The vineyard is a lot like a pregnant woman – nine months of work before the little babies are ready.
– January we pre-pruned the vineyard and cleaned the owl box.
– February we finished pruning.
– March we began weed control and did some transplanting of vines.
– April we watched ground cover (Sweet Alyssum) blossom, started vertical shoot positioning and checked irrigation system. Also secured buyers for grapes and signed contracts.
– May we mowed rampant growth everywhere and because of the wet Winter & Spring finally began irrigating at the end of the month and started leaf thinning.
– June continued weed control, irrigation, cordon training of younger vines, leaf thinning and hedge pruning.
– July performed late season mildew treatments, pest control (gophers & ground squirrels), bought 12 new harvesting clippers.
– August dropped selected fruit clusters and put up the bird netting, purchased wine making and grape testing supplies, prepared maintenance on the crusher/destemmer.
Now we’re just waiting for the grapes to ripen. The past 2 years the harvest has been about the last week of August or first week of September. We are hoping we can harvest this year by the end of September. Mother Nature is in charge. We’ve had a cool Spring and cooler than usual Summer. While we began testing brix (sugar level) in the grapes the beginning of August last year, we haven’t tested at all yet this year, and likely will not for another week or two.
While we wait I am lining up harvest volunteers and planning the meals to feed them – with suitable wine pairings of course!
Cheers,
Elaine