Wine Diary
From flower to Fruit
Flowering around Langenlois is completed. Given the humid, unstable weather conditions, one might have expected coulure in many vineyards. This would have meant that many flowers of a cluster would have withered and dropped to the ground unfertilized. However, gentle winds and many helpers like bees and other little insects took care of ensuring good fertilization, so good, that we will soon have to set out for “bunch dividing”. The grapes of the earlier varietals and sites have already reached an impressive size. In order to optimize quality, we will have to once more reduce quantity, cutting off the tips (i.e. about one third) of the young grapes. Timing is crucial: if this happens too early, the plant might compensate the loss with bigger berries. Too late and eventually emerging juice might lead to trouble.
Spring-Honey Harvest!
Speaking of Bees: Last week Max and Christoph harvested our first honey of 2020. Quality turned out to be wonderful! This spring harvest consists mainly of blossom honey from our wild flower seedings, from cherry trees and also already from acacias.
More Green Work
Warm and humid weather is pushing forward vegetative growth! Besides plant protection, lots of green work is on the agenda: For example, as soon as the shoots have reached a certain length surpassing the highest wire frames they start hanging down, and our grapes will be deprived of sunlight. At the same time the plant is potentially wasting too much energy for vegetative growth. Therefore, the grower tends to shorten these shoots, or, if he/she does not want to waste already invested energy, will entwine these vine tips around the upper wires, preventing them from hanging down.