May was exceptionally rainy, with a total of 8 inches, so we had to work very hard to stay ahead of the vine growth and the mildews. Flowering began with the Chardonnay on June 4th, a bit later than normal, and was also extremely fast, with most varieties taking less than a week to set fruit. June and July brought normal temperatures, with more rain than normal in July (4.5 inches) and slightly less than normal in June. Veraison began in the first week of August, but in contrast to budbreak and flowering it was very slow, lasting as much as three weeks on the Cabernet Franc. August had nary a drop of rain until 2.5 inches fell in one storm on the 29th, which ushered in one of the rainiest Septembers on record (10 inches). Luckily for the vines the rain events were intense but short, and sunny days were interspersed to allow the grapes to ripen fully. Unprecedented amounts of handwork in the vineyard kept the vines airy and open, which allowed the leaves and bunches to take full advantage of the sunny days, and minimized the risk of rot from all the rains. In the end, the vines delivered a ripe, abundant harvest, and then settled down for a well deserved rest. It was a good year to be a winery, but maybe a tough one to be a grape vine. On the winery side, we were excited to have our first ever bottling – the 2006 reds and 2006 and 2007 whites were bottled in early April to great fanfare – among our family and friends at least! It was an exhilarating moment to pull that first bottle of Grüner Veltliner off the line, and realize that all the preceding years of preparation had finally culminated in some finished wine!
Meanwhile we were busy with construction of the tasting room. The finishing touches were put in place in mid-September, and we officially opened for business the first weekend in October. It was a great end to an incredible year!
he 2008 season offered a change of pace and a few new challenges after hot and sunny 2007. Budbreak began at Black Ankle as usual with the Chardonnay showing the first buds on the 18th of April. The budbreak went extremely quickly as the weather warmed, and the Cabernet Sauvignon broke bud on the 22nd, only four days after the Chardonnay rather than the typical 7-10 days later. It was apparent early on that the vines were setting a lot of fruit – the emerging bunches were big and full, and the shoots of some varieties had three or even four bunches.
