harvest reports
Green Drop 2002
To My Friends:
Ten to 14 days into veraison, we send out an army of field workers to inspect every single cluster by hand. We eliminate any clusters that are 50% or more green, are growing on a small shoot or have a visible defect. The time window to accomplish this is small - seven to 10 days max. We must be prepared, focused and work fast. After this time, it is difficult to identify immature fruit.
Elimination of green fruit and defects will greatly increase the uniformity of ripening within the vineyard. If super-premium winemakers around the world were to come up with what constituted the highest ideal for excellent quality fruit, it would be uniformly ripe clusters with small berries, stuffed with flavor.
In the past 20 years, I have not seen the detailed attention to quality in the vineyards as I have seen in 2002. Green drop has been a difficult practice in the past for many growers because they feel there are too many dangers (i.e., rain and rot) still to face before harvest. For sheer quality, making the decision to drop immature fruit now is incomparable. The oversupply of grapes in Northern California has growers competing for winery contracts and the willingness to work towards the highest quality grapes speaks the loudest. The quest for quality is on. The harvest of premium wine grapes in California should kick in around August 26.
Salvador inspects each cluster and leaves only the best. Notice the culls on the ground.
Benziger Family Vineyards
Sonoma Mountain, August 19,2002