Cluster News!

A new photo from one of our Chardonnay vineyards shows some great cluster development as we start the month of July. With a successful bloom period we are now in the stage of fruit set where berries start to form where the flowers use to be. The berries then increase in volume, primarily water which occurs during warmer weather. The sugar content of the berries also increase with the start of verasion
Other vineyard maintenance during this time includes canopy management and removing leaves from around the clusters. Leaf pulling encourages sunlight exposure and better air flow which reduces the potential for rot and mildew. This is also a time when we would do our first pass of crop thinning. Thinning by hand removes a certain amount of clusters to achieve the optimum tons per acre and vine balance.
Next step….verasion!