Friday, August 04, 2006

Vineyard Update & Harvest Report 2006

Château Julien Viticulturist & Winemaker Marta Kraftzeck took an early morning trip south to the Estate Vineyard today. Following are her notes directly from the vineyard:

The 2006 growing season is moving right along. At this point, the grapes are in the beginning stages of verasion with approximately 20-30% of the grapes changing color (the final transition in the growing process). It looks like the typical first pick will be the Pinot Grigio in approximately 3 weeks. The vines recovered well from the early spring frost. A mild late spring-early summer gave the vines time to develop a nice leaf canopy to protect the clusters during the recent heat spell in California. This year we also adjusted winter pruning, enabling the canopy to develop vigorously early in the season. The overall yields look about average, with ideal cluster development throughout most of the blocks. We anticipate high quality among all of the varietals and ultimately a superb 2006 vintage.
- Marta

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