will it make a difference to the future or just the next few years?  

Back to painting the outside. With luck, it will be done by next weekend.  Jeanne is in Montana, so things are pretty quiet around Villa Ventoux.

September 8, 2001   Did the Aluminum Man triathlon today.  Ouch.  Steve struggled but Jeanne smoked. Regardless, it was a great day - no wind and reaching 90 degrees. 

September 2.  Stop the tilt! Keep the summer going!! 

Sigh, another great day. We are harvesting a ton of beans (the peas are gone) and the corn is yet to come. A few tomatoes are ripe and yummy! We have to keep a few for next weekend.  More painting today...I was out of sandpaper so a run downtown brought another surprise..a Sunday market is forming in the Mt Adams visitor center (actually a parking lot and rest room on the Washington side of the Hood River toll bridge. We bought fresh steelhead from the local (native American) fisherwoman. Yummy. And new corn from Dickeys. Then back up and more training for next week's triathlon in the Dalles. So, we biked up Snowden road to a gravel road, ran 23 minutes, and biked back, about a 1.5 hour trip. I am a little weak in the legs now, but I may survive the triathlon. 

So, with a Chimay for reward, we barbecue the fish and eat beans and corn tonite.  Wish you were all here.

September 1.   My god where has the summer (almost) gone??  Thank Budda (why not?) for a day sailing at Rowena.  I spent a good part of the day out east trying to experience the swells, but the only swells are at Dougs and Rowena these days.  So, me and 200 sailors played dodge ball. It could have been worse since it at least made it to 4.2!!  I am beat again.

Trying a new Cotes du Rhone tonite..Alain Jaume from Chateauneuf du Pape A Orange. Not bad, a good deal I think. Tuesday is wine tasting introduction (do NOT wear perfume, and swirl only clockwise, etc).  Ought to be enlightening...but necessary before the main event Wednesday.  But for now, lets swill Cotes du Rhone and relax!!

August 26th.  More sanding and painting on the cabin in a 96 degree day. So to cool off we went on a mountain bike ride..up anerobic hill. Got to love these trails. God my lungs ache. So incredibly peaceful here tonite, so we decided to stay and make the journey back to P Land tomorrow am at o:god 30 am.  Its worth it. 

August 25th. Another hot day. Great ride with Jeanne on the old Columbia River highway from Hood River to Rowena...about 28 miles on a paved path or road.  Jeanne has a HOT new bike and SMOKED uphill in it.  With no wind, my adrenaline intake has been compromised...must replace it with wine, oh well.  Hope you enjoy the new pic.  Its the dog days of summer at Villa Ventoux!!!!!!!!!!  (But...can you see the new snow on Mt. Adams??)

August 19th, 2001  After recovering from the feast, we managed to rise for an early game of boules..about 10 am...then back to painting the west wall. We ended the day with an hour and half ride on terrific trails nearby.  Sigh...do I have to go back to P land??

August 18th, 2001. Another classic day. My arms hurt so bad.  Hedged the vineyard some more today and did a ton of mowing: lawn, road, Jims drive, Jims north property and more.......................and now for a wonderful meal.  The wine list is Veuve Cliquot Champagne, Glen Fiona Syrah, and Barbarossa Syrah. The cheese selection includes Laura Chenel moldy chevre, a mysterious chunk that is also moldy and lots of good bread.  We might even get to Jeanne's special meal, including salmon, veggies from the garden (you should see the size of the carrot that grew this year) and more.  

August 17th, 2001 - A nuclear week in the ditch. Dougs Beach had gusts over 50 mph the last 3 days, I caught two of them, I was almost the last person on the water. Really weird sailing while the waves are casting shadows - you know something big is coming.  Man, am I sore.  Nothing but huge swells and the occasional spanking to stoke your pysche.  Looking forward to a terrific weekend with Jim, Harriet, Jim, Anne and Jeanne.  

August 13th, 2001 - Just a quick trip down to check some cheesy 4.7 at the Hatch. Last person on the water!! Nice to have some huge swells to myself.  Maybe again this week??

August 12th, 2001 -  Can you say real hot? 100 degrees today.  Mucho yard work and painting on the west wall. The aforementioned photo is not appearing....another web challenge to overcome....

August 11th, 2001 - Can you say hot? 94 degrees today. Yippee, I got some things fixed on the website. Decided to add a photo - we just need Kevin in the pic to make it good..........

Too much work tho--I am sanding and repainting the peeling west wall.  Sigh - wine will overcome all hurdles!

Jeanne and I do the Aluminum man triathlon Sept 8th - stay tuned for news!!

August 5th, 2001 - another winner.  Doug's beach went off yesterday for a great session on the water. Jim is clearing bush and weeds from his place.  If only there was an endless summer.... 

July 22, 2001  -  Good weekend was had by all as our friend Jim occupied his new place.

July 14, 2001 We met our friend Jim who has bought the land next to our (who ooo).  Life promises to be good here on out.  We are busy planning to survey the land finally, parcel out some of it to our sister in-law) and then perhaps succeed from the union and declare a new Principality!  With 50 acres between us it ought be some sort of nation state.  

Steve sailed today at Doug's beach. As anticipated it was crowded. Unfortunately it was also very gusty. I alternated sessions of screaming speed with long spells in the water waiting for sufficient wind to pick me up.   A few jumps were had, and some good swell riding occurred on occasion. 

Tomorrow is Jeanne's great test of endurance, the Gorge Games Trail Run. Its 10K of up and down, especially the 1200 feet of elevation gain. Scary. Steve will be on hand to cheer her on.  

Next week is our friend Jim's house warming. He has a good spot, with a wind break, a view of Mt. Hood, and someday a new house that will include a view of BOTH mountains.  Along with a barn, and a shop and other goodies. What a place. You can see his place in our photo above - its the low white house just visible in the low left kind of behind the prayer flags...look close.... Till next week....

July 8, 2001  What a great weekend.  Saturday was a TWO sport day, windsurfing at the Hatchery in the morning and mountain biking in the afternoon.  80 degree weather and all is well.

July 3, 2001   I get to stay overnight while Jeanne heads to Seattle.  I hope to sail tomorrow. The vines are doing well, and the grass is getting higher.  Time to mow!! 

June 30, 2001    A quick trip down.  Things look good, the roof is on the garage. The dogs are happy chasing the birds.  Still can't get the software on this to work right...so I have asked the vendor for help. We have too many radishes in the garden!  I must go weed....

June 22, 2001  The grapes are finally flowering.  A windy day, I am only here a moment while I check the garage status, get a sample of the cabin color to pick the garage paint, and let the dogs get their yaw yaw's out.   I oriented the picture to get more of Jim's place in it.  Tomorrow am it is back to Portland to see friends. There are a lot of purple flowers - mostly vetch and some lupine - in the fields. Ah, Ventoux...

June 16, 2001   Classic Gorge Day

Fresh back from France I desperately needed some windsurfing and got it.    A classic 25 mph wind, full sun, and mellow people at Mosier (Rock Creek).  4.2 sail did well and I ripped.  Some jumps add to my euphoria. Can I repeat tomorrow?

When I came home, I tilled the vineyard. The weeds were 3 feet high.  The garage is finally going up, and the walls are half done. Tonite, I need to work on the website...

May 20, 2001 Four days till France. 

A beautiful, calm sunny day at Villa Ventoux is my send off. 3 more days of work and then I am out of here. I can't wait to see Jeanne, eat loads of good stuff, drink red wine, bike around old Roman towns, and enjoy family.  

I rode the Friday afternoon ride today with the middle fork extension.  About an hour of great trail riding and a little road gets my exercise in today!  The rest of the morning was spent working in the vineyard again, weeding and removing unwanted buds.  I met the neighbors and arranged for them to watch everything. I wonder if they will watch the contractors? 

Too much to do, too little time in life......better forget the worries and head for Provence!

Steve

May 19, 2001 Epic wind

Steve went sailing at Doug's Beach today. Awesome wind, gusting over 35 mph.  Lots of people there, I thought it was July.  Also lots of air for everyone, if you could hang on. I found I was in my early season shape - translation, lousy, so after 1.5 hours I had to give up.

Not that bad a thing, tho, I got to see the White Salmon May Day festival which was swinging downtown.  Well, at least there was a live band. But I did not stay long as I needed to get back, free the dogs from confinement and work in the vineyard.  

This morning I met with the contractor on the garage and I had to ask him to redo the layout of the garage. It was not going to end up parallel with the cabin. He did it gladly. Seems like an ok gent.

Time to prepare for France. I think I better start packing. See you all in a few weeks!

May 18, 2001 - A new addition

The contractor started work on the 2 car garage and shop this week.  Tomorrow I give him his deposit - there goes the bucks!  Wow, somewhere to store the goods and do the dirty work!

The dogs are happy here. Lhotse managed to break out of the Portland prison a few times this week without me knowing it. The neighbor helped round him up before he ate all the cats in the neighborhood.  We need a new fence!

We miss Jeanne -soon I will join her in France.  Wish us Bon Voyage.

May 12, 2001 - The season begins!!

Today was mostly spent cleaning out the shed, but to my delight the wind arrived in the early afternoon. The temperature was warm, in the mid 70's, so it was shorts and t-shirt time!  I ran out and bought my new steamer, Pro Motion Storm, which fit great.  The wind had shut down somewhat in the corridor, so I went to Doug's Beach. Good choice. I used the larger board, the 105L Logoz Warbird, a really sweet wave board. Using the 5.2 I had 1.5 hours of great wind - consistent, warm, and some good swells among the chop.

About 5:30 the wind shifted to the northwest, which caused it to drop at Dougs a bit. It was a good time to stop and get back to feed the dogs who had patiently waited for my return. 

Thank the Gods for good win and a great day.

May 13, 2001 - The clouds return.

Well, can't have it all the time.  The sun gave way to high overcast with sun breaks . Still, the mountains are out and the meadowlarks are singing.  I will be finishing the shed clean out, and then I will be weeding in the vineyard where grass is higher than some of the vines. Maybe there is time for a bike ride? Another great weekend.