It’s MAY - Annnd - They’re off - vines are out of the gates and they’re racing like crazy toward the finish line! It’s like watching the Derby every day around here! May is the time to give the vines a little parental guidance and set the tone for producing a spectacular vintage of vino - so here we go!
May is Sucker Shoot Removal season! Shoots are annoying little buds and leaves that pop out of the vine in really awkward places - way down on the trunk, close to the ground, all along the underside of the cordons. They take up space and growing energy, but they won’t result in grape clusters (which is our goal), so they’ve got to go! We break off those little sucker buggers to redirect all the vines energy to grapes. This activity is all done by hand in our vineyards so that we retain human decision making control over each sucker. Shoot removal is primarily focused on removal from trunks and those growing in the obvious wrong direction on the underside of the fruiting cordon.
Please cross your fingers for us - it’s too late to tuck baby vines back into bed. We strategically select our vineyard sites based primarily on having mountains and frost troughs that protect them from a late Spring frost, but frost danger is at its height in May.
IN OTHER MAY NEWS - May is our annual celebration of LIME GREEN - our 55 acres of grape vines and peach, apple, pear orchards and fiddlehead ferns and persimmons and trees and hay fields and ginormous lawns are all back to a lovely lime green now! So exciting.
May 18th is Winestock - our groovy wine, beer, food, music celebration of Spring. Come.
Big Big News about the Wine Loves Chocolate shop! Technology has caught up with us! You are now free to Pick Your Own favorite chocolates and put them all in your chocolate box! The old adage “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” no longer applies. In the tasting room or online from all over America you can now fill your own box of chocolate and have it delivered right to your door!
Dirt Road Wine Academy Degree - Get your degree at your next wine ed class and start earning free classes and other amazing cool prizes!
Hotspot Hub where you can come and get some work done with high speed internet and cell service - and coffee, tea, sodas, water, snacks, lunchables, desks, charging cables, walking trails. mountains, walking trails, Zoomability, podcast gear, office equipment and porches. Some of our favorite local businesses were hatched at Little Washington Winery! We’re open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday 11-5. Walk in. Find a spot. Work.
