Pietro and his family have a vineyards and winery in Kelseyville 6 miles from my home vineyard in Lake County. I’ve taken many guests to his family winery over the years and become acquainted with his father and their Italian wines. Pietro recently joined Bill English at Local vines as a winemaker and he has extensive knowledge of grape growing and winemaking that can be valuable to you. Over the last several years Daniel Howsepian and I visited a number of member vineyards in Lamorinda and we became aware that the knowledge and experience of our membership is highly varied. In Pietro’s write up he has points out several areas that our owners need to pay attention to. such as, water: unless you have a well you are going to pay city prices for vineyard water as well as the need and timing of water use, spraying: under spraying is common here and the result is vine disease, how to do I right, soil: the nature of our soil and its challenges, pruning: types and timing, just to name a few.
He goes on to discuss winemaking. So members, you now have a knowledgeable and available resource to help you solve problems and get your vineyards to produce top quality grapes. Without great grapes there is no great wine. Enjoy the read. Hope to see you all on Wednesday evening.
DAVID HICKS President LWGA
