I remember from back in the 1980’s or perhaps even earlier than that, the scandals that they had in Bordeaux when vineyard workers were forced to pick grapes under the down draft of helicopters. At that time, if there was any rainfall during the harvest, some of the very richest Châteaux would pay huge amounts of money to have helicopters hovering over the vines in an attempt to rapidly dry off the rain soaked grapes. It goes without saying that any water on the grapes would have the effect of diluting the grape must, very much in the same way that if they simply left the grapes to dry out on the vine before picking, then water absorbed through the soil could also reduce concentration.

We actually have a similar problem in our vineyards right now, except that I’m afraid to say my helicopter is currently in the workshop and cannot be used. (I doubt that a model controlled by my mobile phone would have much effect anyway!). Of course there is a slightly cheaper alternative that we can use – our treatment spraying equipment works using sprays and a very large fan (to distribute the liquid in the form of a fine mist). By using only the huge fan part of the machine we can simply pass under the pergolas and blow any excess water off the bunches. Maybe not as glamorous as a helicopter, but almost as effective.

Seriously though, our original plan was to pick today, or at least early this week. The bad news is that we’ve had five or six days of significant rainfall and so this will now be delayed. Looking at the various forecasts it might be nearer the end of the week before we have a suitable window. Our weather watch continues….

I remember from back in the 1980’s or perhaps even earlier than that, the scandals that they had in Bordeaux when vineyard workers were forced to pick grapes under the down draft of helicopters. At that time, if there was any rainfall during the harvest, some of the very richest Châteaux would pay huge amounts of money to have helicopters hovering over the vines in an attempt to rapidly dry off the rain soaked grapes. It goes without saying that any water on the grapes would have the effect of diluting the grape must, very much in the same way that if they simply left the grapes to dry out on the vine before picking, then water absorbed through the soil could also reduce concentration.

We actually have a similar problem in our vineyards right now, except that I’m afraid to say my helicopter is currently in the workshop and cannot be used. (I doubt that a model controlled by my mobile phone would have much effect anyway!). Of course there is a slightly cheaper alternative that we can use – our treatment spraying equipment works using sprays and a very large fan (to distribute the liquid in the form of a fine mist). By using only the huge fan part of the machine we can simply pass under the pergolas and blow any excess water off the bunches. Maybe not as glamorous as a helicopter, but almost as effective.

Seriously though, our original plan was to pick today, or at least early this week. The bad news is that we’ve had five or six days of significant rainfall and so this will now be delayed. Looking at the various forecasts it might be nearer the end of the week before we have a suitable window. Our weather watch continues….