S1 EP0008 - In the Vineyard

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Season 1, Episode 0008 Finger Lakes Viticulture – May 26, 2021 It has been an incredible stretch of warm, and even hot sunny weather in the Finger Lakes since our last update two weeks  ago.  As of today, we stand at 300.3 accumulated growing degree days.  Nine of the last thirteen days have seen highs above 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and five of those nine above 80.  It’s been sunny and hot beautiful weather, but it is the Finger Lakes, and we are already looking at a weather change, with the high this upcoming Friday pegged at  around 48 degrees, warming to a more moderate trend of high 60’s and 70’s.   Let’s take a look  and compare our current growing degree days to previous years.  In 2020, at this same date, we stood at 212.8, in 2018, we stood at 347, in 2014, we were at 309, and in 2016, we were at 190.  These years experienced some significant variation, and a lot of those vintages were dependent upon the amount of water and sun the vineyards received. 2018 was terribly difficult with warm weather and  a lot of moisture, whereas 2016 stood in stark contrast as a severe drought year with warm temperatures.   Nonetheless, it’s great to see our  growing season on track. In the vineyard, we are in the midst of the vegetative growth cycle.  The buds have fully burst, shoot development has taken place, we have witnessed flat leaf stage, and the flower clusters have fully initiated.  As you can see from the footage, beautiful flower clusters are branching our from the young tender canes, and the 2021 vintage fruit is about to start its formation.  The clusters represent many small flowers.  Grapes, like all fruit, go through a flowering stage prior to fruit formation.  Each flower on each cluster has what we call a cap, and so our next benchmark will be to look for cap fall, and the start of bloom.   This chart  from Michigan State University, ni

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