Those of you who have taken a stroll between the winery and Ponte Vineyard Inn in the past week or so may have pondered the above question. For the past few weeks there have been several bunches of grapes lying on the ground between the rows in the vineyard. How did they get there? Did they fall? Don’t we want to make wine out of those?
The answer is fairly simple: We picked them, but left them on the ground. Why? When the vineyard reaches Veraison (the point in which the red wine grapes begin to turn purple) we evaluate the crop load and leaf area in the canopy (the canopy of a grapevine is basically everything visible aboveground). At that time we drop the bunches of grapes that are still green and rounded. This gives the rest of the grapes the opportunity to get ripe, and gets rid of those which will not impart the right flavors into the wine.
So don’t let the bunches on the ground worry you, it’s all in the name of making the wine that you will soon enjoy at the winery and Inn. Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of harvest!
–What is your favorite time to visit Ponte? During harvest? Perhaps the holidays? Why?
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