April 24, 2004

Spring has arrived in the Pfalz . In other parts of the world, April showers may bring May flowers, but here in the Pfalz, when the late winter snows melt, there is an abrupt explosion of color and life. The vines are about the last members of the plant kingdom to come to life, but seemingly all the other plants and trees are well on their way. The blooming vanguard was led by the almond trees, which resemble cherry blossoms in their dramatic colors and bloom pattern. Even the animal kingdom is getting in the act, and as I write this, I had to escort a lost bee from my keyboard to the window ledge so that he could get on with the business of collecting the kings ransom of pollen that awaits in the flower garden.

The biggest event of the last week was the annual “Aufhängen”, which happens annually at this time of year. Work in a small German wine village is very pleasant, and everyone is very friendly towards one another, but work in a vineyard can often be a solitary affair. Weeks are spent walking the vine rows of your individual vineyard with only occasional wave to a passing neighbor or friendly chat across the vine rows. This week that all changes.

At 8:00 in the morning on a warm clear day, members from all the wine estates in the village along with teams from the wineries in neighbouring villages with vineyard holdings in the Grosskarlbach appellation converge on the Winzerhaus (vintner house) located at the crest of one of the hills in the Grosskarlbach vineyard. These many volunteers have converged in this beautiful place for one purpose: to do battle with a tiny amorous moth. This menace to the vineyard is the dreaded Traubenwickler, scourge of the German vineyard. Well, scourge may be too strong a term for this little moth that only wants to meet a nice female Traubenwickler and settle down to make little Traubenwicklers.

This process is quite natural, and apparently the Traubenwicklers enjoy it immensely. The local vintner association would be happy to stay out of the little Traubenwickler's personal business, except for the fact that this whole business has the rather dramatic effect of destroying a large percentage of the year's harvest. Young Traubenwickler love vinefera grapes as much as wine collectors (the Traubenwickler are noted connoisseurs). We have nothing against the Traubenwickler per se, its just that those darned Traubenwickler offspring keep destroying all the lovely grapes.

To the rescue come the brilliant scientists at BASF, the leading German industrial firm. It seems that the BASF researchers have been spending as much time thinking about the love life of the little Traubenwickler as the Traubenwickler themselves. The result of all this research is a tiny plastic clip that contains no pesticide or other harmful ingredients. What it does contain is the intoxicating scent (to the male Traubenwickler at least) of female Traubenwickler pheromones.

It seems that the male Traubenwickler aren't so superficial to pick a mate by her looks. They are, however crazy about female Traubenwickler pheromones. So crazy in fact that they choose a mate by honing in on the scent of an attractive single female. What the little plastic RAK clips do is flood the vineyards with female pheromone scent, thereby making it impossible for the males to find a date.

The only problem with this plan is that all the vineyards in the area must be covered in RAK clips to prevent the “bordello effect” (my term) wherein all the Traubenwickler converge on the unprotected space to mate and then disperse throughout the other vineyards to lay their eggs and wreak havoc. It is therefore the responsibility of the local grower's associations, and not the individual growers, to purchase the RAK tabs and to provide the labor needed to cover the vineyards.

This brings us back to the early morning meeting at the Winzerhaus. When we arrived, it looked like a battlefield tactical meeting with groups of people huddled around topographical maps of the area spread on the ground or propped on the windshields of work vans. Members of the grower's association, pointers in hand, pointed to areas on the map and dispatched groups of workers to sweep over the vineyard armed with the little plastic clips that will mark the end of the Traubenwickler singles' scene.

The most interesting thing about all this was to see the cooperation between all the people of the village. It was really fun to get to spend the day working without old friends and meeting new people from the other wineries. The weather could not have been more beautiful and a good time was had by all.

At the winery, we have been labelling, packaging and shipping a lot of wine to our export markets around the world. Summer is considered by many as the best time drink some of our more refreshing wines such as Riesling, Silvaner or Scheurebe, so many distributors are stocking up early for the summer rush. Not much else to report really. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, we are receiving more visitors at the estate, and we have had some reason visits by distinguished members of the trade from around the world.