Happy July 14th!
We were up bright and early today as temperatures are due to rise quite dramatically this afternoon and we’ll be joining the rest of France with a petite sieste until it cools down later on.
What better than a quick stroll through the vineyards to have a look at those Chenin grapes.
Things are looking good at the moment. There seems to be a lot of fruit on the vines and little noticable disease. Luckily, we’ve not had hail here (unlike poor Burgundy a couple of days ago) and in one or two areas we can see signs of movement towards the stage that we call ‘veraison’ when the grapes start to accumulate sugars in the run up to harvest.
Growers are now posting messages and trying to get their picking teams together before they go on holiday and we saw some evidence of leaf stripping as we walked around. Removing leaves around the bunches of grapes aerates them and also exposes them to the sun. This limits disease but does also make them a little vulnerable if we have very hot weather in the next few weeks.
It looks like harvest will be mid-September.
Very soon, the vineyards will be quiet. Nothing more to do until the grapes come in. No treating or spraying. Just time and patience.
