Escafeld Vineyards: Vineyard Diary

Twin Vines photo's ...

As promised, here are some photo's snapped today (Sunday April 30) of the Twin Vines vineyard (the images are quite large, and you can click on them for an even bigger version).

Steve Wetherill
Escafeld Vineyards
Jolon CA

Wine corridor proposal on table

Wine-friendly land uses sought in general plan

The Monterey County Herald recently posted an article on its site about the Monterey County "General Plan", which amongst other things seeks to manage and encourage certain types of land use.

You can read the full article here.

This is no news for locals, who have been waiting five years for the plan to be ratified, but the article has an interesting overview, talking about various pros and cons.

We believe that the scale of the proposed "winery corridor" (which includes our area, but which was omitted from the most recent - rejected - draft of the plan) is realistic and will provide natural growth for the already important County vineyard and winery businesses.

Along these lines, we are hoping to have some exciting news of our own later in the year, and we're watching this topic with interest!

Steve Wetherill
Escafeld Vineyards
Jolon, CA

Twin Vines ...

I promise to take the camera into the vineyard as soon as possible. The camera is charging as I speak - no excuses next time. Probably this coming weekend we'll take some snaps.

We are almost finished with the remediation work. Tasks remaining include 5 more rows of top catch wires, some repositioning of irrigation pipes and then a little tidying.

As of today, the Merlot is awake with an inch or two of shoots. Cab Franc is doing likewise, and the Petite Verdot and Malbec are not far behind. The Cabernet Sauvignon is still a little sleepy as it shakes off the winter yawns, but even it has swollen buds and we're starting to see the first tentative leaves of spring burst out.

The wildflowers are starting to emerge - swathes of California Poppies covering the vineyard floor at the moment. Perhaps we'll see a little of the Red Clover we planted a couple of years ago - that is always spectacular in the vineyard.

It seems we're a week or two ahead of schedule compared to previous years. If there are no late frosts, 2006 has the makings of a great growing year! Fingers crossed!

Photos soon ...

Steve Wetherill
Escafeld Vineyards
Jolon CA

Video Games & Winegrowing

In addition to the vineyard and winemaking activities that I am involved in, my professional career has been developing video games - for some 22 years now.

To this end, I have launched my personal "blog" site, which will contain articles on both video games and winegrowing. Not a lot to see right now, but you can read about my latest game, EA Air Hockey for mobile phones.

The link is www.stevewetherill.com - please check it out!

Steve Wetherill
Escafeld Vineyards
Jolon CA

Twin Vines update ...

As promised, here's a couple of snaps of the progress in the Twin Vines block. It looks a little chaotic in there at the moment - the vineyard floor needs to be mowed to mash the vine cuttings that remain, and the vine row weeds that have been hoed and placed in the middles. Also, the recent rains and warmer temps are causing the grasses to grow. However, the tractor cannot get into the vine rows until the trellis work is complete - which will be pretty soon!

As you can see in the photos, all end-posts are in place and the line trellis stakes have been pounded. We'll hopefully post more photos of a clean and tidy vineyard in a week or two. But right now, we think the progress is great and we're looking forward to a happier and more manageable vineyard from now on!

Steve Wetherill
Escafeld Vineyards
Jolon CA

Vineyard Diary

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Twin Vines photo's ...

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Wine corridor proposal on table

Twin Vines ...

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Video Games & Winegrowing

Monday, April 10, 2006

Twin Vines update ...