I do not water my vines at all ... 'cos the Domaine de Chaberton (prizewinning
winery) near here doesn't water their grapes at all. My soil is very
gravelly.
I also have never fertilized them. They're about eight year old.
That's interesting .. 'lots of growth will not slow ripening'.
Vines look very healthy and they have not received any nitrogen and this has
been
an average to dry summer ... only 5 mm rain in August.
I'll remove some of the leaves around the clusters, net them from the birds,
and
next year I'll leave more buds on each vine.
: First, do NOT cut the vines back now.
it suggests the vines have been getting
: watered too late into the summer
. For most grapes, lots of growth will NOT slow ripening.
: The only thing you might do is pick a few leaves off around the clusters
: to expose them to more light, which will speed up their coloring a bit.
: -Lon Rombough
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