Vintage 2024: June is the Month of Pruning

The month of June is the time for pruning the new growth in the vineyard. This year, we are all about air flow. It seems like the right time to do this task. In the past, we have made several passes in the vineyard beginning with disbudding, shoot thinning and cleaning the graft union. This year, we are attempting to do those three tasks in one pass. Here is an example in the Chardonnay where we have removed two shoots to give the remaining shoots ample airflow.

Shoot thinning is one cultural method of attempting to keep the powdery and downy mildews at bay. We have been aggressive this year about shoot thinning and our mantra has been "air flow, air flow". Our friend Laurie and her daughter Hannah came to help us on Saturday and it is a difficult thing to cut the shoots that have flowers, knowing that they are potential bunches of grapes. However, we are shooting for quality grapes and not quantity grapes. Here is the half of the above photo in context:

We are on the clock with pruning duties. Once flowering begins and fruitset follows, the fruit is at a very fragile state and any shaking of the shoots can cause the fruit to "shatter". Checking the annual cycle of growth chart that we keep, it appears that the typical flowering occurs around the third week in June. The flowers that we are seeing in the Chardonnay are still in the "compact" stage, Eichhorn-Lorenz Stage 15. That should give us a little time to make our way through the Chenin Blanc and the reds!