The 2018 harvest sits on the horizon, maybe only a month away. Our winery and vineyard teams are readying themselves for what is the most important event of the year both inside the winery and out in the vineyard.
Earlier this month our Vineyard Manager, Garrick Guy, shared this photo that shows veraison happening in our Pinot Noir vineyard blocks. Veraison is a French term that means the grapes are changing color, and this indicates the onset of ripening.
As the grapes ripen, the risk of animals eating them (and thus destroying the crop) increases drastically. In some countries, such as South Africa, it’s the baboons you have to watch out for. In Tuscany, it’s the wild boar. But all across the world, birds are unanimously a threat to vineyard crops.
We mitigate damage made by birds a couple of different ways. In addition to having dedicated team members tirelessly ride quad bikes up and down the rows of vines, honking their horns to scare off birds, we also employ the use of technology. Last year we invested in a powerful vineyard netting machine, which can cover four rows of vines at a time. This proved to not only be a huge time saver, but also great insurance in preserving our crop from the threat of birds.
Turns out that the net doesn’t keep ALL the critters out, as indicated by the photo below.
It seems hardly feasible that this image was caught to begin with. Here's a statement from our Vineyard Manager about this frolicking furry fellow: "One of the guys managed to take this photo of a sneaky critter hiding under the nets keeping guard.”
In closing, here’s a photo of our Pinot Noir posted by Erin, our Business Development and Operations Manager, with this caption: "Not long now......?”
