“Blackbird singing in the dead of night…”

Quiscalus quiscula – the common grackle. Also known to anyone who owns a vineyard as “the enemy”.

We netted the vineyard two weeks ago. As we have irregular row lengths, we use the 600 x 100 foot nets, and cover six rows at a time.

You can see how it’s done in the photo above. We put a macrobin on the back on the tractor (forks), put a net bag in the macrobin, and then feed the net up and over a custom-built guide and out over the rows. Workers pull the net out to the sides and anchor it on hooks at the bottom of the trellis posts.

We had good weather this year – mostly sunny and in the low 80s.

The hundreds of grackles that live in the cottonwoods on our farm will now have to forage elsewhere for ripe, juicy treats.

Better late than never…

Finally – veraison.

Took this shot yesterday of the cab up close to the barn. Veraison looks to be about 9-10 days later this year than last year.

For you cube dwellers, Wikipedia defines veraison as “change of color of the grape berries.” It typically signals the change from “berry growth to berry ripening.” In layman’s terms, it’s when the grapes start looking, well, like grapes.

We took some quick brix readings this weekend, just for practice. Most of the vineyard was between 17 and 20, so we still have plenty of time before harvest.

We now need a warm, sunny September, or we’re going to run out of Fall before the vineyard can fully ripen. The sugar/acid dance begins.

It just gives us something else to worry about. Next up – getting the vineyard netted. The birds are eyeing our grapes as we speak….