New Year's Resolution Just in Time for Spring

Is late March too late in the year to have a New Year's Resolution?  Here's one, then:  "To not abandon this blog for ten months again!"

Frozen Oregano, March 2012 & the Herb Garden Below

What a difference a year makes.  Last year, at this time, we'd had a flush of warm weather and vineyard owners, like Fred, were sweating each and every cold spell, fearing the worst.  And in fact, the cold frosts of the spring of 2012 were particularly devastating to growers of labruscan, or American, grapes such as Concord, Ives, and Niagara.  Some growers literally had no grapes to pick.

At Johnson Estate, thanks to a diversification of grapes - we have eleven different varieties of three different types (labruscan, French-hybrid, and vinifera) - we were spared wide-spread damage in the vineyards.  Yes, the Concord and Ives yields were down, BUT miraculously and unexpectedly, the French-hybrid and vinifera vineyards fared much better with good quality, well-ripened fruit.  Our Chambourin did get hit with a late summer hailstorm which shredded the leaves and reduced the crop for our ice wine, but we were very grateful for the overall quality of the 2012 harvest.

And what about this year? 
Well, it's cold and so far, the only plants daring to "green-up" are the daffodils. Otherwise, as of March 15th, it looked like this in the vineyard, with the vines just mid-winter twigs with no sign of green tips or buds.  Here are the guys at the end of the winter's pruning in the Riesling vineyards: