Hot and Dry

Each year is different and you see that some years start out very similar to other years gone by but things can change very quickly. This year was cool in May and June resulting in delayed flowering into the 2nd week of July for some varieties. And since then its been 4-5 weeks since weve had any measurable rain and on top of that its been the second hottest July we've recorded with several days in the 40c area.

The heat has been tough on the new vines as they do not have a big enough root structure to draw moisture and keep the leaves hydrated but they are doing ok and showing remarkable resiliancy. We've made several passes to remove weak, late, and 3 and 4th clusters to improve the overall ripeness of the crop we want to keep. Above you can seea 3rd cluster further along the cane that has now been removed.

The vines have caught up some what and despite the lack of rain the mature vines are doing well and the grape development is pretty good. As of the beginning of August we were already seeing some clusters approaching bunch closure (Aug 5 photo) and we are probably 7-10 days away from veraison and that means we'll be netting soon.