During our fist visit to Persimmon Creek Vineyard, we were welcomed by Sonny and Mary Ann Hardman. Sonny and Mary Ann purchased Persimmons Creek in 2000 and I must say, this is a gorgeous 110-acre vineyard property. The vineyard is located just outside Clayton Georgia.

At an elevation of around 2100 feet, with cool mountain air and the primarily sandy and alluvial soils of the hillside, the property has a a radically different profile than what most wine consumers would expect. There’s none of that ubiquitous Georgia red clay in sight. The entire property was planted in Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Seyval Blanc. From the start, Persimmon Creek Vineyard (PCV) has been very much a family affair with the Hardmans intimately involved in every phase of the growing and marketing process.

Before we walked through the vineyard and helped prune the Cabernet Franc vines, Sonny gave us an overview and introduction to what challenges he is facing, managing and maintaining the vineyard.

Pruning:

 

Spur Pruning - spur pruning is what we did today and this is easy to do and easy to teach. It’s basically like giving the grapevine a short haircut, retaining one “arm” on the fruiting wire as a permanent “cordon,” (10 to 11 canes long) and trimming back the spurs on the vine (to 2 to 3 buds or 3 to 4 at Persimmon Creek) each year to limit the growth, the reason to leave more spurs is to protect against potential frost damage. Just walk down the row and chop all of the dormant canes down to “spurs” of three (or four) dormant buds.

The first crop of grapes to be used for wine is usually harvested in the 3rd year or better - 3rd leaf. It takes an average of six years for a grapevine to reach maturity and vine vigor will begin to decline after twenty.

The aboveground portion of the vine formed by the trunk and its system of leaves, shoots/canes, tips, tendrils, fruit and spurs is referred to as vine canopy. This network of green encompasses the vine’s microclimate, the environment within and directly surrounding the canopy. Mesoclimate refers to the environment of a particular vineyard (its aspects, elevation, slope etc.). Macroclimate refers to the climate of a particular region.

The Annual Growth Cycle:

The annual growth cycle of the vine begins with budbreak.

Budbreak: This requires an average air temperature of 50 F (10 C). At PCV the advanced bud swell happens in March. April is when you will see the bud burst in the Northern Hemisphere (in the Southern Hemisphere this happens six months later, in August to October). The early shoot growth draws upon the carbohydrates reserves stored in the vine itself, so growth is slow. After 4 weeks, however, with leaves producing photosynthetically, shoots will grow a little more than an inch/day. Flowering at PCV is around the 2nd week in May and is about 40 - 80 days after budbreak. As the grapevine is self-pollinating, neither birds or bees are necessary for pollen to connect with pistil and create the grape berry. Warm dry weather is ideal for flowering. Rain or cool temperatures at this stage will inhibit the process result in poor berry set. Berry set is the result of fertilization and marks the transition from flower to berry. The grape berries initially are hard, green and pea-sized. They are high in acid and low in sugar and are half their final size.

40 to 50 days after berry set, veraison occurs (at PCV 1st or 2nd week in June). This is the point at which the grape berries begin to change color and soften as sugars are translocated from leaf to fruit. Harvest takes place when the grapes are both ripe and mature.

Ripeness refers to sunshine-derived sugar levels: Maturity refers to the flavors that develop in the grape as minerals, trace elements and nutrients are taken from the soil and translocated to the grape. Maturity is directly related to the length of the time the cluster hangs on the vine (hang time). In warm climates, the period from bud break to harvest is 110 - 140 days; in cool climates, 190 - 220 days. The first frost of the season causes leaf fall, then the vine enters a dormant stage. Pruning is normally carried out during the winter’s dormancy to clear old growth in preparation for the new growth of spring.

A perfect wine season:

1.     Cool and wet winter provides plenty of ground water
   

2.     Lack of rain or frost after the first warm days of spring
   

3.     Fruit dropped to insure only a moderate crop load
   

4.     Mild days and cool nights all summer with no rain or heat wave
   

5.     Vines minimally irrigated and moderately stressed
   

6.     Warm, dry days preceding and during harvest
   

Techniques that alter the position or number of shoots and grape clusters in space are collectively known as canopy management The techniques employed are as follows:

Winter Pruning: - removes portions of the previous season’s growth (what we did today) so that the vine maintains a desired shape and size.

Shoot thinning: - the removal of unwanted shoot growth during the spring.

Summer Hedging: - removal of the cane’s growing tips in order to partition carbohydrates.

Shoot devigoration: - the natural slowing of shoot elongation (water stress or forcing an upward-growing shoot into a downward position.

Shoot Positioning: - refers to arranging shoots so that the microclimate has good sunlight penetration and good air circulation to all leaves.

Leaf removal: - the systematic removal of leaves in the fruit zone so that sunlight strikes the clusters, ensuring optimal pigment and flavor development in the grapes.

Trellis System: - There are dozens of trellising systems used around the world, with each one suited to different climate and grape varieties.  The overall goal is to get the vine up off the ground. This keeps the vines away from the colder freezing air (or humidity) which may lie on the few inches above the ground and keeps a nice airflow going to avoid mildew and other diseases.

Diseases:

The main diseases to deal with in North Georgia are:

1.     Powdery Mildew
   

2.     Downy Mildew
   

3.     Botrytis
   

4.     Pierce’s disease spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooters and leafhoppers
   

5.     Phylloxera
   

(for more information in these different diseases, select the following link: Viticulture)

To avoid Phylloxera and tolerate specific soil conditions, Sonny selected Vitis Vinifera grapes that are grafted on American root stock (Phylloxera feeds on a vine’s roots, ultimately sucking life out of the vine). The two different rootstock that were selected are, “Couderc 3309 and SO-4.

To avoid and control the Powdery and Downy mildew, sulfur is applied onto the vines as a wettable powder during the winter months. There is no solution for Pierce’s Disease yet, but the elevation of Persimmons Creek Vineyard and the cold winter months will hopefully avoid to having the sharpshooter get that far north.

Besides the different diseases, the sparrow, who uses the red barn as their nesting home can be a pest too. Adding netting just before veraison starts, keeps them from damaging and ruining the crop.

After listening to all the stories and challenges you have to deal with farming grapes, you realize that you have it easy as a consumer. As a consumer you “only” have to get familiar with the different varietals, regions, names and pick the wine that corresponds with your taste (and I though that was difficult....). At least we don’t have to deal with the different weather patterns, lack of sleep, diseases, different laws and hard physical labor throughout the year to get the wine eventually in a bottle.

Wines tasted:

1.     2006 Seyval Blanc
   

2.     2005 Trillium late harvested Riesling
   

3.     2004 Cabernet Franc
   

4.     2005 Cabernet Franc
   

5.     2006 Cabernet Franc
   

6.     2007 Cabernet Frank (from the barrel)