Vintage 2022: August Update

It's already the 5th of August and this is my first blogpost for the month! Our attention during the first few days of this month was to shoot tuck our Chenin Blanc so that the last of the shoots that are in the alleys and beginning to entwine around each other have been lifted into the canopy or removed.

Once we did that, we moved on to the Chardonnay, raising the netting to the proper slot on the linepost so that it can be unfurled hopefully before véraison attracts the birds and the yellow jackets intent on getting their sugar fix. We were able to raise 8 rows of netting in 2 hours. After getting that done, we remarked that we really need to do this for the entire vineyard.
We are currently working in the Cabernet Sauvignon (our neglected children), shoot tucking, leaf pulling and making sure that the netting is free of tendrils.

In the above photo, you can see all of the shoots that have grown outside of the netting. This netting needs to be freed of those shoots and tucket into the trellis wires. The Cabernet Sauvignon is very interesting because it likes to flower late in the season and have some tiny bunches of fruit. We are seeing this on many of the secondary shoots (summer laterals) that the Cabernet Sauvignon is sending out now.

Yesterday, we were able to free up half a row of Cabernet Sauvignon so that it looks like this:

Today we hope to continue on the Cabernet Sauvignon freeing up more of the netting and leaf pulling on the east side so that the grapes can get the cooler morning sun.

August has brought another round of heat wave and yesterday, in some areas of Connecticut the feel like temperatures soared above 100 degrees. You can be sure that yesterday was what we call a "one shifter" since we did not go back to the vineyard for our afternoon shift. Today will be another one shifter!