The weather here has been pretty unusual of late...stormy and humid in the mornings, then clearing up to bright sunshine later on. This is not great for disease pressure as mildew thrives on moisture followed by sunshine, but so far our vineyards have not suffered too badly and our spray programs should keep that at bay.
All the work we did attaching and cutting back the vines means that have spent the last couple of weeks surging forth, throwing out tendrils and sucker roots in an effort to survive. This means some work passing through the vines to remove the 'entrecoeurs' (shoots which grow between the leaf and principal shoot, and do nothing except sap energy from the poor vine, which is desperate to keep growing and propagating).
So we pass through the vines in teams, removing these shoots and any dried leaves from the centre of each vine. The idea is to provide a good level of sapce and light in the vines, and the right balance of canopy/vigour/fruit. The grapes need some direct sunlight (not for photosynthesis - that happens in the leaves - but for development of certain volatile and phenolic compounds which tests have shown are enhanced by direct sunlight), however too much and they will simply burn in the strong sun down here. Also, we need to provide space in the canopy for air to circulate, minimising disease risk. But if we remove to much greenery we are upsetting the source/sink balance of the vine and it doesn't have enough 'fuel producing' leaves to power subsequent growth.
So it is all a balancing act. Each vine is different and occupies a couple of minutes of our time which means - you guessed it - it is a long process for several thousand vines. However, look at the nice neat vines above and you can see it is all worthwhile. Don't they just look like they're going to produce some wonderful Syrah grapes?
