Veraison, and Bottling  in the cellar

Julie and I just returned from a much needed, fantastic trip to Italy, mostly in the Tuscany area. The trip had a strong focus on wine and learning the Brunello viticulture practices.

It was an early start this year in our vineyard with bud break a few weeks early. This was due to great rains in December and January and then warmer early months of February and March.

As you can see in the pictures, we have gone through veraison, the fruit is currently at 17 brix and needs to get to between 22-24 brix before we harvest.  Veraison, the turning of the grape from green to purple/brown happens at 8-10 brix.  

Not much problem with the fruit, one or two  clusters with bunch rot  that we dropped, but nothing significant.   The past few weeks have been very mild, overcast and humid.  75-80 degrees with moisture is the perfect breeding grounds for fungus.   So lets hope for a bit hotter and dryer weather.

Viticulture is site specific.  Our site, we leaf pull on the 'morning sun' side of the rows to expose the clusters to early sun and breezes to combat powdery mildew and mold.  We also use a vertical positioning  trellis and hedge prune.   For our coastal climate this is ideal.  Inland, say Escondido, they would let the vines droop over and shade the grape clusters with no leaf pulling.  That's the difference between 80 degrees and 105 degrees.

Yesterday. We bottled our cab from 2007 after 11 months in oak.  It will sleep in glass now for another year before we release the wine to family and friends.  Next week we bottle the Brunello  that  I made from Ramona grown grapes.   All total we will have about 200 bottles of wine from the 40 gallons of wine I made last year.   Below are also pictures of our wine labels.

 It's starting to be a busy time in the vineyards and cellar.    We look to harvest early to mid September.

Cheers

Peder