#38 What it Means to "Play Within Yourself"

The lessons we learned in 2017 when we over-reached and planted 14 acres of vines.

Harvey Penick, quoted here, wrote a classic book about learning to play golf.

Coaches from other sports tell their players the same thing. To “play within yourself” means to exert yourself only to the extent that you remain within your capabilities. In other words, know your limits and play right up to edge, but not over the edge.

In 2017, we should have taken this advice. Very early, our advisor Ned (referred to first in Substack #7) warned us never to plant more than six acres of vines in any given year. He was vague about exactly why that was, saying only, “Young vines can take a lot of work and sometimes the weather goes against you.”

In 2017, we decided to plant 14 acres at one time, more than double Ned’s recommendation. The previous season in 2016 had been hot and dry, and the lack of moisture lowered our yields.

Because we attributed the low yield in 2016 to lack of rain, in 2017 we decided we would also install an irrigation system in the new 14-acre planting. None of us had any experience planting 14 acres, and none of us had experience with irrigation systems.

Here is Vineyard Manager Kees Stapel in the summer of 2017 pounding in some of the 3,000 posts that needed to be installed in that new 14-acre planting. It is difficult to describe how many things in this picture illustrate why you should not plant more than six acres in any given year. To us today, this is a truly “cringe-worthy” photo.

First, the plant within the highlighted yellow circle, I think, is a vine planted earlier that spring. It is hard to tell if that is a vine, because the weeds have over-taken every bit of surrounding soil. And that is just one of more than 10,000 vines, all strangled by weeds.

It is a basic rule in a new vineyard not to let the weeds get out of control. Young vines have such limited root systems, you need to keep your new vineyard plantings as free of weeds as possible. Because the weeds compete with the immature vines for moisture and nutrients, the young vines get off to a weak start.

While we should have been attending to controlling weeds, we were designing and attempting to install an irrigation system. (By the way, we also failed at that.) It was an over-reach. Another example of not “playing within yourself.”

In 2017 we found our limits. We are fine now. We plant in six-acre increments. We are scrupulous in how we manage weeds in new vineyards. We do not plan to do any irrigation. Dry years make the vines stronger and force them to push their roots deeper. It makes for a stronger, more cold-hardy and drought-tolerant vineyard.

Now that we are “playing within ourselves” the vineyards that I thought we could establish in 20 years, will now take 40 years or more. I am comfortable with this. It’s “within myself.” I’m fine with it.