It’s happening, again.

Véraison is in full swing. Even with our more temperate summer the vines are starting to change their wardrobe. The red wine grapes are changing color and the vine is shifiting what it does to the grapes, changing from making tartaric acid to accumulating sugars in the grapes. As the happens, the grapes are on their way to becoming tasty, not only for wine production but also for our avian friends. In past years we have not had much pressure from birds damaging the crops and we have historically only netted blocks one through three.

This year we are going to try bypassing nets all together. We will watch closely how much loss we might suffer from the birds and then as we continue to learn the nuances of the vineyards we can adjust accordingly next season.

Block six Primitivo grapes in véraison. You can see a little bit of shatter as well.

Notice the dried leaves on the ground. We typically leave most of the debris from leaf thinning, pruning, etc. on the vineyard floor to help maintain soil health with the incorporation of plant matter.