The Seasons of the Vineyard

Winter

 Dormancy in the Vineyard

 Dormancy in the vineyard is time for the vines to rest. Dormancy protects the vines from the winter cold and frost. It is this period that the vines are pruned. Pruning determines the crop level or amount of fruit the vineyard will produce the following year. Here at Hamilton Oaks Vineyard we try to balance the vine with the amount of fruit each one will produce during this period. This will be done by pruning.

Note how the vines appear during the dormancy period before they are pruned and after pruning. Our vines are pruned to produce between 2-3 tons/acre. By reducing the yield, we are able to produce a grape with intense varietal characteristics.

 

So dormancy lasts from November thru March. They have lost all their leaves and become barren and woody. We normally prune our vines in January, before they start to bud.

 

Spring

Bud Break in the Vineyard

 

Budbreak is the period when the dormant grapevine comes forth with new growth. This is when green tissue becomes visable and a fuzzy protusion appears. In a week or two depending on the weather, green tissue will appear and this eventually becomes a shoot. Notice how the buds are forming elongated shoots. These will grow to the top wire and will hold the fruit that will be appearing in the next month.

 

 

 

Here in Hamilton Oaks Vineyard we have never used any pesticides or herbicides. We bring in lady bugs to roam the vineyard and keep it clean of unwanted insects. The gopher snakes and the Redtail hawks keep the vineyard free of gophers.

 

 

 

 

 

As the sun goes down the night crew (Barn owls) take their place in the maintenance of moles, gophers and mice. We have some nice oak trees here that harbor these wonderful birds, which have become an everyday occurrence at the winery.

 

 

Summer

Now the vines have come to full bloom/ this is when the grapes have flowered and they drop a little pollen on the sticky tip of the tiny grape beneath. If this succeeds, the grape will eventually shed the flowers and begin to grow quickly to about the size of a small pea. From this point on the grapes grow quickly and begin to accumulate sugar and respire acid, which reduces the high level of acidity that the grapes contain after set. Then the grapes soften , or go through veraison, more that a month after set. (This is when they change Leaf removal is done to allow more sun to get to the clusters and improve the air flow around the fruit. Shoot positioning allows the vine to remain balanced and helps position the fruit to get the proper amount of sun and airflow.color)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall: Harvest

Now the grapes are ripe and ready to pick.

Once the winemaker decides it is time to harvest all the work that was done the nine months in the vineyard will be well rewarded. So now it is time for the grapes to become wine.