Pruning 2020: And We're Off...

Beautiful day to be in the vineyard.

Quite an article

(actually multiple articles) in the Puget Sound Business Journal, very bullish on the growing aerospace core at the Port of Moses Lake, led by Aero-TEC's flight testing business.

I won't reprint the entire article but here are a couple snippets:

The airport and city [Moses Lake] of about 24,000 people welcomed more than $1 billion in new investments and economic spinoffs last year, according to a study by the Washington State Department of Transportation. In recent years, a slew of aerospace companies have flocked to Moses Lake, transforming the city and its uniquely situated airport into a booming aerospace oasis.

Among the new workers in the area is Theo Jones, a contractor who does flight simulator work for Mitsubishi. 

“What’s going on here is a big deal,” Jones said. 

“There are people in this town that don’t know we're building and testing aircraft here,” Jones said. “It needs to be shared.”

New Construction on Lot 23

Lovely new 2,500sf custom view home well under way.

Harvest 2019

Quite a year. The grapes were several weeks later than "normal" (whatever that is) this year, and then much of the region was hit with a sharp freeze while still early in the harvest season. The freeze ended further ripening and also did some interesting things to the fruit itself. It's fairly unprecedented (one grower I talked to recalled something similar in the early '80s) and there's a lot of chatter amongst the industry about what the fallout might be.


We sold three ton of Chardonnay to Golden Ridge Cellars in Walla Walla and were lucky enough to get it off the vines several days before the freeze. The sugars were lower than in previous years (23.2 brix) but the fruit looked and tasted great and I'm sure will make terrific wine. Thanks Mike & Cindy, looking forward to tasting the end product!

There was just under half a ton of Chard left over, which we picked immediately after the freeze. But the freeze caused the acids to abruptly drop out and eventually the decision was made to dump this lot. No big deal.

We also picked the Cab Franc a couple days after the freeze. It seemed like the acids had also dropped but then recovered somewhat before harvest. Weird. Two ton went to Beaumont Cellars, which has taken our Cab Franc for six years now, and although the numbers were head-scratching the juice looks and tastes phenomenal. Who knows? Might end up being a great vintage notwithstanding. Thanks again to Pete & Katie for your support.

Anyway, another year in the books and lots of fun?, or at least satisfaction. Had a little fiesta on the crush pad with friends/neighbors/workers after the last grapes were in the bins. Made it all worthwhile.

New Electric Aircraft to be Flight-Tested in Moses Lake

Eviation’s Alice electric airplane makes its debut at the Paris Air Show. 

An Israeli startup called Eviation Aircraft unveiled its first prototype electric airplane at the International Paris Air Show in June, with flight testing planned at Moses Lake. Eviation CEO Omer Bar-Yohay told reporters that his company hopes to win certification for the Alice airplane from the Federal Aviation Administration by late 2021 or early 2022.

Bar-Yohay stressed that Eviation’s Alice was designed from the ground up to be all-electric. “It’s not a retrofit of anything,” he said. “It is built the way a plane should be built in the 21st century.”

Because of its lightweight carbon-composite structure, Alice will be able to fly 650 miles on a charge, at a speed of 276 mph and altitude of 10,000 feet, Bar-Yohay said.

The bulk of the flight tests would be conducted at Moses Lake’s airport in partnership with Seattle-based AeroTEC. which is also currently providing flight testing for Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). Moses Lake’s Grant County International Airport is a popular flight test site and airplane storage facility for companies including Boeing and Mitsubishi.

Click here for full article. 

New Craft Brewery Opens in Moses Lake

Our friends Ruben and Troy just opened a new craft brewery & taproom next to Chico's Pizza. They are both outstanding brewers and will be producing a variety of exceptional beers. Congrats to the fellas for making their dream a reality.

SFAB is located at 530 W. Valley Road, Moses Lake. Drop by soon for a cold freshie.  https://www.facebook.com/SquirrelFightArtisanBrewing/

Budbreak... sort of?

The buds are reluctant to stick their heads out, like they don't fully trust the warming trend we've had this week. Maybe they know something.

It was ten years ago today (April 19, 2009) that we had our "planting party" and the vineyard began. Since then we've had five vintages bottled and won a gold medal. The Cab Franc in particular has produced some outstanding wines.

Here are a few photos from the planting party:

Travis took a "crash" course and got his pilot's license. Occasionally he practices touch-&-goes in the hayfield.

Pruning 2019

Late! Snow stuck around this year until mid-March. Seems like the whole environment was just waiting. I went out the first morning and the buds were still tight. Went in for lunch and when I came back out they were already swelling.

Budbreak is usually mid-April anyway so we're not off schedule.

Sticks in the Air

...on Lot 25. Beautiful new 2,800sf single-story ridgefront home going up.

Interesting Tidbit in the Local Paper This Week

IS BOEING UP TO SOMETHING IN GRANT COUNTY?

November 14, 2018 at 5:00 am | By CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE Staff Writer

Jeffrey Bishop, executive director of the Port of Moses Lake, said Tuesday that Boeing officials are paying ‘a lot of attention’ to the company’s Moses Lake facility.

MOSES LAKE — Something is happening at the Boeing facility at the Grant County International Airport.

But if anyone knows what it is, they aren’t talking.

“There are lots of comings and goings at the Port of Moses Lake facility,” said Jeffrey Bishop, executive director of the Port of Moses Lake, during a regular meeting of the port commission on Tuesday.

Bishop said that recently, several senior Boeing officials, including a long-term planner, visited the hangar Boeing owns at the Port of Moses Lake and where, up until recently, the company has stored parts and machine tools, some allegedly related to its defense activities.

“A lot of attention is being paid to that facility,” Bishop said.

Bishop said that the Everett-based aerospace manufacturer has cleared out its Moses Lake hangar and is “looking at what to do with the facility.”

The Port of Moses Lake has been considering submitting a proposal to host the production facility for Boeing’s planned replacement for the 757, the New Midsize Airplane (NMA), an unnamed plane sometimes informally referred to as the 797.

In a Friday, Nov. 8 segment of “Inside Olympia,” a newsmaker interview show hosted by public broadcaster TVW, Larry Brown, the legislative director for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union Local 751, said he believes Moses Lake would be a good location for a large aircraft production facility.

“We think it makes some real sense to do that,” Brown told host Austin Jenkins.

In fact, Brown said when Boeing was looking for a second production center for the 787 Dreamliner, his union pushed hard to build that in Moses Lake.

Brown also believes it is very likely that sometime in the next decade, a major new aircraft production center will be built “in a place like Moses Lake.”

“There’s great potential for that,” he said.

Boeing is the fifth-largest taxpayer in Grant County, paying roughly $1.6 million in property taxes on an assessed value of $142.9 million in real estate and business property in 2017.

New CBU Mailbox

We have a new community mailbox installed at the top of the hill. Delivery will be up and running as soon as the Post Office gets out to install their master lock. Please drive carefully!

Scorpion Concrete put in the driveway/pad and did a beautiful job. If you ever need concrete work Sam is the one to call.

Harvest 2018

October 3-5. Picked the Cabernet Franc and the Chardonnay at the same time this year. You just never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at you. The Cab Franc snuck up on me. I was testing the sugars in the Chard, figuring the Cab would be later as usual. Then I figured what the heck, I'll just check the Cab for fun. Pushing 26 degrees! So we scrambled and got everything done. I think I prefer getting it all in at the same time rather than dragging it out over several weeks.

The fruit was gorgeous. No rain since July, just warm days without end. It would have been interesting to let the Cab Franc hang awhile longer, although the acids would have dropped out. Anyway, the winemakers seemed happy. Big thanks again to Beaumont Cellars and Camas Cove Cellars for your continued support.

New Construction on Lot 26

Beautiful ridgefront home rapidly nearing completion. Alderbrook Homes is the builder.

Budbreak 2018

A few days earlier than last year, a little later than "normal." Last season saw reduced yields throughout the state. Typically vines will respond the following year with extra crop. We shall see.

New Construction

...on Lot 40, nearing completion. Another one about to start on Lot 26.
Lots of activity in the area.

Bottling Day @ Beaumont Cellars

Each spring Pete Beaumont brings in a mobile bottler to bottle his wines, including our Cab Franc. The two tons of grapes we sold him in 2016 produced just under 120 cases of wine. (Pete bottled around 4,000 cases overall this year.)

It's a fun operation, everything clicking along at 60 bottles a minute, about as fast as a person (or at least an amateur) can be expected to keep up without pulling a "Lucille Ball."

Our 2016 vintage, I'm told, has developed nicely. Haven't tasted it yet; I'm looking forward to getting a case as soon as it's over bottle shock.

Pruning 2018

It's not even February yet and the vineyard is pruned. A new record I think. I let Panchito do most of it. It's the first time I haven't done it myself. Pruning is always the first opportunity to get your hands on the vines after winter dormancy, and you get to shape the vineyard for the season. You also get a good sense of what went well and what needs improvement in terms of nutrition, water, pest control,etc.

But honestly Panchito is a better pruner than me, and much faster. He did a beautiful job. So I just walked through and tried to inspect every plant. There'll be plenty of work left this year anyway, most of it in the hot sun!

Harvest 2017

Whether due to the long cold winter, the cool wet spring, or just nature's whims, the yield this year was dramatically lower than past harvests.

Beautiful fruit though. Numbers on the Cab Franc: 24.9 brix, 3.9 TA (acids), 3.74 pH. Should make great wine, just wish we had more of it.

Thanks Camas Cove Cellars and Beaumont Cellars for your support.

Veraison 2107

About three weeks later than last year. It will be an interesting season. Wet and cool spring, perfect weather since then. Will they get ripe?

The robins have arrived already. Netting goes up this week
.
By the way, whoever is spraying 2-4D or dicamba, kindly knock it off, or at least do it when the wind is blowing the other way. You're frying my vines.