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I've taken the first Baume' reading for the season. Veraison is pretty mucjh complete so each week I will test the grapes to determine their ripeness.  Picking will start once the grapes reach 13 Baume. This should translate into wine with a little more than 13% alcohol.  While it is a little early to predict a picking date, the grapes are at a similar starting Baume'  to seasons 2009 and 2010 where we started picking in early March.
Click here to view a table showing the progressive ripening of the grapes, expected yield and picking date.  The readings are those of the most advanced block of grapes, other blocks will ripen at different rates, so fruit should be available over 3 to 4 weeks.

What a difference a week makes. Warm weather, a persistent drying wind and suddenly the grapes are changing colour. Veraison is under way! Sometimes only a few grapes in the bunch, sometimes half the bunch and occasionally a whole bunch has reddened up.

It's the start of another phase in the season.

I am proud to announce that we have furthered our reach into the world wide web! We are spreading our democracy of wine through cyberspace!

'Follow us': @shirazrepublic

'Like us': www.facebook.com/TheShirazRepublic

Looking forward to socialising with you soon,

Cheers,

The Crown Prince

The old proverb says that the best fertilizer is the owners shadow. Early mornings in the vineyard mean that shadow is longest and the vineyard fresh and revealing its secrets to the astute eye.  The berries are swelling, starting to fill out; soon they will be touching each other. The canes are starting to lignify; the soft, green sappy canes turn hard, brown and woody.  As I walk  the rows lifting the last of the high training wires I see and respond to the minutia of the vineyard; a vine that needs attention; drop some fruit, tie up a cane, cut a wayward cane, cut a weed that is competing with a vine, trim a side-shoot that was missed, add some body nitrogen to a struggling vine.  These and a hundred other little improvements: the one-percenters of continuous improvement (and modern football).

 If you believe that good wine starts in the vineyard (as I do) then I'm making wine as much as I am fussing about the vines. Someone once said to me that you can spend all day doing such things in a vineyard and the next day you'd come back and find more to do. It's true, but it is the seemingly insignificant one-percenters that make a difference in the long run.

Some decent warm weather is with us at last and heating up further in through the new year. 40 degrees forecast for 3rd Jan.  We dodged the last three rain events, just 6mm, 4mm and nothing this last weekend.

Flowering has finished and the berries are set and starting to swell.

After the disaster of 2010 it is a relief. We have a crop, to defend. Today is forecast for thunderstorms and as I write I can hear thunder off to the west. We've missed the rain so far, and hopefully we don't get much from this lot.

If you are thinking of ordering grapes for the 2012 vintage, now is the time to do it. The season is looking good, with the long range forecast showing no rain for the next 28 days (after today that is).

The vines are growing rapidly with the warm and wet weather through November (see earlier blog). The growing canes start to encroach on access to the rows for spraying and maintenance, but I've been reluctant to lift the training wires to tidy up the canes while the weather has been so wet and warm. Leaving them hang looks untidy and some do get damaged by strong winds, but they also dry out more quickly and this reduces the disease pressure.

But there comes a time when you can no longer drive the tractor down the rows without causing damage, so we've been lifting the wires. Lifting the training wires not only tidies up, but ensures that the sun gets better access to the forming bunches of grapes. This vertical shoot positioning (VPS) improves the quality of the fruit. Leaving it late makes for hard work. It is amazing how heavy vines can be.

These before and after photos show the difference it makes.

Before lifting the training wires

After lifting the training wires

The season is racing ahead. Rainfall has been above average. Daytime temperatures have been above average, as have the overnight minimums. (See table below) Flowering is complete and the berries seem to have set well. We are keeping a very watchful eye out for Powdery Mildew and for Downy Mildew. The last big danger day was 8th November when rainfall and temperatures were right for an outbreak.

I've given in (further) to the modern way and set up a blog I can do on the run (from my mobile phone) on Tumblr.
Giving in is the operative word, because it's dead easy.
You can follow me at shirazrepublic.tumblr.com