Green Pruning to Improve Grape Ripening

So one if the things that can be done to improve ripening of grapes is cluster pruning. Sometimes this is done pre-bloom to improve the flowering of flower clusters left behind and adjust potential crop load to trellising and vine ripening capacity. This is often referred go as green pruning.

Sometimes this crop adjstment is done later in the year if there is the thought that the gapes on the vine are not going to ripen adequately before the end of season. The second cluster may not ripen to the same level as the first cluster and if harvested together, the higher quality first cluster is averaged lower with the lower quality second cluster, potentially lowering the quality of the wine.

When cluster pruning, the second or third cluster is usually removed which concentrates ripening into the remaining cluster.

We have tested about 30 varieties of grapes at our vineyard and it seems as though some varieties ripen the first and second clusters similarly while other varieties show significant differences in ripening between clusters.

See St. Croix below, with visually obvious differences in ripeness between first and second cluster.

Usually we dont cluster prune later in the season but in cooler years when the vine struggles to bring the grapes to adequate ripeness we may employ this technique.

We can usually tell the years that inadequate ripening may be an issue by the timing of veraison. Late veraison means that we may not have enough time and heat left in the season to ripen the grapes to our liking.  So thats when we would consider cluster pruning of the second cluster.

In the past ten years this has happened only once..but this is also because after 10 years we know what the crop load should be for the various varieties we have as it relates to our vineyard climate and conditions. And we also know when the usual timing of veraison is for the various varities.

Refractometer to Test Brix / Sugars

There are lots of ways to get an idea of the ripeness level of your grapes leading into harvest.

The easiest is to taste the grapes to see how sweet they are and what the acid is like. Problem is if your new at this then you dont really have a baseline of previous years experience to assess it against.

Another way is to check the colour and hardness of the seeds in the grape. If the seeds are brown and crack hard when you bite on them then you know the grapes are getting ripe but experience is key here again and the brown of the seeds is not universal for all grapes relative to how ripe they are. Similarly the bunch stem usually turns brown and hardebs off.

One of the most accurate ways is to test the sugar ot brix level of the grapes with a refractometer. These instruments cost about $100 and provide a fairly accurate reading of the sugars in a few drops of grape juice. I taje a sample of about 3 grapes from different parts of the cluster and average the numbers out.

Brix is a measure of sugar content in the grape juice and ripe grapes will usually have between 18 and 24 brix depending in the variety. So in converting brix to alcohol content, 1 brix gives you roughly 0.55-0.6 % alcohol, so 20 brix gives you wine with roughly 11-12% alcohol when fermentation is complete.

I put a small video here to show how the refractometer works. Not the best video but you'll get the idea when you see this.

Grapes Look Good Heading Into Harvest

So checking on the grapes with about 4 weeks before harvest they are looking good. The bird netting is working ok so far but the wasps still get through and the this Robin found a gap and got under the netting. They love the Foch and Millot.

Most of the vines are hardening off the canes well and the grapes are ripening very well. Here is brix readings as of September 8, 2018 and about 900 degree days growing to date.

WHITES
Ravat 34....15 brix
Evangeline....18.5 brix
Seyval....20 brix
L'Acadie.....20 brix
Vandal Cliche....17.5 brix
Petite Milo......17.5 brix
Seigerrebe.....19 brix

Here is Ravat looking very good

REDS
Leon Millot.....16 brix
Marechal Foch.....15 brix
Castel.....16 brix
St. Croix......15.5 brix
Marquette......18 brix
Colmar Precoce Noir ....19 brix
Triompe D'Alsase.....15 brix
Pinot Noir.....17 brix
Lucy Kuhlman....18
Marechal Joffre....18

Here is Leon Millot with canes hardening off well.

Smokey Conditions During Netting 2018

So we got the nets out in the past few days and just in time as some of the grapes (Leon Millot and Evangeline) are ripening fast. The birds took some of the early Leon Millot and the wasps are going after the Evangeline. Super smokey with the forest fires.

We netted up just over an acre of vines with the new bird netting and it went quite fast. The reds are turning and whites softening.

Mid Summer Update 2018

So it's mid summer and we have a good idea of crop load and likely outcomes in terms of how much grapes we can expect.

Most varieties are doing well and we haven't needed much water this year. Wouldn't say were too much ahead ...it's pretty much a normal year.

The Foch is looking good but we didn't get as much production off the younger vines as anticipated. Triompe D'Alsace is also looking good. Ravat 34 is great again and Evangeline is looking good too. Netting will begin in a few weeks.
Here is Ravat 34

Evangeline

Ravat 34 Wine 2017

Every year this vine puts out a great crop no matter what the conditions. After 10 years we have found this vine has no fungus issues..sets fruit well in virtually all conditions...and is very easy to maintain with cordon spur pruning.

It has a semi upright growth and is easy to train in a 3 or 4 wire vertical shoot system. Usually 2 x 100 gram clusters per shoot and they usually tops out at 19 Brix in the vineyard with 3.0 acidity.

Ravat 34 is a cross of Chardonnay with American grape. It carries a lot of The chardonnay quality and this shows in the resulting wine. It retains high acidity though and has been descibed by some as being akin to Alegote. Very nice again for 2017.

Fruit Set 2018

Weather is a huge factor when it comes to fruit set. If it's too cold or if it's rainy then the pollen is not exchanged easily and bees are not making their rounds.
A few years ago we experienced cool and wet weather when L'Acadie Blanc was flowering and as  result we had very poor fruit set on that variety.
This year the weather has been pretty good during flowering which occured around June 20 to 22. The vineyard is lush and has great growth. Looking across the rows you can still see snow on thhe mountain tops.

The early flowering varieties were Foch and Castel..where as the Evangeline and Triompe D'Alsace are always later. As of June 30 we have a view of fruit set in most varieties. Here is what we are seeing;
Marechal Foch

Leon Millot

Ravat 34

Pinot Noir

L'Acadie Blanc

Castel

Evangeline

Great Spring Growth 2018

It would appear that environment Canada was right on the money with their long term weather prediction for early summer heat. It was cold and snowy right up until the end of April, and then we had about 2 weeks of spring temperatures and lots of melting, and then some great heat that brought on bud break and that continued into early June.

So normally we would have good growth, possibly we would have between 5 to 7 leaves of growth in normal years. We are around 7 leaves in most varieties and some like Castel and Foch are already starting to flower. Others like Acadia Blanc and Seyval are slower and around 5 leaves of growth. So we are on target if not a week+ ahead of normal as we usually flower the last week of June.

Foch, Evangeline both look good and as usual Ravat 34 is great. Hoping for some heat for the next 2 weeks for good conditions during flowering. Here is what they look like now;
Marechal Foch

Castel

Triompe D'Alsace

Ravat 34

Evangeline

Arrow Lake White wine wins Gold Medal

Wow...we just found out that our Arrow Lakes White wine won a Gold Madal at the Winemaker International Ameteur Wine competition in Vermont, USA. We are really pleased with this as this is the worlds largest ameteur wine competition and a great follow up to the Gold medal our Marechal Foch won last year.

We submitted our 2016 vintage as we wanted to see what the jugment would be on a 2 year old bottle. This is a really nice wine when it is new and fresh and we have found it holds these qualities.

We blogged about the 2016 Arrow Lakes White wine, click here to read more about it. http://houseofvines.blogspot.ca/2017/03/arrow-lakes-white-for-2016.html

Bud Break 2018

I always am excited at this time of year to see how the vines are doing and as the buds push you get the first sense of what the season could be. One thing we did this year was prune a lot of the varieties to 4 bud spurs rather than long canes. The droughty summer last year was so hot and dry we suspected the buds further up the cane would not have been as well developed or as fruitful or that we may get more cane dieback than usual. As it turns out it wasn' that bad but we did get more cane dieback.

As the buds push out further and expose the tiny flower clusters you get a further sense of the fruit potential for the year and can start to vision the green pruning we may need to do to adjust the crop load. So far things look mostly good. Unfortunately we may have lost some of the new vines planted last summer to the intense heat and then the winters crushing snow the ripped many young trunks off their trellis canes. Great thing about own rooted vines vs grafted is even if the vine above the soil gets damaged..the roots can send up a new cane and we can train those up the trellis.

So here are some of the vines budding out so far.

Ravat 34 with long spurs in the back ground

Evangeline with flower clusters emerging and showing a secondary bud at the bottom (This secondary will come off in the green pruning we do)