Exciting Plans and Development at Landry Vineyards

It has been over one year since our new winery in West Monroe was licensed and much progress has been made both in the winery and in the vineyards. We are continuing to maintain the vineyard in Folsom. The distance and fuel cost present some issues, though we are hopeful that we will be able to maintain the vineyard faithfully with some local help and many trips. We produce both Blanc Du Bois and Cynthiana/Norton from the Folsom vineyard. In the West Monroe vineyards, we now have four varieties planted. We have planted one acre of Zinthiana, a new hybrid which is a cross of Zinfandel and Cynthiana/Norton. This variety was developed by Lucian Drexel of Davis Viticulture in Illinois. This vine provides a nice full bodied red wine in Illinois and we are hopeful that it will also do the same here in North La. We are also hopeful that Zinthiana is Pierce Disease resistant. The Zinthiana planting is risky, though we are hopeful since the vines have survived one growing season. We have also planted, Blanc Du Bois, Cynthiana Norton and Black Spanish/Le Noir which are all PD resistant. Landry Vineyards produces a dry and semi-sweet Blanc Du Bois wine. Blanc Du Bois 2007 will soon be bottled and ready for sale. Bud break has occurred for all of the varieties except for Black Spanish. Blanc Du Bois budded first, then Zinthiana and finally Norton. Late frost damage is always a concern at this time of the year since the tender shoots are so sensitive to freezing temperatures. Blanc Du Bois has been a blessing to Landry Vineyards and represents a significant quantity of our production at this time. Of course, Blueberry Merlot remains the leader in production and sales. Blanc Du Bois is vigorous, produces very well, tolerates wet feet, is disease resistant and Pierce Disease resistant and produces nice white wines. We look for the popularity of Blanc Du Bois to continue to grow. It has continued to grow in popularity in Texas, so much so, that we have not been able to purchase the plants and have begun propagating our own Blanc Du Bois vines. Cynthiana/Norton production is low in our South La. vineyard, though we were encouraged by Univ of Arkansas to plant Norton in North La. They anticipate Norton to produce more and to produces higher quality fruit than in South La. We should be able to allow the fruit to hang longer which allows sugar levels to rise and acid to come down to desired levels. The lack of rain in the North La during the ripening of the grapes is an encouraging factor and we are looking forward to observing the maturation of all of the varieties in this region. Black Spanish is a variety used to produce Port/fortified wine. Black Spanish is widely produced in southern Texas vineyards and has been proven to be Pierce Resistant. We expect this vine to thrive in our West Monroe vineyard and to produces fine grapes for Port production. We thank all of our friends at Auburn Ave Presbyterian for their help with planting and bottling and we thank our Lord Jesus for all of His blessings! Sorry for not updating the sight more often. We will try to work harder to update in the future. Blessings to you from Landry Vineyards in West Monroe!