Green harvest

I’ve just finished the green harvest, where excess grapes are removed to allow the remainder to ripen fully. It is slow, tedious work, but certainly important in making good wine. The vineyard in the photo escaped the hail and is about a week ahead of my others. Note the grass growing between the rows… it competes for nutrients, which encourages the vines to ripen their fruit rather than growing more leaves.
Harvest is about a month away. There isn’t a huge amount to do in the vines at the moment so I’m just praying for warm, dry weather. It really doesn’t seem to be helping…