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Dave, just wanted to let you know. I jumped the gun by half a year and pulled up a bottle of my 2010 Foch this evening. It was verrrry pleasant, certainly no fruit bomb but completely free of any unpleasant taste characteristics that some people ascribe to Foch. My wife thought it was a Pinot Noir. We were both impressed. With more time in the cellar it should be very enjoyable, so you should have something to look forward to as you work with yours.

I should mention that at fermentation I chose to press not long after the start, at about 17-18 Brix per other Foch makers' recommendations, in order to shorten the amount of time on the skins. I also threw in some tannin, fermented with oak shavings, and used oak cubes for aging along with some Tan-Cor Gran Cru. It definitely works as a stand alone medium bodied red varietal. I also blended 2010 Foch with Frontenac and St. Croix so now I'll have to try those early. I don't know if you made a batch also last year. If so, I'd love to hear about yours. Good luck with this years!
 
Brix is 22 on the Foch, as low as 15 on one of the Millot's and 19 and 21 on the other two. Hunh? Of my Foch vines only three have produced (and only 5 survived that October snap of two years ago - the others are struggling and while 5 years old, you'd never know it). Of the Millot, there are two producing and another 4 or 5 that were knocked down by that cold and working their way back. I've got 6-7 Pinots doing the same (coming back) and planted some new cuttings this year. But, what the heck -- it's MONTANA!

Here is what our 57* fall day looks like today -- after a week of rain we took from Rich last week!
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Oh, and Bill, I have some Foch/Millot from '09 that is bulk-aging in carboys but it came from Ten-Spoon's left-over vines they let me have. It has only had a little oak chips in with it early but not much else. I guess I'm still on the learning curve, but I'll taste it and let you know if it's doing well.

And, for those who wonder what the day is like, here's a little wider view.

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Looks great Dave - beautiful view.


especially enjoyable with a nice glass of wine.


rrawhide
 
I guess I forgot all about the cold snap you had Dave, it sounds like it had a permanent impact. What do you do now at harvest, pick all the varieties and ferment together for one crazy batch since there's so few or are you doing them separately? Well, whatever, keep having fun there. I wouldn't be surprised if soon you post a couple of photos with the first snow on the ground... Hopefully no more October snaps!
 
Bill, I only have Foch and Millot grapes for any harvest, so they'll get mixed. I might have 3 gallons but we'll see in the next few days. - the Pinot has all come back up from the roots, so this year at best are as big as your little finger. I have two vines that came back from a pencil-thin vine that survived. Even next year I don't expect much except hopefully some growth since they seem to have strong roots.

Today? Just 48* with low clouds and spitting rain, but I'll bet it's snow up high!
 
Seeing Rich mention "cutting buds" a few days ago on his thread made me curious how my little backyard vineyard is doing. While I "look" at it everyday, it is usually from a window with a cup of coffee. We've had what seems like a mild winter, but looking at these temperature graphs from the Missoula airport it really appears as if we are mostly in the "normal" range. (Temps at the airport are typically 2-3 degrees colder in the winter, warmer in the summer from where I am located.)

MSO_Temps_JanFeb12.png

The green range is the normal, with pink and lavender the ranges above/below normal to the record observations. The top of the green is around 32-33* in January (bottom around 15-18*) but you can see it trends up toward the low 40s* at the end of this month. As I write this it is 40* outside and spitting rain.

While I haven't ventured into the vineyard since before Christmas, Rich's post made me curious what my buds were doing, since it seems we've had a mild winter (you can see from the 3rd of January we've had 13 -- 14 with today -- days that the temperature has been either at or above 40*F. So today I took a look at found some buds appeared to be farther along than at least what I've seen since I started this.

Here is a bud that is showing lots of "fuzziness" and not just from my lousy picture.
LMillotEarlyBkResized0002.jpg


Here is another cut Leon Millot bud. Looks nice and green and healthy -- although my concern is that there is lots of winter left here in Montana!
LMillotFeb12Resized0002.jpg


Next is Marachal Foch. I lost many of these in a heavy, deep and long below zero period several years ago but have 4 of the original vines left and a few one-year-olds (from cuttings) planted last summer.
MFochFeb12Resized0001.jpg


Here is an Edelweiss bud. I've only a couple of these and never got many grapes from either. Any idea what's that wispy stuff on the vine?
EdelWeissFeb12Resized0001.jpg


And here is one of my larger, three year old Pinot Noir vines -- who knows what these will do this year!
PinotNoirFeb12Resized0001.jpg


If anyone has any observations, good or bad, about these please let me know. I'm trying to learn just like everyone else. So many of you have great knowledge, experience and observations. If nothing else, this little foray into the vineyard got me excited for Spring!

-- Dave
 
It is good to see the green in the canes there. I don't have the picture at hand, but we need a bit of a lesson here. For checking the buds, we cut just the bud on a 45 degree angle, not actually cut through the cane and bud. You start pretty shallow on the bud and go a bit deeper with each cut. Use a single edge razor to make the cut. What you have done is showing the bud a little, but ruins the whole cane past where you cut it off. I will try to find some pictures to show the way it is normally done.
It is good to see a lot of buds surviving.
Ok I found a link to one of the pages.http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/grape/pool/winterinjurybuds.html
 
That's a good link, Rich. You are right -- my cuts were right through the middle, about 90* to the "slice" procedure. All the buds I checked yesterday will be on soon-to-be-pruned canes so I was really just seeing "what was going on" as a result of what seems to me to be a mild winter (so far... where's that wood!). It was a spur of the moment decision...
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...so those cuts were made with my pruners and after I'd done it, I thought it might be something to share with the group.

One of the reasons I enjoy what you do, as well as everyone else on this site, is the learning experience of trying to grow some vines in some places where one might not ever choose for a vineyard (like my backyard)! I learn from everyone and enjoy your "trials" especially. For me, it was good to see so many buds surviving... so far!

I must admit, I was a little worried about the green -- because I expected the canes, and the buds to be a little... I don't know... "less" green in "the middle of winter." One bud had a little curl of a leaf that just broke. I didn't have the camera with me, but I couldn't tell if it was something recent, or one of the last buds from last fall that merely froze over the winter. I'd hate to see an early bud-break only to have a late freeze that would knock the vines back. For followers of this thread, it can be May before we see much action here, which is why I was stomping around in the snow yesterday: curiosity! Oh -- it's just after 9am here, raining and 41* -- with a low last night of 37! NOT Montana winter weather!
 
Bud swelling and "fuzziness" on most of the vines today. It's supposed to get to 58* The Pinot Noir is the farthest along, it seems, with the Foch looking no different than a week ago. The Pinot looks like its within a few days of break. I'm leaving on a 10-day trip so will expect some progress when I return (and I'll get pictures then)!
 
This is pretty much how it goes here in Montana! A month ago buds starting looking like they were rarin' to go -- but I know we can get cold snaps into early May. Today, the temp was supposed to get into the low 80s - but it is 84* at 4pm so even warmer than predicted. Buds are beginning to break - you can see the tiny leaves, and I think they will un-fold over the next day.

Here is the Marachal Foch, then the Leon Millot, the third is an Edelweiss, and last is the Pinot Noir.

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Grape growing in Montana:

BUD BREAK yesterday!

Rain and thunder today. Forecast for Friday morning? Snow... changing to rain in the afternoon! :) Ahhh... the challenge!

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That is cutting it sorta close my friend! Did you have to protect the vines or are they still closed tighter than a wound up spring?
 

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