2010 Vineyard Clinics at Tierra Roja

2010 Clinic Sign-Up Form

If you love wine, maybe you have enjoyed visiting wineries and learning about how wine is made. Have you driven through the vineyards and admired their beauty? Are you interested in Viticulture and how vines are managed? Would you like to get your hands dirty and actually tie, prune, sucker or thin some vines?

Join owner, Linda Neal, in the care of the vines of Tierra Roja. This year Linda will be putting on Vineyard Clinics at the various seasons. The wine always tastes best when you have shared in the process. Linda will share the experience of 20 years managing vineyards throughout the Napa Valley.

Pruning Clinic:

A job normally reserved for the most advanced vineyard workers. We will discuss the same basics as in tying, but then go even further as we discuss all the varied criteria of strength, shoot position, spacing and more. You will actually prune vines as together we apply what we have discussed. Your vine will be marked with your name and you can visit later in the season to see the results of your work.

Sunday, February 14 ____ or

Saturday, February 27 ____ or

Saturday, March 6 ____ *

*Other dates may be available by special appointment, please call to inquire.

Tying Clinic:

We will discuss how to evaluate overall vine health and vigor. We will talk about different types of soils, trellis systems, varieties and how these and other factors affect the vines. You will learn about the parts of the vines and how things like diameter and bud position affect our training decisions. Then you will have a very hands-on experience. You will remove dead wood and tie down new extensions and bridges to renew our vines in preparation for pruning.

Sunday, February 21 ____ or
Friday, February 26 ____ *

*Other dates may be available by special appointment, please call to inquire.

Sign up today, class size is limited to a maximum of 12 participants. Indicate your preferred dates by numbering, put an x through dates that you could not attend. Questions? Call Linda at 707-944-8720 or email linda@tierraroja.com.

Click here for 2010 Clinic Sign-Up Form

Time	Activity	Location
9:00	Coffee and pastries around the fire	Tierra Roja Vineyard
9:30-11:15	Discussion and vineyard work	7701 Silverado Trail
11:15	Back to the house for Mimosas	Oakville, Napa Valley, California

Cost and Inclusions

$150.00 per person.

Included is a bottle of 2007 Tierra Roja Cabernet Sauvignon, which will be shipped one week in advance of the normal release shipments (October, 2010) in a special wood box that will be available only to Team Tierra clinic participants. The day of the clinic you will receive essential gear to use and take home, including a Tierra Roja logo hat and vineyard apron, ring knife and safety glasses.

Refreshments are included and you are welcome to have a non-participant join us for refreshments. Shipment of wine outside Napa County will be extra. All wine sales require a California address for delivery. Participants must be age 21 or above. Clinics provided for youth groups at no charge.

Pruning shears will be provided, but you should bring your own rain gear, if needed. Even on nice days the grass can be very wet. You should have waterproof boots or a change of shoes and socks for after. Clinics will go on rain or shine.

Class space will be assigned in the order in which sign-ups, complete with payment, are received. You may fax in your request with credit card information to (707) 944-2597 or mail with check to Post Office Box 430, Oakville, CA 94562. Dates for future clinics will be announced as the season develops.

On Sunday, Februarty 15, 2009, tune in to NBC’s “In Wine Country” at 6:30 PM to see Mary Babbitt, along with friends from La Toque and Press Restaurants, participating in Pruning Clinic at Tierra Roja.

Along with hostess, Mary Babbitt, wielding shears, are wine country professionals from LaToque and Press Restaurants here in the Napa Valley.

Read Mary Babbitt's article about the 2008 pruning clinic -
in "Wine Country This Week"

Executive Producer, Mary Orlin and Cameraman, Mark Oltz, filming Hostess Mary Babbitt interviewing Tierra Roja Vineyard owner, Linda Neal.

Erin Sullivan, Scott Tracy, and Mary Babbitt.

Each participant made a name tag for their own vine.

Andrew Wycoff, Lacy Hughes, Charles Kimball, Zoe Hawkins, and Mary Babbitt wait while Linda Neal prepares the tags

Mary gets a safety lesson

Having mastered their Safety Lesson, Allison Yoder, Charles, Arnel Salvatierra, and Paul Thomasian plan to select a vine.

Up we go to the vines!

Erin and Arnel plan their attack

Kung Fu the Vines

Tanya, Trece and Art Kinberg, owners of Wine Street, a wine shop in Carlsbad, California, at their own private pruning clinic.

SHOOT POSITIONING & CLUSTER THINNING

Steve Baker and Clara McLaughlin visit Tierra Roja for a clinic in shoot positioning. They loved it so much they came back every day of their vacation and did five rows!

IMPROMPTU SUCKERING CLINIC

Bill Mullins of Dallas, Texas dropped in with Ingo Schmoldt and friends for an impromptu clinic on the second suckering pass.