Shenandoah Valley of CaliforniaCharles Spinetta Winery and Wildlife Art Gallery
If you are a broker, principal, or fellow professional winemaker interested in purchasing quantities of premium wine, click here.Our sister site for brokers, principals, and fellow professional winemakers to buy our family's winegrapes.Business Hours and Map to the Winery. Also look at the "Intersections Guide" so you don't get lost.An online tour of the vineyards, winemaking facilities, tasting room and art gallery, precipitation history, industry links.The wildlife art gallery, wine label collection, original paintings for sale, and more art for sale.Laura's custom framing shop will frame your family heirlooms - make an appointment soon.Current releases of dry reds and "fun and yummy" sweet wines.Current news, our flyer, recipes, and dozens of illustrated stories about winemaking and field work. Good reading!Order form for shipping - you must be 21 years of age.
Vines grow as if they were small trees with the "head (or hat) pruning" technique. Foliage (usually) protects the bunches from sunburn and frost, yet allows enough light on the fruit to ripen.

Photo One: A Chenin Blanc shoot (life size) on May 1.

Photo Two: The shoot on May 8th. The baby bunches have lengthened and there is more foliage. The grapes will flower (for five days) in about three weeks.		 Bursting With Growth
The cover crop -- uncovered! Photo One: Covered up. The cover crop (clover) has moved into the spray strip near the vine.

Photo Two: Rabbits and bugs hide in the weeds! Jim clears the weeds and ties up the dominant shoot. He tips, rather than plucks off, the smaller shoot in case the main shoot is damaged.
Photo One: Coming out. This plant's a year older. It won't produce for another two years, but it's time to take the "diaper" off.

Photo Two: Aaron removes the milk carton and the green growth below his knee, then rubs the buds harshly so they scar and don't grow back. This is "suckering."		 Suckering time!
_____Inasmuch that we would like to have "perfectly average" years, we can't stop a late frost. Baby grapes are exposed, and the tender leaves around them are burnt. The grapes are not hurt by this because they have not bloomed. Our cousins graze cattle in our fallow fields. Calves get cold in a frost, but they always have warm milk!
Frost Damage LEFT: The old Zinfandel down in a swail got the brunt of three nights of late season frost and was parched by strong winds on the fourth day. RIGHT: Some of our baby plants are jelly because the hard frost burst the delicate xylem of their shoots. We treat this problem like it's winter again and cut the damaged shoots back to renew the growth. Cut Back to One Bud
Amador County
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Charles Spinetta Winery, Spinetta Family Vineyards, Zinetta, and the CSW Logo are registered trademarks of Charles J. Spinetta. Unless otherwise specified, all images and copy contained within the charlesspinettawinery.com domain are Copyright 1984-2012 Charles J. Spinetta. All rights reserved. Charles Spinetta Winery and Wildlife Art Gallery 12557 Steiner Road, Plymouth, California 95669, USA, telephone: (209) 245-3384, facsimile: (209) 245-3386