The Forces of Nature and our World-Class Vineyard Crew

I’m not sure who said that “the forces of nature are unpredictable,” but they were spot on.  Just after a long day of walking the vineyard and admiring all the beautiful fruit, a hail storm attacked. For a solid 15 minutes or more, hail the size of large marbles sliced through all of Freddi’s hard work. It was incredibly heartbreaking to see beautiful clusters of Petit Manseng, Albariño, and Viognier shattered.  

I think for a solid day everyone here at Chrysalis was just stunned. We wondered if we had lost the 2020 harvest before we had even really started. Freddi, being the 20 year veteran of Chrysalis, immediately leaped into action. He set out removing clusters too far gone and spraying blocks for the oncoming disease pressure. Once berries split, they begin to act as a vector for disease, specifically sour rot.

Sour rot, basically ferments the berry pulp on the spot and turns it to grade A vinegar. It can be easily spotted by its tan or brown berries that appear almost engorged or swelled. If left unchecked, it moves berry to berry slowly rotting whole clusters. Under the right conditions, sour rot can take out an entire block in under a week. Sour rot stems from unchecked bird damage, unprotected fruit, and hail...which we learned pretty fast.

While the whites suffered a little, Freddi and his crew were able to save most of the fruit. However, this did force us to pick the fruit a few days earlier than intended. Due to Norton’s late-ripening characteristic, the berries were still too hard to suffer any real damage. Proving once again, Norton is an incredibly resilient varietal. It was a close call at the beginning of the harvest and while we learned how unpredictable the forces of nature can be, we were also reminded how grateful we are to have Freddi and the vineyard crew.