Spring in Cabernet Block 7
Pruning
The seemingly basic task of pruning is actually one of the most important – determining the yield, spacing, even the quality of the next vintage. Since November, our crew has been hard at work cutting back last year’s canes.
These are a few shots of our last Cabernet block (Clone 4) to get the shear treatment.
The vines in their dormant stage. Once the leaves fall, pruning can get underway.
We prune in stages, first removing the top half of the canes, which sometimes involves wresting the canes off of the trellis wire.
Brian making the final cut.
Water Concerns
New Year Vineyard Update: Our crew has been pruning since November and has finished about 85% of our 75 acres of winegrapes. This is definitely earlier than normal due to the lack of rain days that normally stop work in the vineyard. But for those who haven’t heard…we are definitely watching our weather forecasts closely….looking for rain…with 2013 now named the “driest calendar year on record”.
Check out the Sonoma County Water Agency webpage for more information!