Not quite

We were planning to harvest today. There are birds stealing grapes daily. We had to wait until the afternoon as we had heavy rain in the morning and other responsibilities.

But Alex did something to his back and he's in agony. So I went up to start picking on my own, but I realised they are not ready yet. Perhaps tomorrow, if the birds don't pre-empt us. 

Alex hung old CDs in the vineyard to keep the birds away. I brought in one of my herons to stand guard. The bags we tied on last year worked well but were such a pain to put on and take off.  We'll take our chances for one more day. 

There are many red Rondo to pick and far fewer white Solaris. But the Solaris are very tasty. Next year, we should have more. 

Here are a few inventive ways of protecting grapes from birds. 

Almost there

 

Veraison is progressing very quickly now. We may be harvesting in the next few days. The kite is flying nicely and seems to be doing its job. Let's hope that between the cats, the donkeys and the kite, the birds will be kept away. 

Knowing when to pick grapes

Here we are in late August and the red grapes have started turning red. I've been tasting one every few days to get the hang of it, but they are still quite sour. Grapes generally ripen between late August and late October, depending on the variety. As they will not ripen any further once they have been picked from the vine, they need to be picked only when they are ripe. This can be tricky. In cooler climates it can take longer to get to the required sweetness. We are keeping an eye on bird activity in the vineyard as the birds are always first in line for sweet fruit. We expect to receive an alert from Mother Nature that the grapes are ripe.

Our first harvest

A few more red grapes.

This is for the white crop.

Well, we aren't going to be making wine just yet, nor is there enough for a jar of jam. But tasting these delicious tiny morsels that explode with flavour has been fun. We decided to pick today because we are expecting Hurricane Ophelia to hit on Monday. It might even cause a stock market crash according to an article in Forbes. Another article in Forbes today describes how rare it is for hurricanes to come up our way. We figured it was time to get ready, especially since another system would be affecting us in the days leading up to Ophelia.

The harvest

Our first grapes.

White grape vines more robust

Red grape vines produced fruit

I harvested my first grape yesterday. It was pea sized. It was delicious. Sweet and juicy. Gorgeous deep colour. Thick protective skin. It was such a treat. We had not expected a 'harvest' in the first year.

Well, okay, it's not really a harvest. It's more of a tasting. Only the red grape vines produced fruit. The white vines grew more robustly than the red vines, but the red vines were the only ones that fruited.

At least we know it can happen  -- that grapes may form and ripen in our climate.


Interestingly, we had the coldest summer on record but October has been magnificent. The Azores high has blanketed Ireland and it forced Hurricane Joaquin to go south.  Yippee!  Gorgeous sunshine, gentle breeze, mild days, and cold nights. We actually have a real autumn with trees changing colours rather than just turning brown and blowing off. Perhaps climate change won't be so bad for Ireland after all.

The vineyard in October.