Just want to share a big thank you to the Special Olympics volunteers who helped run the Wine By Joe booth at The Bite in downtown Portland last weekend. Especially to our amazing Dobbes Family Circle Wine Club Members, The Simmons Family! You guys are awesome!

The weather’s been quite nice lately, and the vines are growing happily. With the fruit set a few weeks behind us, the grape clusters are starting to take shape and the individual berries are still green and about the size of large peas. We are still as many as 3 or 4 weeks away from veraison, and until then every day the berries get just a little bit fatter with promise.

The work that we’re doing in the vineyard remains important to ensure a good harvest. We’re pruning away leaves and lateral shoots from the zone in which the fruit grows. By opening up the canopy we increase sunlight on the clusters, crucial to help the grapes ripen. By increasing the airflow we can avoid fungal diseases of the vine like powdery mildew and botrytis.

Now that we’re getting the fruit exposed, we’re also starting to get a good idea of how much fruit to expect. My preliminary estimation is that it’s hard to say. Last year was a bumper crop, and there’s quite a lot less this year. It’s nothing to be alarmed about, as there’s still quite a lot of fruit hanging. Much depends on the next few weeks, as we watch the grapes grow in size.

We are in that time of year that the Ancient Romans called the Dog Days, when the star Sirius merges into the corona of the Sun and can’t be seen. We should expect another period of long, hot days until the star reemerges in the sky, around August 24. In ancient Egypt, its reappearance in the night sky coincided with the Nile beginning to rise, which then signaled the subsequent grape harvest. It’s obviously not the same climate in Egypt as it is here in the Willamette Valley, and our harvest is still more than two months away. Until then, in the heat of the summer sun, we’re doing everything we know how to hasten the maturing of the grapes and bring in this year’s crop.

 This heat spell we’re having this week might set record high temperatures, just as this spring set record low temperatures, and everything is great in the vineyard. One the clouds parted two weeks ago, the vines who heretofore been thin and lacking in vigor exploded in growth. A few days ago, the flowers started unfurling and the period known as fruit-set began during perfect climactic conditions for a vintage year.

We’re working around the heat, trying to keep up with the rapid growth of the vines before the heat of the afternoon weighs too heavily. Starting at 5:00 and ending at 2:00, we avoid the worst part of the day and work as quickly as we can in the cool morning air.

This sudden spike in temperatures couldn’t have been more perfect after a dismal, dreary sort of spring. Crisis seemed to lurk, but whoever’s in charge must have listened to the prayers of every vineyard worker in Oregon. The vineyard looks great and everything so far makes 2010 look like a great vintage.

Safety is very important around here. Our Safety Committee meets monthly and the Chairperson presents the meeting minutes and action items to the rest of us at our All Staff meetings. The company hosted a CPR training class a few months back and this month, staff members attended a fire extinguisher class. Now our employees not only know where each of our extinguishers is located, they also know the steps to take in case of a fire and how to properly use the extinguisher to put a fire out. Here are a few pictures of our Wine By Joe fire fighters in training.

“The LIVE certification is centered around three core principals — asking whether practices are good for the environment, good for business and good for the community. If a winery can’t meet or exceed these goals, they won’t be certified.” – Statesman Journal

Hello Everyone,

My name is Tom Dodson and I’m Joe’s Production Manger. I just wanted to bring everyone up to date on what’s keeping us busy other than making great wines for our customers. We’re going GREEN! Our facility has just been certified LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology). This is certification that proves that our practices in the field and in the wine-making process are in line with sustainability efforts.

Over the last year the team and I have been preparing our facility for a LIVE certification audit. This refers to the practice of limiting the amount of raw materials (inputs such as pesticides, fertilizer, water, chemicals, fuel, etc.) used in vineyard and winery production. It starts with preparation and then an inspection. If all the standards are met you become certified by LIVE. Sounds easy right; not so fast, LIVE will continue to work with and drive wineries and vineyards to continually reduce the impact our industry has on the environment. Reduction, reduction, reduction. A noble prize: superior wines produced in a sustainable continuously improving industry.

What does this mean to you the consumer? This will ensure you that the wines purchased from Joe are produced using a world class winemaking process (yes, Joe’s Midas touch) but also in a certified facility that is focusing on waste reduction, environmental safety and energy conservation. In addition, let’s not forget that Joe’s facility is also a custom winemaking site. If your fruit source or vineyards are LIVE certified having your wines made here will meet the OWB criteria.

We are ecstatic to be participating in such a forward thinking program. I will be updating everyone on our progress. Please feel free to write me with questions or comment: tom@winebyjoe.com

Thanks and talk to you soon,

Tom

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