June has arrived and with that comes the ending of bloom and fruit set, which means that we have reached the second stage in evaluating the size and quality of the upcoming harvest.

If you remember, we first counted tiny clusters in April (before bloom) which gave us an idea of our cluster counts and our potential cluster size.  I say potential because we never know what effect the environmental and growing conditions during bloom will have on the eventual set of the fruit.

Grape Pest Management, Second edition, University of California, 1992.

The individual berries are “set” when successful fertilization occurs of the ovules.  Wind, rain, temperature, disease, and genetics are some of the major factors that can hamper the pollen from successfully germinating and fertilizing all ovules present.  So, even though we may see a large cluster with lots of berries before bloom, it’s very possible that a significant percentage of potential berries never develop, especially in sensitive varieties like Merlot.

These undeveloped berries are called “shot berries“, and as winegrape growers, we generally do not like to see them!

However, a “shattered” bunch can be a benefit to some varieties that have extremely large or dense clusters, allowing the bunch to be looser and therefore decreasing the chance of berries rubbing and splitting.

In the pictures below, you can see a Chardonnay bunch which set a couple of weeks ago and this is evident by the larger size of the berries. The cluster looks a little smaller than normal years.

The other picture is a Cabernet Sauvignon cluster which is still finishing set, as you can see by the presence of the old flowers. Notice the cluster is looser (but still not as developed) as the Chardonnay.

So, long story short: We are evaluating the fruit set now to make predictions on the crop size.  This is very important to not only regulate our crop and canopy correctly with proper fruit thinning, irrigation, leaf pulling, and trimming techniques, but also for winery tank management for the 2010 crush: do we have enough tank space for the grapes?

At the end of the day, it is nothing more than an educated guess, because the harvest always has a way of throwing unpredictable curveballs at us!

The rain continues to fall!  It would have been a great powder day at Kirkwood, but I can’t disappear that easily.

Lodi saw about 3/4 of an inch this week, which takes our 2010 season rainfall total to a little above normal, and well above last year’s.  That’s good news, but we could have used more and certainly need another wet winter in 2011 to mitigate the drought conditions we’ve experienced over the past few years.

In the vineyards, the early varieties like Chardonnay are well on their way and some blocks are already showing five to six-inch long shoots.  Small clusters are beginning to appear and soon we will be able to bunch count to get an early idea of the yield potential for vintage 2010.

For the past three weeks, we’ve been mowing and cultivating the vineyard floors and Philip has reported that the wet soils have caused a stuck tractor or two.  And our crews have been busy checking trellis systems and tying vines to make sure that the vineyards are in good shape for another growing season.

Towards the end of this week, we’ll start measuring the soil water availability in our vineyard blocks using a Neutron Probe Meter.  This device actually measures the amount of moisture in the soil at different depths in the soil profile, in one foot increments.  During the growing season, these measurements acts as a tool to help us make irrigation decisions.

Right now, these measurements give us an idea of how much “deep” water is available in the soil profile that came from the soaking, saturating winter rains.  The amount of water in the soil now and the amount of water we receive from Mother Nature in the coming weeks will affect how well we can “control” the canopy growth of the vine, which can affect winegrape quality.  It’s a very complicated subject, but with a dry soil profile, we are able to “spoon-feed” the vines with exact amounts of water, thus enabling better canopy control.

But given California’s drought situation, I’d rather have the good winter soaking and work harder to achieve vine balance and excellent winegrape quality!  Every year is a little different, and we have to react to what Mother Nature gives us to produce the best wines possible!

On your way through Lodi, keep an eye on the vineyards—they are in a rapid growth stage right now.

These kids grow up so darn fast…

Sunday brunch at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco?  Don’t mind if I do…

On Sunday, we were invited to pour our wines at the Palace Hotel as part of their Sunday Blues Brunch.  My wife, Meghan, and I were the lucky ones chosen to represent LangeTwins to take part in a decadent tradition at the Palace Hotel – brunch in the Garden Court.

A little bit of history: The landmark Palace Hotel was completely rebuilt and re-opened in 1909 after being damaged by the huge 1906 earthquake of San Francisco.  It’s most famous room, the Garden Court, rests under an ornate stained-glass window dome and Austrian crystal chandeliers….so, it was safe to say that I couldn’t wear my work boots.

Trivia bit: The glass dome-ceiling is also the same one that Michael Douglas fell through at the end of the 1997 movie, “The Game”, for those of you interested in worthless movie trivia!

Executive Chef Jesse Llapitan and his team came by for a tasting and really enjoyed our Generations Viognier and Proprietary Cabernet Sauvignon.  The food was excellent and we were happy to pour our wines to compliment the cheese tasting tables nearby.  In fact, we were there to promote the upcoming Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma taking place on weekend of March 26th in Petaluma.

Buy tickets ahead of time for a luxury food weekend featuring over twenty-four artisan cheese makers, twenty wineries and breweries, and just as many chefs preparing handmade bites for all.  We’ll be there paired up with our friends at Fiscalini Cheese Company!