Winemaker's Journal
June
The season's first berries appear on the vines. June is the time when the growing season transforms from promise to realization, or more precisely, from flowers to berries. As spring warms to summer, the tender shoots of April and May lengthen and turn woody. Bloom in Cabernet Sauvignon usually occurs in late May or early June, and the weather during this crucial time determines quality as well as quantity of grapes. Moderate temperatures, lack of rain, and mild winds induce a fast, even bloom, which leads to a homogeneous and often high-quality crop. By mid-June, the berries have set and begun to grow in size, and we have a firm idea of yields.
We received an unheard of 2 to 6 inches of rain in mid-May of 2009 that will be remembered for saving the vintage. We were below average for winter rainfall, but this series of storms gave us the added soil moisture we needed for the growing season. Fortunately, nothing was blooming, so there was little or no negative impact from the precipitation and relative coolness. As June begins, the vineyards look great!
We will complete bottling in the cellars early in the third week of the month and June will be a quiet time of topping barrels and maintenance in the cellars. An accurate summary of June would be - quiet in the cellars, busy in the vineyards.
