Fruit setting, Canopy Management, heat and more heat.

Where were we, oh yes, the buds had started to develop and there was a glimpse of the little flowers. The weather has been incredible for the last two months and we have had, I dare to say, even slightly too much heat in the past few weeks. 

At this time in the vineyard, and given last year debacle with the mildews, I was concentrating in spraying goodness onto the vines so that they could grow protected and strong. I gave them another round of dandelion tea, more nettle tea, lavender oil and a dose of equisitum tea as well. All these have a specific function but together strengthen the immune system of the vines. 

As the flowers turn into mini pea size grapes (which is called fruit set), the foliage grows and the vineyard starts looking greener. One of the most crucial tasks now, is to keep a good canopy management. It may sound trivial, but it is essential. It sets the ground work to have a good BALANCE in the Vineyard, as the aim is to optimise yield, improve fruit quality, reduce the risk of disease, and facilitate other vineyard operations, amongst many other things. We could have a whole course about Canopy Management and how all those decisions influence the outcome, which is to have the best fruit to produce high quality wine. 

Canopy management starts way before the vines are planted, yes you heard it, because it entails the planning of the architecture of the vineyard. The amount of separation between the rows (2mts,more, less), between the vines themselves (1mt, more , less) , the selection of the variety we are going to plant, (whether is a  vigorous variety or not) the trellising system (single guyot, double, Geneva double curtain, any other), the site selection (soil, is it protected, is it not, etc) All these aspects and choices will define the micro climate that is going to develop within the vineyard itself, how the the sunlight, temperature, wind speed, drainage, humidity and evaporation rate are going to affect the shoot density, leaf layer number, shoot length, lateral shoot development, etc. All in the name of the style of wine we want to make.

And then, every year there are a few tasks that need to be performed, and that will help keep that balance and produce the best fruit the vines can give. That is why I am so passionate about it, because feel the need and responsibility to give my girls the best support I can give them to flourish. I can get a little carried away with this subject and talk (or write) for hours, but I am going to name a few of the things that are done, until almost Harvest day, as it is a continuous process:

-shoot positioning as they grow so the leaves have some sort of organisation to make the most of the air flow and sunlight,

-shoot selection and thinning to control the leaf density,

-hedging which is to trim the tips of the vines to direct the energy to the development of the grapes,

-leaf removal to create the airflow (disease prevention) and sunlight exposure around the bunches, 

-bunch selection to control yield and quality,

-cluster thinning, yes that is to pick off individual grapes from bunches so that they are not too tight and prevent disease, but also to facilitate the concentration of sugars. 

For all these tasks, timing has to be considered and also how much of it you do, so it creates a matrix of possibilities that becomes a bit of a roller coaster in terms of the amount of decisions  that need to be made. Some of the tasks can be mechanised, but as you know, we do it all by HAND, apart from the spraying and the strimming of the under vine area, this last one almost made me lose the will to live this year, as we had problems with our strimmer and it was taking FOREVER to do. I was strimming for two solid weeks !!!! needless to say we will be changing that, so watch the space.  We also had a little bit of a panic around mid July, as after a long period of sun, the rain was forecasted, still with high temperatures, and I had to rush to do 3 intense days of leave removal with the help of local teenagers and my forever faithful David and B, that raised up to the task and we opened the space so the mildew would have no place in the vineyard, just before the rain came!

Today, the vineyard is looking absolutely gorgeous, we have two more helpers that have made  the last  few weeks soul soothing, Lizzie and my nephew Leo.  There is a bit of a shade of mildew in the leaves that we seem to have under control, so fingers crossed (do to want to speak too loud). Give us a call if you want to visit as we are opening by appointment. Also, keep an eye on our communications, as I am starting to think about our Harvest day, which should be sometime towards the third week of October and our Tribe members have absolute priority and play a very important  part in it. We normally have a few volunteers, it entails a morning of picking, we provide lunch and it is free, so if you are not part of our Tribe, go to our website https://www.bsixtwelve.co.uk/jointhetribe and sign up for that. I will be sending a soft call for those interested in coming to help us and our Tribe members have first refusal.  It is going to be FUN! so please keep us on your thoughts for the next couple of months for good weather! Bx