Black Ankle News & Updates
Summer Newsletter 2021
Over the past few months, I have made the round of Career Days at our kids’ schools, and it seems that everyone’s favorite question is “What is the best and worst part of your job?” I have the same answer to both questions: It is never boring! There is always some new way of doing things to try, some new problem to solve or an experiment to play with. Our latest big experiment is field grafting. Nearly all grape vines in the world are grafted, with European-style vines fused to hardier American roots that can withstand phylloxera, a tiny soil bug that is native to North American soils and now found throughout the world. Up until now at Black Ankle, we have always planted vines that were grafted in a nursery and planted only once the grafts had been established. The downside of this approach is that there is an 18-month lead time to between vine order and delivery, since bench-grafting, as this style is called, is a long process. The vines also tend to establish slowly as different roots and tops are trying to work together to acclimate to their new growing environment.
With field grafting, just the root is initially planted, and the scion (the part of the vine that determines the variety) is grafted on only after the roots have been in the ground for a year. This offers the advantage of giving the roots time to grow and get strong before they need to assimilate a graft. Since rootstock varieties are native to our area, they are also much more disease resistant and winter tolerant than the vines will be once they are grafted. In 2018, we planted 8 acres of rootstock at Black Ankle and 5 acres at our new Live Edge vineyard, with the idea of grafting them this spring. The vines at Black Ankle have done very well, and we were able to bring a grafting crew into the vineyard in May to add the scions. This process consists of making a tiny cut in the rootstock and wedging a small slice of scion wood and a single bud into that cut, then wrapping the whole thing in a tape “bandage.” After just a few weeks, we can already see leaves growing from nearly all the grafted buds. We will have to see how the vines fare for the rest of the growing season and how they manage the winter before we declare the success or failure of this experiment, but for now we are cautiously optimistic. If you take a vineyard tour, feel free to ask your host to show you the newly grafted vines, and you can check their progress for yourself.
As for the vines we planted at Live Edge, we learned that while rootstock offer many advantages in hardiness, they are still delicious to deer, who ate nearly all our 2018 planting to the ground. With a new deer fence in place on that farm, we are giving it another shot and have replanted those vines. We will see what the next year brings! Did I mention that this is never boring…?
Cheers,
Sarah (and Ed)
Sep 1, 2021 at 8:40 PM
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Summer Newsletter 2020
Dear Friends,
We are often asked by people what we wish we knew before we started a vineyard and winery, and our immediate answer is always some variation on, “I wish I were a better mechanic.” This is not the romantic answer that the questioner tends to be hoping for and we are often met with a quizzical look and a totally different question. At the risk of seeming to whinge about a job that I truly do love, and is never, ever, ever boring, let me recount a bit of a conversation that I had with Ed this morning:
Ed: Hiya, how’s it going?
Sarah: Fine here. You were gone early this morning, how is the farm?
Ed: Whew! Typical morning of disasters – don’t worry – nothing dire and all under control, but…
Sarah: Oh, no! What’s going on?
{Brief background interlude: We need to spray the vineyard today to protect against potential fungus. We try to spray as little as possible and with the most gentle products we can use, so we push the window between sprays as long as we can. There are thunderstorms in the forecast for this afternoon, so it is pretty crucial to our operation that we get the spray finished soon. Very soon.}
Ed: The new tractor is acting up again. Yes, the one that we just got back from the dealer. Something is going on so it isn’t giving enough power to run the sprayer. We had to pull the de-leafer off the other tractor so we cold use it to spray. That was a task unto itself.
{Second brief background interlude: We have just purchased a new leaf remover which will help us to remove the leaves from in front of the fruiting area of the vine. Doing this opens the fruit to the sun so that it will ripen better and better sun exposure reduces the risk of the fruit being damaged by diseases. The timing of this is less crucial. It is a matter of days rather than hours, but still very high on the To Do list to get this piece of equipment going.}
Sarah: Yikes! What happened?
Ed: We could not get the hose from the de-leafer off the tractor. In fact, we eventually had to cut the hose.
{Third brief interlude: This piece of equipment sits on the front of the tractor but is powered from the back with compressed air that runs through a giant hose across the top of the tractor cab. The hose in question is 4 inches indiameter and made of reinforced rubber. Cutting it is no small feat. But, we need that tractor freed up to spray and soon. Did I mention that one of the things that we spray most, and is in the mix for today is sulfur? Sulfur is a great fungicide – it is organic, has no risks of developing resistance and is very effective. Its one downside is that it comes in a powdered form, which loooves to clog up sprayers. If the mixer on the sprayer is not kept running for any significant length of time the sulfur will sink to the bottom of the tank and it is basically a hot mess. So the clock is ticking...}
Ed: Four guys were pulling as hard as they could, but no dice. I called the dealer and they said, “Oh, yeah, that hose has so much pressure on it, that it has to be super tight, so we get this problem a lot. Your best bet is to jam a screwdriver into the connection and try to wiggle it around the edges before you try to remove it.” Would spraying the connection with Pam work? Hooking the hose up to another piece of equipment to help pull? Dealer: “Worth a shot…” So, we just need to fix that hose end so we are ready to go once we get the tractor running well again.
Sarah: But the spray is going fine now?
Ed: Yes, but I forgot to mention that once we got it rolling, it was only working on one side. We had to take it all apart to try to hunt down the clog and could not find anything wrong. Eventually, we found a ball bearing clogging one of the outlet hoses…
Sarah: A ball bearing? What is a ball bearing doing in a spray hose? From where?
Ed: Yeah…we have no idea. We took apart the other side as well and there was nothing like that. We can’t find anywhere that is missing a ball bearing, and it seems to be working now, so…
Sarah: Fair enough. Have you figured out what is wrong with the first tractor?
Ed: We spoke with the dealer. Apparently there is some kind of switch/setting that limits the power to the PTO {the part of the tractor that sends power to equipment}, but they don’t know how it got turned on and they don’t know how to turn it off again. They are sending a tech out to see if they can sort it out. If they can sort it out, we can give the de-leafer another shot… At this point, I glance at the clock as I am putting my coffee in the microwave to reheat. It’s 9:24. Here’s hoping that your mornings have fewer looming storm clouds, broken hoses and mystery ball bearings. But at the end of the day, when we get to raise a glass, it is all worth it! (Especially on the days that Ed deals with the glitches…)
Cheers!
Sarah (and Ed)
Aug 18, 2020 at 6:11 AM
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Recipes for April 19th Virtual Happy Hour
For this week’s Virtual Happy Hour, we will be talking about the Feldspar IV and the Slate 5 and we
thought it would be fun to have a cook-along wine pairing dinner to go with the conversation. Ed and I
(Sarah) will be cooking up a few of our family favorites.
Here are the recipes, in case you would like to cook them as well.
Williams-Sonoma Tiny Roquefort Popovers
For an appetizer and Feldspar IV pairing, we are making the Williams-Sonoma Tiny Roquefort Popovers
recipe, although we will be using Chapel’s Country Creamery’s Bay Blue in place of the Roquefort.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/tiny-roquefort-popovers.html
Leek & Goat Cheese Tart
For a main course and Slate 5 pairing, we are making a Leek and Goat Cheese Tart (also adapted from a
Williams-Sonoma recipe).
Ingredients:
For the Pastry
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
2-4 tablespoons water
Mix together the flour and salt. Mix in the butter using a food processor or a mixer with the paddle
attachment until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water a teaspoonful at a time until the
mixture just holds together. Shape into a flattish 6-inch round and refrigerate for an hour.
After an hour of chilling, roll the dough out on a well-floured surface until it will fit into a pastry tin or
pie plate. Trim the edges and put the pan into the freezer for about 20 minutes until firm.
Once chilled, cover the pastry with foil (and pie beads or beans) and cook in a 325 degree oven for about
15 minutes. Remove the beans/beads and foil and cook another 3-5 minutes, until the crust is slightly
golden. Or skip this whole process and start with a pre-made pie crust…oops, did I say that out loud?
For the Filling
2 tablespoons butter
3 leeks – just the white part and about 2 inches of the green, halved lengthwise and cut into 3/4 inch pieces.
¼ lb. goat cheese – we are using Cherry Glen Chevre
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese – or substitute with Shepherd’s Manor Tomae
¾ cup half-and-half
3 eggs
In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and cook stirring occasionally,
until soft and nomoisture remains in the pan. This will take about 30 minutes.
Good thing you have that bottle of Feldspar and those popovers to sustain you!
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, crumble the goat cheese, add the Parmesan or Tomae, half-and-half, eggs and salt and
pepper to taste. Whisk until well blended. Stir in the leeks and pour the mixture into the pre-cooked pie shell.
Bake at 325 until the mixture is firm.
Let cool about 5 minutes and enjoy!
If you prefer, you can easily substitute caramelized onions and Shepherd’s Manor Herb Ewe cheese for
the leeks and goat cheese. The results will be different, but also delicious!
Apr 14, 2020 at 3:13 PM
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Our 2018 Vintage
We are delighted to announce the official release of the 2018 Rolling Hills and 2018 Passeggiata. Of all the wines we have made so far in this Black Ankle adventure, these are the wines of which we are the proudest. Not because they are the tops in terms of richness, depth or concentration (the last few Estates or Crumbling Rocks will knock them out of the water), but they were the biggest test of our abilities, creativity and energy as winemakers. Despite the curveball that was the 2018 growing season, we think they are really delicious.
We are always considered a fairly wet wine region, with an average rainfall of 40 inches per year, but in 2018 we had over twice that amount - more than 80 inches of rain fell, much of it concentrated during the growing season. All that rain meant that the grapes struggled to get ripe and build the concentration that we strive for in our wines.
To add to the challenge, once the grapes were finally ready to pick, they were thin-skinned and very fragile. It took very careful handling, including lots of bleeding (pulling off some juice very early to concentrate what is left), radical sorting (we ended up with less than 40% of our normal red wine production), cooler fermentations, and special treatment in the winery to get the wines into shape.
We also took advantage of one of our favorite tools - blending. We spent hours mixing and matching the various lots we had and took advantage of the fact that we are able to add up to 15% of wine from another vintage, using some of our stash of 2017's to add richness and depth to the final wines.
Finally, we took the best lots, which in a normal year would have gone to Estate, Crumbling Rock, Slate, Feldspar, etc., and put them into the Rolling Hills and Passeggiata.
The resulting wines feel like a miracle to us after what nature threw our way! Each time we sit back with a glass of one of these wines, we are proud of the fact that we were able to produce something worthy of our label - and grateful that so far, 2019 is making life much easier on us.
Dec 30, 2019 at 12:43 PM
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Fall Newsletter 2019
Dear Wine Club,
In soccer, a player who has excellent ball skills with one foot but not the other, is said to have “two legs, but only one foot.” Carrying that a bit further, despite being personally someone who has “two legs, but no feet,” ie: no soccer skills whatsoever, soccer has somehow become a big part of my life. Ed still plays in local league, our children all are, or have been, dedicated players, watchers and fans of the game. Soccer gets a lot of bandwidth in our home.
So, I guess it should come as no surprise to me that our vineyard crew is primarily made up of dedicated and seriously impressive soccer players. We have an official Black Ankle Vineyards team, La Raza, which is a semi-slang Mexican term that, according to our crew, refers to working people, especially agricultural workers. Evencio, our vineyard manager, who also oversees recruiting of all our players – oops, I mean workers, played in a semi-pro league in Mexico until a serious injury ended his career. He is now the coach and team manager. When we sit down each spring to figure out who we need for the vineyard in the coming season and he suggests someone new, there is usually a two-pronged reason – this guy is a good mechanic, oh, and an excellent defender, or this guy has great vineyard experience, oh, and he happens to also be a great striker. Since we are regularly impressed by the level of hard work, dedication and excellence that we see in our crew, I think this may be the secret to good recruiting.
It is also a lot of fun to see these guys in action. I feel like I am watching superheroes switch roles when I seem them on the field. Guys who could not be more kind, gentle and laid-back all week long at the vineyard let their alteregos out on the field each Sunday and become seriously competitive athletes. I am always amazed at how much energy they have left for the game after a long week in the vineyard. As I sit down to write this, our vineyard team is one game away from possibly winning the regular season and heading off to the championship rounds. We are excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds for them and will be cheering from the sidelines!
Cheers,
Sarah (and Ed)
Sep 30, 2019 at 1:00 PM
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