As I announced a few weeks ago, I’m going to be making my own wine at Raphael this fall — from a 25-vine row of cabernet franc grapes.

With all the dreary weather we’ve been having lately, I rescheduled my appointment last weekend to visit "my" vines. Hopefully I’ll be able to check them out over Memorial Day weekend.

But, a local vineyard manager (who used to manage Raphael’s vineyards), Ben Sisson sent me an email yesterday that served as a reminder as to just how busy I’d be if I were truly managing those vines:

"So Lenn,

How’s life as a vigneron?  Did you have a good budbreak?  Have you sprayed yet?  What did you use?  Have you suckered yet?  How about shoot thinning, did you begin that yet?  What kind of crop load are you anticipating?  Are you going to thin pre- or post-bloom?  Is this rain having any impact on your mangement decisions, or causing labor issues?

Just kidding around, but wanted you to get an idea of what a vineyard manager needs to be thinking about, after all we all know (repeat after me) “The wine is made in the vineyard”

Ben"

I think it’s easy to forget just how intricate and complicated growing grapes can be…especially in cooler climates.

I do hope to do some vineyard work this summer…but it’s hard to do any truly meaningful work without being in the fields every single day.