07-20-05 - A bit of shatter

Heat has finally, FINALLY arrived and set in. Thank god. We are going into our second week of temperatures in the high 90s on the mountain. This means that the valley floor could very well be in the hundreds. Interestingly, when I drive into work in the morning, the valley floor has a little bit of morning morning fog which keeps the local balloons grounded. However, by the time I get to the top of the mountain (about 1,800 feet), it is completely clear and already hot early in the morning.

Now that our grapes are coming along on Vine 2, you can clearly see the signs of shatter. Now this is not horrible shatter as there are still LOTS of viable grapes on these clusters. Down in the Carneros appellation, there is shatter where a cluster might have a total of 10 or 12 viable grapes -- almost not enough to pay to have harvested or attempt to make wine from.

Vine 1, as from Day One, is thriving a bit faster and has signs of more robust growth. Also, quite interestingly, the grapes on this vine has negligable shatter. you can see in the clusters that the grapes are filling out and making an admirable cluster.

Very shortly we will begin to see verasion; the beginning of the addition of color to the grapes. It is happening on the valley floor but will be another few weeks before we see any sign of color.