Veraison -- when our hard, green Pinot Noir grapes soften and darken in color -- is early at Gantz Family Vineyards, as it is in most of wine country. But, as the farmers say, it's right on time. Early veraison has area growers and winemakers anticipating an early harvest in about two months. This will be our first harvest, so noticing the darkening of our fruit on Sunday was an exciting event. It's amazing -- one day there's nothing and the next, there's purply fruit everywhere.
The vineyard is in good shape, albeit a bit overgrown. Since we have a young vineyard and don't want to over-stress the vines, we are keeping the grape crop small this year. Our vineyard manager, Ulises Valdez, has advised against spending the money to hedge the vines, although we've done a bit of "unauthorized" thinning. We started denying water to the mature vines in June to cut back on vegetative growth and we're seeing lignification of the canes, which means they're getting woody and brittle and the tendrils are shortening and drying out.
This is just as it should be. Less energy to the canes means more energy for the ripening fruit.
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Steps to Harvest
Check out the evolution of our first growing season in our Steps to Harvest package, where we are tracking every step of the season from establishing our cover crop to selling the fruit to award-winning winery Kosta Browne Winery.