Fruit of the Vine

Some of our favorite volunteers visited us yesterday, at the same time marking what surely, finally must be the onset of spring. These are the Oenology & Viticulture students at Walla Walla Community College.

For the past several years, they've come out a few times each year to prune our Black Prince/Cinseault grapes planted back in the 1990s by winemaker of note Berle 'Rusty' Figgins. Rusty comes by his talent honestly: his maternal grandfather was Francesco Leonetti, whose name adorns one of the appellation's finest wineries. Our vineyard is an interesting project for the kids in that we do not trellis our vines, like you see all across the valley these days. Instead, we manage them the way an earlier age did it, known as 'stake trained' or 'bush trained.' The center is pruned out, allowing sunlight to reach all the remaining branches and grapes. In the 'old days,' this was by far the least expensive way of producing a crop.

In today's photos you can see our groundsman Jim (in his ever-present ball cap) speaking with Billo who heads up the viticulture program, as well as a number of the students participating in the spring tune-up for the vineyard. It's a great piece of work they do on our behalf, much appreciated and really makes for an interesting experience for our visitors. By the way, the grapes are delicious!