It’s that time again. Every year, about four to six weeks after bud break, the vineyards begin flowering! Between Hallberg Ranch and Pinot Hill, we’re at about 75% bloom. This is a critical time, as the flowers are delicate and bad weather can have a very adverse effect on their development. Each individual flower cluster, or inflorescence, contains hundreds of flowers; on average, only about half of them will set fruit and develop into berries. As bloom continues, our team moves through the vineyards raising the trellis wires. This pushes the canopy up to help the vines reach for the sky and get as much sunlight as possible.
We had a little heat spell recently, which pushed the vines to grow as fast as they can! Our team is working hard to keep up. At Pinot Hill we have also started leafing the shaded, east side of the vines. This thinning of the canopy improves airflow around the soon-to-develop grapes, which is important with the fog we often get here.
In a few short weeks, after fruit set, we will get the first glimpse of what our crop yields for this year. For now we’re keeping up with the vine growth and hoping the weather cooperates for the rest of bloom. In the meantime, all we know is that our excitement for the 2022 vintage is growing just as vigorously as the vines!
