Montepulciano blossom.
I paid a much delayed visit to the vineyard on Saturday. It was supposed to be at 7 am, but it was just after 10 because after working nights after taking care of an increasingly energetic infant, I could not muster the strength to roll out of bed at 6:30 am…
I spent the morning pulling weeds from around all the vines, suckering, shoot thinning and tying.
The vineyard is coming along nicely. The Montepulciano vines are covered with flowers:
Flowering Montepulciano vine.
The Aglianico vineas are catching up:
The Aglianico vines have a more symmetrical, goblet-shaped heads this year.
I’ll need to start sulfur sprays and put out sticky traps soon.
I am a bit concerned about three Montepulciano vines which had nice primary bifurcations last year, but are not developing symmetrically this year:
Is this bud failure on one of this Montepulciano’s arms?
As I buried my face in the canopies of the Montepulciano vines, I became aware of a delicate scent which rang familiar. It reminded me of something I’d know long ago. I paused and smelled a few Montepulciano flowers. The aroma was coming from them. It was delicate and lightly sweet. It was faintly reminiscent of linden blossoms I remember picking and drying for herbal tea as a boy.
Granted, there was more to the aroma, but linden was the closest (and most prominent) identifier that came to my mind. I brought a few blossoms from shoots I’d pulled downhill and my keen-nosed mother confirmed that the smell was reminiscent of linden.
All this reminds me that many specific aromatic and flavor compounds are rather ubiquitous and redundant in nature. Vanllin is not unique to vanilla pods and eugenol does not occur exclusively in cloves.
But that is besides the point. The aroma added to the ambiance and made the work easier. Things like that make the privilege of having a small home vineyard to work an even greater pleasure.
