May 1 - another drought year means the under vineyard ground cover is already gone. Luckily this year there is enough water to support a drip irrigation.
The 2020 harvest was 200 pounds less than 2019, only 450 pounds. We would like to have enough to make still and sparkling wines, so we modified the pruning this year. The pruning objective for this year was to leave more fruit spurs. So far the objective appears to be working as the fruit load is noticable heavier this year. With the extra fruit harvest day will probably be a bit later and it is. Today is August 19th, 3 days after harvest in 2020. The current brix is 21.5 which appears to be on track for a late August harvest.
The 2021 plan for Safari Creek will be to harvest our own vineyard only. The harvest on September 1st was 517lbs, a small increase over 2020. The brix was 24 and the acid was low at pH 3.7. Adjustments were made and the finished wine came in at 15% alcohol and a pH of 3.36.