We are now through bloom, well ahead of previous years. Now we wait and see what happens as the vines begin to set fruit. A record of 2015 growing season milestones by block is available to download here.
Weather throughout bloom this spring was a mixed bag. The vineyard experience mild temperatures, extremely hot weather, some rain, mild winds and extremely high winds. Set looks good in most blocks, though the combination of hot weather and high winds might have impacted Cab in a few blocks. We will know more soon.
In the meantime, work continues in the vineyard. The crew has been busy with cordon suckering, shoot selection and now shoot positioning and hedging. Cane growth is very good throughout the vineyard, so now that we are through bloom we will need to slow shoot growth and redirect the plant’s carbohydrates to the fruit. As soon as shoot positioning is complete, we will begin vine leafing, concentrating on leaf removal on the morning side of the vine as well as in the interior fruit zone. For most blocks we will remove the laterals on the morning side up to the upper cluster. Lateral and leaf removal on the afternoon side of the vine will be determined by canopy density and heat; if the weather stays hot we do not want too much sun exposure on the west side of the vine.
Our crew is doing great work. Most days, we start at 5 am so we can send everyone home once the temps start to climb into the 90s.