Following a disastrous 2010 season with hardly any grapes, 2011 is looking a great deal more promising.  Most varietals are bearing well, and, barring a hurricane or severe hail, we can expect an average to large crop.   The weather has been mostly cool, with good rains in early December.  The vines are looking very healthy and in balance with the crop they carry.

We are using new spray heads of our own design which cut chemical and water use by a third and the use of tractor diesel by half, while saving a good deal of time into the bargain.  This is of course hugely advantageous for the environment, as is the subsequent reduced carbon footprint.

Today is 24 December and it is raining again.  So far it looks like it’s going to be a later vintage with the cooler conditions.  This will only help the vines to ripen the heavy crop slowly and without stress.  The Sauvignons are bearing very well in comparison to last year, when we only harvested only about 300kg per hectare rather than the norm of 6 tons!

We have only just started to irrigate a little and this is mostly just to prevent any stress as the winter rains were not enough to replenish the soil with enough water.  The rain we are having now will also help to slow down the drying out of the soil.

The concern at the moment is that, if we get too much rain now with a lot of heat, the vines will grow vigorously in the canopy and neglect the grapes.

We can only hope that Mother Nature will be kind to us and that this vintage will continue to develop favourably.

Categories: VITICULTURE

This entry was posted on Friday, December 24th, 2010 at 3:14 pm and is filed under VITICULTURE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.