As of Monday, June 17th, all blocks had finished bloom, and we are now beginning to see berry set. So far, set looks excellent and we are working on shoot positioning now, a process that involves moving the shoots on the east side of the vine vertically up through the wires. At the same time, we are removing lateral growth up to the top cluster on the east side (or morning side) of the vine. We will make a second pass later to manage shoot growth on the west side of the vine. On the west side, a few shoots will be left to sprawl slightly to provide a little sun protection from the long desert afternoon. In all cases, our goal is to leave one layer of leaves to provide a mixture of shade and sun on the fruit. By providing slightly more sun exposure on the cooler morning side of the vine, we balance out color and fruit development on both sides of the plant.
For a complete list of bloom dates by block, download the Vintage Update chart found here.