Also attesting to the quality of the grapes are several awards the vineyard’s estate wines have earned. They include a gold medal for their 2008 Syrah at the Sunset International Wine Competition, a gold medal and best of class for their 2009 Petite Sirah in the California Mid-State Central Coast Wine Competition and a silver medal for both the 2010 Petite Sirah and 2010 Syrah at the 2010 New York Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.

“We haven’t been able to correlate winning awards with increasing sales of our wines, so we no longer enter the competitions,” Van Westerhuyzen says.

The biggest crop for the 7.5-acre vineyard was 21 tons in 2010.

However, in 2011, an April frost wiped out most of the production, and only 6 tons were harvested. The following year marked the beginning of the drought which impacted the recovery of the vines. Since then, the vineyard’s annual crop size has varied between 6 to 8 tons per acre.

“The last four years have been tough for farming here,” Van Westerhuyzen says. “Because of the drought, the clusters haven’t been very large. Also, we’ve had high winds during pollination, losing as much as half of each cluster to wind shatter. So, we haven’t done much thinning.”

In fact, production the past several seasons wasn’t enough to meet contracted tonnage, he adds.

This year, however, prospects are much more promising. The Almond Hill Vineyard bloom began in the second week of May, about 10 days earlier than usual, he notes. Based on crop development so far, Van Westerhuyzen estimates production for the 7.5 acres of vine could total 11 to 12 tons this year.

Supplies of ground water here are in far better shape than the area east of Paso Robles. A water table that lies 220 feet below his vineyard and a drip irrigation system meets the needs of their vineyard.

Most of the grapes grown in the Almond Hill Vineyard are sold to wineries in the area. Van Westerhuyzen and his wife reserve a small amount of their grapes to produce wine in their garage for their own consumption. The rest they make into their estate wine at a commercial facility. It’s available through their wine club and local retail outlets and restaurants.

Meanwhile, native plants covering the ground between the rows of vines help limit erosion on the sloping land. Weeds under the rows are controlled with pre-emergence herbicides applied in January or early February. Mowing controls weed growth between the rows for the rest of the season.

Powdery mildew, which Van Westerhuyzen treats with a mixture of sulfur and fungicide every 14 days, is the main disease threat to the vineyard. However, the fungal trunk disease, Bot canker (Botryopshaeria dieback), has infected vines in one section of the vineyard. He plans to cut off the diseased portions of the vine to healthy wood below the canker, and then to retrain new cordons or trunks as needed to maintain production.

Pocket gophers continue to be a major problem in the vineyard. In addition to using traps, Van Westerhuyzen controls them with the Rodenator System. It injects a mixture of pure oxygen and propane into the burrows and ignites the gas, producing a concussive force that kills the pests.

Limiting the gopher population is complicated by the lack of gopher control on surrounding properties as well as the increased rainfall this season, he notes. “The rains have helped the weeds grow, providing more food for more gophers,” Van Westerhuyzen says.

This is just one of the challenges posed by Mother Nature that he and Nicole have learned to accept.

“I love working in the vineyard and marvel when I walk down the rows and see the clusters hanging from the vines,” he says. “Despite the many factors that we can’t control, we try to be as innovative as we can in growing our grapes. Also, we’ve learned a lot by listening to a number of growers who have much more experience than we do.”