Well we have an old fashion weatwave upon us at present and apart from us humans walking around with our tongues hanging out the vines are still expected to continue their job of ripening the fruit.  We are at day three with temperatures hovering around 38 - 40C consistently and another day or two to go.  After this heat there is expected the after effects of a tropical cyclone to the north to deal with later in the week and the question whether we harvest before the rain of hold our nerve and wait.

Todays sampling showed a very good increase in sugar levels as well as the flavour profile staring to kick in.  The Viognier has increased dramatically in sugar levels with readings of betwen 13 and 14 Baume.  The fruit is showing good colouring with some shrivel and with that comes the typical honeysuckle and white stone fruit flavours of the variety.

The Merlot did not increase as dramatically with todays reading being around 13 Baume.  The flavours are just starting to show - the question being do we pick or not?  I must say the reduced crop levels due to constant dropping of inferior fruit appears to have paid dividends at the moment.  The fruit looks great and appears to be holding up well.  In fact the vines are showing no signs of any stress which is good.

The aim is to confirm todays reading on Thursday, closely following the weather and then make a decision about harvest.  Will keep you posted.

Vineman 

Technorati Tags: cyclone, Baume, Viognier, Merlot,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Gherardi Vineyard, viticulture, Season Predictions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.