Journal | July 14, 2020
Hardscrabble Journal
Hot and Dry
It has been exactly ten years (vintage 2010) since we’ve experienced such a dry mid-July. While anything could and probably will happen over the next several months, the vines are in position to produce some exceptional wines.
Vegetative growth is slowing due to water stress. While this may not sound like a good thing for most plants, it is for vines, and more importantly for quality wine.
The vines have already grown enough to fill out the trellis. We started hedging excess growth a week or two ago. Given that the vines have ample leaves to ripen the crop, any additional growth only makes more work for us.
But much more importantly, this is the perfect time for new growth to stop so that the vine can now start to put all its energy into ripening grapes rather than producing new, unneeded leaves. Veraison is the winegrowing term for the color change of the grapes and the beginning of ripening. This will start in a few weeks. The vines are in a very good condition to give us a very concentrated, fully ripe vintage.
So we go into the critical period in great shape, but the most important months of August and September will ultimately determine the style and quality of the vintage. For right now we could make an analogy of a sports team that is beginning their season with healthy players, a great coach and supportive fans. It’s still a long way to the championship game.
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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: July 14, 2020