Leaf Pulling in the Auxerrois

We have a few years of experience growing Auxerrois and this year, we wanted to try something a little different when it came to leaf pulling. The Auxerrois is the first to ripen in any given year. The skin of the Auxerrois seems to be very prone to turning a golden yellow when exposed to the full sunlight. We feel that this golden yellow gets extracted and ends up coloring the wine, almost as if it was oxidized. So, this year, we decided to pull the leaves from the east side of the grape bunch.
This is an illustration of what leaves we pulled.

This is an example of the Auxerrois canopy when it has been leaf pulled. The east side of the grapes are exposed to the morning sun but the west side of the grapes are somewhat shaded by a leaf.

Since this is an experiment, we will only know if the grapes benefitted from this partial shading once we harvest. Stay tuned!