Green Harvest in Adopt a Grape’s Vineyard
Coming from a farming background where you are trying to grow as much wheat/barley/alfalfa as you can, I can’t say I enjoy our “Green Harvest”. It looks terrible to see all these small green bunches of grapes laying on the ground. Cut down before even reaching the purple prime of their little lives. There is quite a bit of debate as to whether the vine is trying to sweeten what fruit remains to help ensure birds will eat them and excrete the seeds to propagate the grapevines or if it is simply an equation of more leaves photosynthesizing and creating sugar that goes into fewer grapes.
At any rate, we drop a lot of fruit on the ground to improve the quality of what remains. By dropping fruit and limiting water, we greatly reduce the tons per acre the vineyard will yield. This drives fruit costs way up, but it is the commitment that is required to create great wine.
At this time of year, I always think about the audacity and bravery of the first winemakers in Napa that made this commitment. Andre Tchelistcheff of Beaulieu Vineyards, John Daniels of Inglenook, and Robert Mondavi are giants in American winemaking. They made expensive commitments to their vineyards with no assurances that it would yield great wines. These commitments were made many years before the wines were ready for anyone to try and years more before their efforts were recognized. I can only imagine what their busybody neighbors must have said about their aspirations to grandeur. Everyone who makes great wine in the new world owes a debt of gratitude to these pioneers.
