Château Plaisance

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A bunch of grapes on the vine showing the first signs of veraison, with a mix of green and purple berries.

August Ripening and Green Harvest

Thursday, September 30, 2010

In August ripening ('véraison' in French) was evident. To those of us that live and breathe in the vineyard, véraison starts the count down to harvest.

Now we need to thin out the grapes by doing a green harvest. In French this is referred to as the 'vendanges vertes'. This is a row before we trimmed it back.Vineyard rows showing overcrowded grape clusters before green harvest, with multiple bunches hanging closely together on each vine.

After dropping some, it looks like this. Multiple clusters of deep purple ripe grapes hanging from vine branches, showing excellent color development and full ripeness before harvest.

The green harvest is the removal of immature or non-uniform grape bunches. Also you don’t want the bunches to be crowded upon each other. Now the remaining grape bunches have room to swell and develop nicely.Scattered dark purple grapes fallen on the ground beneath vine rows, showing evidence of the green harvest process.

The aim is to reduce the yield but increase the quality of the wine.

A row of grapevines with the lower leaves removed, exposing the developing bunches of green grapes to the sun.

July De-leafing

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Thursday, September 30, 2010
A woman with short, dark hair and a patterned yellow and black shirt smiles while sitting at a desk with a computer.

June Crew the Women

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Sunday, June 20, 2010
Rows of empty, clean wine bottles moving along a conveyor belt on a bottling line.

Bottling the 2008 Vintage

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Saturday, October 02, 2010