Bloom in the Vineyard!
We noticed the beginning of bloom yesterday, June 5th, in our North Concert and Big Tree blocks. This is one of the earliest blooms we've had in recent memory. We've had unseasonably warm weather lately, which has made the vines shoot to life. However this week we're experiencing a bit of rain. Rain during bloom is not a good thing. This reminds me of 2005 when it rained during bloom, causing an uneven set and therefore a smaller crop than we wanted. We'll have to wait and see how much rain mother nature gives us these next few days. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will be gentle and the sun will come out in between short rain showers.
The general rule of thumb is that harvest will be 100 days after bloom. This means we'll likely be starting to harvest around September 13, also a lot earlier than we'd like.
Here's a picture of Scott, our brand ambassador, and me in our Big Tree block when we first discovered bloom.
Cheers!