Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2007 Flowers aka Bloom

Hello,

I spotted our first Pinot Noir flowers as of June 5th. This is 3 days ahead of the 2006 growing season and about 10 days before the historical average of June 15th. Based on this information, I predict an above average harvest will occur here between September 15 and October 20.

This year, I used water shoots (aka suckers) to manage vigor during bloom. My intention was to achieve a reasonable set in all blocks. I began removing water shoots about 2 weeks ago in the least vigorous blocks and am finishing with the most vigorous blocks (10, 18 19 and 20) this week. I will report back set information in a couple weeks, after leaf pull.

The law of unintended consequences was also at work. By allowing water shoots to grow at the base of the vines, we had (in theory) less growth to manage in the canopy. I am not convinced shoot positioning was any easier or faster this year, but I believe there was less growth to position by allowing water shoots to divert excess vigor outside of the canopy. This may be an alternative to “kicker canes”, which I have found to be very difficult to manage in a VSP trellis.

Ernie