Spring at Unionville
Buds are actually formed on last year’s crop. They are tiny shoots that are dormant over winter on the vines’ canes. Roni and his crew cut back the excess cane earlier in the year. Now that the temperatures in the vineyard are starting to get above 50 degrees, these tiny shoots or buds emerge from nodes in the vines’ remaining canes. This is known as bud break. This is the most critical time of the year in the vineyard, a late frost now can reduce, if not ruin, our crop for the year. When I was in class in Washington last month, one of our assignments was to examine frost damaged buds. Not easy. We had to use razor blades and carefully slice half of the tiny bud off. The remaining half was placed under a microscope. If the primary bud (the bud has actually three parts - primary, secondary and tertiary) is still green, we’re looking good. If the primary bud is brown, then the crops for that year are in danger. The secondary and tertiary buds can be a slight insurance for the crop, but harvest and grape quality are greatly diminished. A few years ago when I was living in Texas, a few portions of the High Plains area had three consecutive late frosts. Strike one, two and three. No crop for that year.
Luckily, we were spared that plight, and now in the vineyard we are starting to see the emergence of little leaves. Until this point the buds are pulling up carbohydrates from the plant for energy. With the development of leaves, photosynthesis can begin. The plant can start taking energy directly from the sun and accelerate the pace of additional growth. In my viticulture class this is discussed as Sources and Sinks. Until the leaves appear and start bringing in energy from the photosynthesis, the buds are all sinks, as they withdraw energy from the plant. When the photosynthesis occurs, this reverses the process and are now called Sources. Kind of like when your kids get out of college and start paying off their student loans.
We’re still not out of the woods yet. Actually, not until the grapes are harvested, are we actually out of the woods, but more on that later. For now, we can breathe a little easier that we’ve made it through the late frosts and onto the next challenge. I’ll discuss more in the next blog.
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Desk or vineyard? This is the question I asked myself when making the leap of faith to leave my corporate life behind to pursue my passion for wine. After working in the medical communications space for 10 years, 2022 was the year of epiphany. It may sound old fashion, but I did have a major realization in the beginning of the new year that I was not meant to work behind a desk and chug along doing work that I was no longer passionate about.
My first notion of my interest of wine came during my frequent business trips to Boston about 4 years ago. For the first time I was immersing myself in the world of wine through client dinners, networking events and a lot of self-exploring through Beantown. During this time was my first encounter with sommeliers and wine experts. I was fascinated and intrigued by the expertise knowledge of wine, wine making and learning about the intricacies that goes into producing a bottle of wine. At this moment, I thought about how amazing it was to witness such passion for the craft of wine.
I enrolled in an online sommelier level one course at the Wine School of Philadelphia and began studying and reading everything I could about wine. This is where my 2nd major epiphany happened – I asked myself, the question that I stated in the beginning “desk or vineyard?”
This is the question that started the major stepping stone to my journey. I no longer wanted my wine passion to be in the background – I wanted to be 100% committed and both feet in. Unionville Vineyards was the first winery that popped into my head when I thought about making my “9:00- 5:00” switch. I attended a wedding at Unionville the year prior and loved the atmosphere, the wine and the people. The position that I applied to was half farm work half hospitality. I was instantly attracted to the idea of being out in the field to where it all begins in wine making. Thoughts of my “office” transforming into the beautiful vineyard was something I desired. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Unionville has multiple vineyard sites with the Coventry site located within Coventry Farm in Princeton being my favorite (love the views there!) Working at the different sites allows you to see how the different micro climates, soil and land impact the vines and fruit cluster growth. Also working in the field to me was the perfect learning opportunity to understand the craft of wine making soup to nuts. Being surrounded by vines that produced grapes such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay was eye opening to me. I was so used to seeing the finished product of these grape varietals in their bottled form, but actually being able to perform farming techniques on the vines starts to create another level of perspective and appreciation for wine.
One of my favorite farming tasks to perform in the field on the vines is leaf pulling. Leaf pulling is when you remove leaves from around the fruit clusters. The rule of thumb is to remove leaves that are across and below from the fruit cluster. Removing the leaves creates oxygen flow, openness for pesticides to be sprayed and exposes the fruit to more sunlight. I enjoy seeing the satisfying result of a perfectly balanced vine with the right number of leaves removed. Working in the field creates a huge bond between you and your other field peers. You become a family unit and learn how to work together and communicate as a team. To me, this is a very important factor for having a successful vineyard. My experience with people at Unionville in general has been amazing. You have the opportunity to interact with people from all different backgrounds (teachers, college, corporate, etc.) which makes for some great conversations and comradery.
To anyone reading this, do not be afraid to follow your passion and take a chance on doing what you want to ensure your happiness. It was scary to make such a drastic shift from corporate to farm work, especially since the two are extremely opposite ends of the spectrum, but I have no regrets and I am happy with where my career and focus is going.
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