This is not a bowl of peas, it is some of the first crop of Pinot gris grapes from Vinoland's most recent expansion. Lovely looking berries - nice fruit set, good yield, no powdery mildew - all torn from the caring embrace of their mother vine's canopy and tossed onto the harsh, dry vineyard floor. (I can get a bit dramatic sometimes, forgive me.) It does seem a shame to discard such healthy young grapes, but it a necessary step in the development of new vines where the focus needs to be on encouraging leaf and root growth. Actually, I should have performed this vineyard operation a lot earlier, when the clusters were flowers not fledgling grapes, but as usual I'm a bit behind with stuff. Better late than never!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Infanticide.
This is not a bowl of peas, it is some of the first crop of Pinot gris grapes from Vinoland's most recent expansion. Lovely looking berries - nice fruit set, good yield, no powdery mildew - all torn from the caring embrace of their mother vine's canopy and tossed onto the harsh, dry vineyard floor. (I can get a bit dramatic sometimes, forgive me.) It does seem a shame to discard such healthy young grapes, but it a necessary step in the development of new vines where the focus needs to be on encouraging leaf and root growth. Actually, I should have performed this vineyard operation a lot earlier, when the clusters were flowers not fledgling grapes, but as usual I'm a bit behind with stuff. Better late than never!
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4 comments:
Oh the tragedy, poor little grapes.
Wow they're so weeny! I was just going to pontificate how I love fresh peas....
So do you green harvest all the grapes on new vines?
Thud: C'mon now, it's very Shakespearean in it's own little way.
ALW: They are about 1/3 the size of what they would've become...had they not been cut off in their prime!
Ron: Yes, defo first two years. I may keep a small, selective crop off the more vigorous vines next year.
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