New Year's Resolutions Anyone?
Hola, Happy New Year for the glorious start of 2025!
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Don’t worry—be happy—feel free to bypass the urge. For the moment…
Why get caught up in first-of-the-year resolution-making? It could be said that setting goals and resolutions is vital for personal growth and mental health.
It should be a year-long endeavor!
I tend towards Caulfield’s take, the perennial skeptic in the Frazz comic strip by Jef Mallett.
As applied to my vineyard practices, it involves:
Cataloging vineyard activities as they occur—good and bad. Build on the good, rectify the bad. Develop a plan and follow it. I’ll then apply course corrections as needed, using gained experience and research.
I resolve to change as conditions warrant!
I’ve chronicled four years of planning, planting, and tending to my vineyard. You’ll find my Vineyard Chronicles on Marshall’s Wine Encore website. My latest edition includes 2024 Season Lessons Learned.
I not only chronicle these experiences and learned practices for my own edification but I hope to also assist those following their own personal vineyard and winemaking journeys.
The end of the 2024 season was a whirlwind of activity, which provided the seed for another resolution of sorts.
After summer’s tasks—pruning, while also deposing yellow jackets, grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, and watching overnight raiding raccoons via my vineyard cam-say hello to a raccoon trap in 2025 I so resolve-harvest went swimmingly.
The bounty included 125 pounds of Pinot Noir, the same weight of Riesling and Gewürtraminer combined, and 160 pounds of Marquette. This has initially produced 20 gallons of wine.
Come bottling; eight cases should result.
Next year, my vineyard resolves to increase the harvest by 50%!
Overall, 2025 looks bright, New Year’s resolutions or not. May you and yours be well and fruitful in 2025!
