Scratch what we said a week ago about seasonable weather…it’s been a little hotter than seasonable and will continue to be so in the near future.  This is shaping up as the warmest summer since 2002 at Shaker Ridge.   A combination of the continued hot weather, light crop load, and a natural tendency to ripen early has apparently led to the beginnings of veraison in the primitivo vineyard.  This is at least a week earlier than last year, despite a much later budburst than last year, and has led us to move up our predicted harvest window for primitivo by 1-2 weeks.  Although there is no sign of veraison yet in the barbera vineyard, we expect it to follow suit, and we have accordingly moved up our expected harvest window for that varietal by a similar amount of time.

After a blazing hot period in late June, we have settled in to a typical Foothills summer pattern with very warm days and cool nights.  Training of the lateral cordons in our new port vineyard is completed and shoot growth is good, suggesting that we will be able to get our first taste of the Portugese varietals selected next season.  In the main vineyard, the vines remain healthy but experienced some water stress during the hottest period.  The berries continue to enlarge and secondary fruit has formed.  We are beginning the process of dropping fruit ahead of veraison to hit yield targets.

Fruit set is complete across the main vineyard, and the berries are rapidly increasing in size. Plants are in excellent condition at this time. The weather has been dry and unusually moderate in temperature, but high heat is expected by week’s end. Training of lateral cordons in new port vineyard is in progress.