Flowering is an important stage in the vineyard year. Vines further east have flowered and the fruit has set whereas here in Anjou, our vines are in full flower. Rather like pregnancy, we say there are 100 days from flowering to harvest and give or take a few days this is normally quite an accurate prediction of when we’ll be picking grapes. Of course the weather over the coming couple of months will have an impact.
Right now growers are growing a little weary of all the recent rain. This is not a good thing during flowering as the little caps ‘calyptra’ get wet and they then have to dry out before floating off in the wind allowing the stamen to self pollinate. Birds, bees, butterflies and insects are useful but not essential to pollination. Grape flowers do not have petals as we know them but form a green structure called the calyptra. These calyptra or caps as they are often called, contain the reproductive organs of the flower. When the cap dries out it is blown off by the wind at which point the stamens are released and self pollinate on the ovary. Most commercial vines contain both male and female reproductive organs, hence the self pollination.
If the weather is wet, fruit set (the number of berries on the bunch and or the number of seeds inside the berry) can be compromised. We had perfect conditions for flowing in 2016 and 2017, sunny breezy days. This year conditions have not been quite so favourable.
