Veraison

Veraison in the vineyard is where the grapes turn colour and for us this happens in late January to early February. Its like a beacon for the birds. As soon as the grapes turn the birds come out to feed. This means netting.

 

I took this photo of the Muscat the other day when we were netting. It's a good example of "sunlight into wine" a phrase coined around all vineyards as the qunitessential ingredient for healthy and flavoursome grapes. 

 

The first process of netting is to bring the nets out of the shed and remember where they went on and in what order. Smart people usally number them with a plan. I wasn't so smart last year and paid the price this year. Nets are quite expensive and usually last around ten years. Around this area they are put out in one of two ways, the most common way is to lay them over 2, 3 or 4 rows and let them drape to the ground either side. We have found that the outside rows are susecptable to birds hanging from the nets and eating the grapes so we decided to adopt the other way which is less used mainly because of it high labour contact and that is to join them all together over the entire vineyard block. This has the effect of having only two sides where the birds can attack. 

 

The nets are firstly laid over the top by the tractor. Each row of net lays across 3 rows of grapes, they are then joined to the next row with small cable ties to produce a blanket of net over the entire block. The end result is quite bridal and its the time that I enjoy the most.

 

All the work has been done from the pruning the year before, to the training, all the spraying throughout the year, lifting the wires and finally the nets. For the next three months there isn't that much to do. You can't spray or mow becasue of the nets but you can wander and taste the grapes as they ripen. I was surprised in the early days of the vineyard that you really can taste the end flavours of the finished wine in the emrging grapes. Subtle flavours begin to emerge such as the peppery spices in the shiraz and the intesity of the blossoms and musks of the muscats. The muscat is my favourite to be tasting at this time of year - quite addictive.