NC 2008 Vintage - early report

Max Lloyd, the owner of Grove winery in Gibsonville, NC (outside Greensboro) came into the store this weekend to buy some wine.  I asked Max how the 2008 vintage was looking for him and he explained it was great up until two weeks ago when the rain started.

Max explained that grass is the vineyard is used to help control moisture to the vine and ultimately the vine's growth.  Here on the East coast, we usually have enough rain during the season so in the vineyard they grow grass in between the rows and right up to the actual vines. This allows grass to soak up extra moisture and control the vine's vigor.  

The 2008 season started out looking dry, so to fine tune the rows, vineyard managers removed grass close to the vines allowing more rain to soak the vine.  Now that we have had a bunch of rain, too much water is getting to the vines.

On the West coast, rain water is a premium, so the rows have very little or even no grass. By having only dirt or gravel the maximum rain water gets to the roots.

Let's hope things improve for Max and his vines. -Salamanzar