Hurricanes

Hurricane Dorian devastated the Abacos and Grand Bahama when he stalled there for almost 2 days as a category 5 storm just over a week ago, then skirted the coast of the states before making landfall again in Nova Scotia as a category 2. Now he's made it across the Atlantic. Thankfully, he's no longer a hurricane but he's still packing a lot of water.

We're expecting two extratropical storms, Dorian and Gabrielle, this week, and the effects have already begun. Light rain and wind expected this afternoon with heavy rain overnight and again on Thursday. What will this do to grapes that are ripening about a week before harvest?

I hope the donkeys don't get swept away.

Veraison: grapes turning red!

The Rondo grapes are turning red

One of the most important moments in a grapevine’s annual lifecycle is the onset of ripening of its fruit. In viticulture, the grapes actually visually signal that onset of ripening in a transition called veraison (“verr-ray-zun”). It's when red varietal grapes turn from green to red and begin to sweeten naturally. The term was originally French but has been adopted into English use. The official definition of veraison is a change of colour of grape berries. Veraison also occurs in white grapes but without changing colour – white grapes simply become more translucent.

Veraison typically begins at the end of July in the northern hemisphere. It didn't begin here until the end of August. But we didn't have such great weather this summer. 

During veraison, chemical changes take place inside the grapes. The green chlorophyll is replaced by carotenoids in white grapes turning them more golden or purplish anthocyanins in red grapes. They become filled with glucose, fructose and aromatics. 

The acidity decreases while sweetness increases until they reach the perfect balance for harvesting. The veraison period also signals to viticulturists when to trim their vines, prepare for pests and birds, and keep an eye on the clusters, as some can change colour unevenly, like ours are doing now.

As it appears that year 5 is not the bumper year we were hoping for, we will watch and learn and set our sights on year 6, when the experts say the really good things begin to happen. Only the Rondo vines produced grapes this year. There are few if any grapes set on the white Solaris grapevines. A bit disappointing after the nice performance last year. 

They are ripening unevenly

The vineyard is looking vinyardy.

3-yo Chardonnay vines are looking good

1-yo Pinot noir

1-yo Albarino all alive and well

Two weeks and what a difference

Rondo grapes

In the last two weeks*, we've had an unusual pattern of weather when a low centred itself over Ireland, specifically over Dingle, and vacillated back and forth over the island creating heavy rains and strong winds North and South, and a changeable pattern over us. We went from rain showers to sunshine several times a day, and the grapes responded. They've started to swell and the vines have started to grow.

Tomorrow I will stake myself in the vineyard with my secateurs and start trimming away the leaves obscuring the bunches and the stray shoots whilst securing the main shoots to the overhead trellises. We do love the trellises, walking under them and gazing up into the sunlit leaves and grapes. For some reason, the red vines are more productive than the white vines. But there is still time and hope.

The arbour

More Rondo

Solaris grapes

*This was supposed to be published two weeks ago but I forgot to press Publish after saving.

No joy

We were away for several weeks during a period when we hoped there would be little vineyard work required. When we came home, we thought we'd see major progress. But disappointment came quickly. Not only did the vines not grow as much as everything else, especially the very robust weeds, but the grapes were also underdeveloped for the time of the season. The grapes we had seen in Spain more than a month ago were far more robust than ours were now. The flowers had set and there were grape buds, but I certainly wouldn't call them grapes.

The weather while we were gone was a healthy mix of rain and sun, so we were quite hopeful. The data from Met Eireann shows the same pattern as last year for July.  But it doesn't look like we'll get anything like a substantial harvest by mid-September. Perhaps there was not enough rain. Perhaps not enough heat. Perhaps the vines will produce for future generations. Who knows?

https://www.met.ie/climate/available-data/monthly-data

Wine tasting in Galicia

Carolina and Maria arranged for us to taste some wines that Paco & Lola produces that we might not have experienced yet. We started with the Follas Novas which predates the Paco & Lola brand. It's the wine that the growers are fond of and true to. It had an interesting zing to it. The Paco & Lola is smoother, less acidic. But it has a really interesting hint of nuttiness on my palate.

Visiting Vineyards in Galicia

Diego, Carolina, Maria, and Alex 

We had a fabulous day visiting vineyards that belong to the cooperative of Paco & Lola. Diego is the man in charge of Viticultura for the coop. He visits all the vineyards, manages the disease and pest control, decides when to harvest, and maintains relationships with all the growers. What a delightful and knowledgeable man. He loved that someone was interested in the vines and not just the wines.

Paco & Lola - a truly inspiring coop

We took the opportunity while sailing in Galicia to visit the Paco & Lola vineyards and winery which is only about 6 km from Sanxenxo which has a big marina. We tied Aleria up the night before, had a lovely meal in town with a delicious house Albariño wine, mussels, langoustines and oyster mushrooms fried in a light batter. We had an entertaining young waiter trying out his English to boot. Overall fun.