Wednesday 27 July 2011

The grapes are starting to colour up

The collection point of all the drains in the various plots of my vineyard has been dry for some weeks now, since the beginning of July during my summer break. I didn’t note down the date at which it dried up in 2009, but it was in mid-August! The vines’ growth cycle is also well ahead of itself, so the fact that my pipe has dried up and the grapes have begun to change colour is logical, because at this time of year the vines need to stop growing and switch to ripening their fruit.
For that to happen, the vines need to undergo hydric stress.
What’s special about this vintage is that has already dramatically lacked water and undergone very high temperatures at the end of June, when the grapes started showing signs of being burnt. At the mid-way point in the grapes’ colour change, we are already extremely tight in terms of water.
Fortunately over the last few days, the Bordeaux area has been subject to irregular, serial rainy spells in which very varied quantities of water have fallen from place to place. For example my work colleague, who lives near La Réole on the banks of the Garonne River and whose family owns a vineyard, recorded practically 30 mm (1.2 inches) of rainfall over the last 24 hours, while at Laroze in the middle of Saint-Emilion I only saw 1 mm! I ate my heart out! The rain hasn’t finished yet: we’ve had 20 mm (3/4 inch) since the beginning of July. The temperatures are cooler, the vines can breathe again and the humid air and windy weather is good for the colour change, when the grapes turn from green to red, then dark blue. 20% of the Merlot grapes have already changed colour.
Of course, the vines absorb water through their leaves and even if the ground still remains dry deep down, the humidity in the air and the showers are enough to supply them with what they need for now.
Again, none of all this tells us anything about the quality of the vintage. I personally hope we get a lousy, rainy July, which isn’t too hot, with fine weather at the end of the summer for ripening and the harvest, but I’m not sure the weather forecaster cares about what I wish …