It's that time of the year when we begin to see our grapes soften and change color, indicating that they have begun the process of ripening or veraison. For the red varieties, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Barbera, veraison is a visual thing because they change color from green to red. We first noticed the change in color around August 24th and a week later, most of the grapes had turned color.
Veraison in our white varieties, Auxerrois, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay is one of using our sense of sight and touch. The dark green color of the grape will turn to a pale green and the hardness of the grape will give way to a softening to the touch. At that time, the sugar level measured by our hand held refractometer is around 12 degrees Brix.
It was time to update the Annual Cycle of Growth. Having missed bloom, I was not going to miss veraison.
When the grapes begin to accumulate sugar, it's a race against the birds.
We have yet to find a way to have our netting at a level where the grape tendrils don't wrap around the netting. Every year, we talk about putting the netting at the lowest slot on the line post, so that it is just a matter of raising the netting to the appropriate slot and deploying it, but once again, we are cutting tendrils and shoot tucking.
Fortunately for us, we have some dedicated friends, Mary and Barry (and for a few days, Mary's sister and brother-in-law), Curt from Old Saybrook and our granddaughter who eschewed going to the beach with her family to help us clothes pin the netting on Labor Day!
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