Counting the wine bottles before the grapes ripen | Year 3

Now with the new grapevines established, let's see what I can expect this year in terms of a harvest and 2017 Estate Blend.

The only plants that are producing grapes this year are the Cab Sauv, Symphony, Syrah, and (new this year) Tempranillo. I'm surprised that the Tempranillo is ready to produce only after being in the "ground" here for 1 year.

From the 2015 vines that still are not producing, the Barbera and Aglianico probably look in the worst shape of any of the vines. This has been due to being shaded out in the previous years.

Cabernet is growing some fruit, looks to be about the same yield as last time. It'll definitely make its way into the blend.

The Symphony fruit isn't looking too good this year. It might not make the cut.

We'll have to wait and see how the Tempranillo fruit turns out this year. I'm optimistic that it will compliment the blend well.

This year the Syrah vine is absolutely out of control. I've counted at least 20 fruit clusters so far on it. I guess I'll be labeling this year's blend as "California Syrah 2017". (Fun fact: Syrah only made up 2.6% of the total grape crush in California in 2016)

Once this vine goes to dormancy, I'm gonna be moving it closer to the wall (breaking the root) and extensively pruning it back. Maybe I can get some of the cuttings from it to root.....

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