The development of the vineyard and the clones:
The development of the vineyard involved a state of the art well and pump system that provides our ranch with a capacity of 400 gallons of water per minutes. This sort of advanced system gives us several options when irrigating and fertilizing through irrigation, as well as a frost protection micro-frost system. We spent a lot of time and effort to first make sure that our new vineyard would have an adequate drainage system in the areas where drainage would be of paramount important. And after 6 years we feel our planning and infrastructure for drainage has really come through magnificently. We are also blessed with a nice modest sloping piece of land that drains naturally, which we of course had to rip and re-grade for an acceptable contour.
Additionally, it was very important for us to properly align our vineyard rows for proper expose to the climate and the natural elements. With a sloping vineyard and tight row spacing, your options need to also address tractor travel and not just exposure. We feel our alignment could not have been better planned given our terrain.
Clones and rootstock:
We had our soils tested by professional consultants and through their determination and recommendation we matched our clones with 101-14 rootstock. We then proceeded to have this 101-14 rootstock grafted to our selected clones as 'green growers' in a nursery setting for six months before planting. After interviewing the top pinot noir winemakers in the Russian river valley and discussing the various pros and cons of the varying clones and their merit, we chose to use four French clones, 3 Dijon clones and Pommard. The Dijon clones that we chose were 667, 777, and 115 and the fourth clone we chose was Pommard 5. In our first planting in 2000 we planted 7850 vines of the 667 clone, 6550 vines of the 777 clone, 4050 of the 115 clone, and 1000 vines of Pommard 5. In 2005 we planted another 4000 vines of the Pommard 5 to make 5000 vines of that clone. The additional planting of the Pommard 5 vines gives us more clonal equality which will be helpful in the clonal blending process. As of September 2006 we have 23450 total vines planted of the Pinot Noir variety. Oakwild Ranch is a 25 acre parcel with almost 19 acres of it now planted.
Trellising and spacing:
Our trellising is a vertical trellising system and our spacing is 6 x 5, or six feet between rows and five feet between each vine. This spacing makes farming a little tricky and labor intensive but it is based on modern farming techniques for pinot noir where tighter spacing and more pruning has proven to produce the grapes with the complex flavors and intensity that winemakers are looking for.
Cover crop and soils:
In past years many vineyards have been plowed but in the last few years the latest theories call for protection of the soils nutrients and ultimately for the vines by employing cover crop mixes. Originally at Oakwild Ranch we planted a legume mix for the cover crop when our vineyard was in infancy stages which provided the necessary nitrogen and nutrients to the young plants. The legume mix was a combination mix of mustard and clover. Presently we use a cover crop mix of perennial grasses which inhibits erosion and therefore holds all the nutrients and the minerals in the soils. Our soils are a loamy clay with some mineral and gravel composites.
Appalachian and climate:
Our Oakwild Ranch vineyard is located in the heart of the Russian River Valley a stone's throw from Olivet Lane and River Road . We have a morning fog that rises off the river and cools the vines and sunny, warm days and breezy afternoons which tends to heighten the intensity and complexity of the fruit flavor.
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