It’s almost exactly two years since I wrote about ‘green harvesting’, and the summer of 2015 is no different. Over the last few weeks our guys have been out in the vineyards removing excess bunches. The reasoning behind this is quite simple – the lower the yield, the better the quality. Removing a few bunches on each vine helps to concentrate the energy of the plant into the remaining fruit – a big harvest is rarely a beautiful harvest.

To date the 2015 growing season has been quite favourable, with plenty of warm sunny weather. August is proving to be a few degrees cooler than July, when temperatures often hovered in the upper 20’s C (between 77° and 86°F). Having said that, the one thing they both have in common is the lack of rainfall. I think it’s true to say that the last prolonged period of ‘real’ rain (as opposed to light drizzle) was back in mid-May, nearly three months ago. On our local motorways the signs above the carriageways warn of the high risk of forest fires, whilst our local tourist industry benefits from the crowds packing onto our beautiful beaches.It’s almost exactly two years since I wrote about ‘green harvesting’, and the summer of 2015 is no different. Over the last few weeks our guys have been out in the vineyards removing excess bunches. The reasoning behind this is quite simple – the lower the yield, the better the quality. Removing a few bunches on each vine helps to concentrate the energy of the plant into the remaining fruit – a big harvest is rarely a beautiful harvest.

To date the 2015 growing season has been quite favourable, with plenty of warm sunny weather. August is proving to be a few degrees cooler than July, when temperatures often hovered in the upper 20’s C (between 77° and 86°F). Having said that, the one thing they both have in common is the lack of rainfall. I think it’s true to say that the last prolonged period of ‘real’ rain (as opposed to light drizzle) was back in mid-May, nearly three months ago. On our local motorways the signs above the carriageways warn of the high risk of forest fires, whilst our local tourist industry benefits from the crowds packing onto our beautiful beaches.