Great Week in the Vineyard

   We have spent the week in the vineyard pruning and tucking and taping the vines so that they are prepared to enter the heat of Summer and grow and ripen the grapes.  On  Monday I took a picture of the grapes and the clusters are full of fertilized flowers which means we have a great fruit set.  Thankfully, we had one week of dry weather during the full bloom so all our flowers had a chance to fully pollinate.  Here is what tHe little Vidal Blanc grapes look like.

The tucking and pruning began on Monday as we divided the canopy of our Cabernet Franc to begin stressing the vines so that they ripen their fruit on time.  Not only are we starting our season 3 weeks late but we also have so much cool, damp weather that I'm not sure if things are going to ever catch up.  The vines were too green and succulent to begin the training earlier in the season.  Finally as the rain stopped, we were able to begin getting things tucked away to look better.  Here are what the vines looked like at re beginning of the week.

   After we completed the tucking and taping down, the vines looked much more controlled.

Tomorrow, we plan to start pulling down the lower wires on the divided canopy in the Scott/Henry divided canopy.  Things should look great, so I will take some more pictures to post later in the week.