It’s been a wild few days here at the vineyard! If you’ve been watching the clouds, you’ll know we’ve seen some serious action from the sky. Between Sunday, March 1st, and this morning, we’ve recorded a whopping 95mm of rain. That’s 19mm on Sunday followed by a massive 74mm drenching overnight.
Naturally, our first priority this morning was getting out into the rows to see how the fruit handled the soak.
The biggest worry with this much rain right before harvest is splitting. When grapes take in too much water too fast, the skins can burst, which invites mold and mildew—every grower’s nightmare.
We are thrilled to report that there are no splits! The bunches are looking remarkably clean, and despite the humidity, we’re seeing no signs of mould. The vines are holding strong.
While the fruit is healthy, the "bad news" is that we haven’t seen much movement in ripening over the last 48 hours. With all that extra water in the vines, the sugar concentration (Baumé) naturally levels off or dips slightly as the berries hydrate.
Currently, we are sitting at 12 to 12.5 Baumé. It’s a solid position to be in after a storm, but we need a little more "cook time" from the sun to get those flavors exactly where we want them.
The forecast is finally playing in our favour. The rain has gone, making way for a 10-day stretch of warm, sunny days and no rain. This is exactly what the doctor ordered to dry out the soil and kickstart those sugar levels again.
Here is the current plan:
The sun is coming out, the vines are dry, and the best part of the season is almost here. We can’t wait to see you all in the rows very soon!