Done and dusted.

Whoo hoo! I finished pruning the Cabernet sauvignon vines.
I finished the actual pruning last Sunday, but only finished tying down the canes, with Vinomaker's help, today. It's a relief I can tell you. I was panicking a bit because time was dragging on. It is very difficult to tie down the canes when the buds are pushing as you tend to knock them off if you are not ultra careful. No buds, no fruit. Thankfully our clone 4 is a slow starter.
A bonus...all my fingers are intact.

The party's over?

No, it's only just begun, but it is time to put the picking knives away until harvest 2009. We brought our own Cabernet sauvignon in last Sunday. Vinomaker was ready this morning for the last batch of a friend's Cab, but it didn't materialise...Mother Nature had other ideas. Timing, in life, is everything. Whilst Vinomaker and I were enjoying 90 plus degree temps last May, the grapevine flowers were not. Things got hot, the flowers did not pollinate properly, a percentage of berries did not form thus resulting in poor fruit set and consequently a reduced crop. It's a condition called shatter. Hence not enough Cab to go around, (same problem with the Cabernet franc two weeks ago). We will have to be content with the Cab, Syrah, Pinot grigio, Semillion, Orange muscat and Viognier we already have...hic!