For good wine, everything starts with the fruit. Everything. Ninety-five percent of the effort (and half of the magic) is directed to coaxing happy, healthy, well-nourished berries from the sun and the soil. These photos summarize the one-year cycle of making a crop.
Vines asleep in their snug valley. They won’t wake up until April.Unlike large operations where pruning takes place during winter, we let the vines go through winter with all their canes intact. Pruning begins about the time of last frost…typically early April. The sap may not have started rising. It is easy to recognize happy healthy buds and canes. Pruning is extremely aggressive, controlling the amount of fruit and foliage to maximize grape quality over quantity.Explosion of buds. The most beautiful time, as the whole vineyard comes out with green fuzz. Note that this bud is on last year’s cane, even though the main cordon is older wood. This bud will be vigorous and fruitful. A rapidly growing cane, with flower buds that turn into berries. Accurate management now makes for easier care and training later in the season, when controlling vine vigor becomes a challenge.
Tiny flowers, one for each berry. The most critical time of year for the whole crop. Good weather means good fruit set.
Babies. Showing excellent fruit set. Once the skins thicken, the berries are protected from many fungus threats. Note the sulfur haze on the leaves. By the time they ripen, these bunches will be fully closed up with no space between berries.Early August, as the bunches swell. Soon they will start to blush with red color.Starting to mature. Almost time to start checking sugar contentMonitor sugar and acidity until timing is perfect. The challenge is to get the sugar high enoughThen pick.
