Lessons Learned

Above: Sangiovese with little leaf canopy. Left: the spoils to compost.
Connie's Post
it was a sad, sober set of lessons learned this past weekend. one, late season spraying is essential, no matter how dry the season or past seasons indicate. so, no more august vacations, to be sure. two, a hard-hearted thinning of the grapes clusters needs to happen so it doesn't stress the leaf canopy. and three, well, nature is cruel. it is tough to keep in mind that the vineyard is a long term experiment as you walk down the rows and view the distressed leaves and the infected grape clusters. the grapes themselves felt swollen as i plucked them for a sugar test and tasted the same as the previous week, as borne out with the sugar tests performed at charlotte hall (stay tuned for how to test grapes, posting next) gerald managed to salvage about 100 pounds of the sangiovese, the rest went to the compost.