Mark Twain once said, "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it."  And in this industry this is very true, but it’s not that we don’t try. 

In the winter we talk about the rains.  In spring we talk about the frosts.  In the summer we talk about the heat.   In the fall we talk about late heat and early rain.  Most of all, we are scratching our heads wondering how it will affect the fruit and how we are going to handle it. 

Last week we had some of those late frost days, which was talked about with a bit of hand wringing.  I can probably say most (if not all) of the vineyards have pushed shoots, which means everybody watches out for frost.  For me, I knew I was in a bit of trouble when I heard the neighbor’s wind machine kick on, sounds like a helicopter hovering above your house.  The next morning I went out to check on the Madison Chase vineyard, parts of the vineyard were hit, other parts were just fine. 

And it’s in moments like these where Mark Twain comes to mind.  I spend a lot of time talking about the weather, and my neighbors are doing something about it.

Cheers,

Eric