June already

June already. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind - most significantly - we had a lot of rain at an inopportune time. Fortunately the cool spring delayed physiological development so that we had very little bloom when the rain hit.

Now, with the threat of rain over and warm days ahead (105 the other day), flower development is proceeding rapidly, which is what we want. We’re watching the vineyard like a hawk, walking every single row twice a week to check on conditions and during these walks my mind tries to digest the 2011 crop that I can see as well as some things I cannot: one thing that is in the back of mind as I walk the rows is that the future 2012 clusters are forming microscopically inside the buds over recent of weeks.

It is true – the tiny initial ‘starts’ of clusters for next year are quietly forming and the cool rainy weather has an impact on how those develop and I’m betting that we’ll see a lighter crop load next year because of it. That in turn triggers some actions for the coming year… we may have higher than normal vigor with less crop for the vines to ripen, so we will want to plan now for that extra vigor – less compost after this year’s harvest, a more competitive cover crop, leave more buds at pruning to soak up some of that extra vigor. Lots of moving parts to consider and planning that may give me a headache now but help craft better wines later.