Tom Scott Vineyard Newsletter - Summer 2011 - Barnburner Cabernet Sauvignon 
Dear Friends,
It’s the first of August and we’ve seen the first signs of veraison and the vineyard is looking beautiful; the spring rains provided the vines with an abundance of ground water, which has produced an amazing amount of vigor and crop.
Every year presents its own unique combination of circumstances in the vineyard and no two years are the same. Despite unpredictable rainfall and temperatures, the vines follow their own internal roadmap from bud break to leaf fall, with little variation. It’s our job as good stewards of this vineyard to respond to changeable conditions through our farming practices to make sure nothing interferes with the journey of the vines.
 This year we had both more and later rain than we’ve experienced in a long time. As a result, we had a huge and fast-growing canopy. During this time of excessive growth, we also had a lot of wind coming down the valley; the wind threatened to break the new growth, and while we did lose some early shoots, our trellising system protected most of the vines. One of the many advantages of our modified open lyre trellising system is the protective system of wires that we channel the shoot growth through. This year we spent a lot of time tucking this vigorous new growth between wires. The abundant ground water, which resulted from late rains, also left us with a lot of suckers - growth on the trunk below the head of the vine - that we had to remove. Once we’d tucked and suckered the vines, we thinned out excessive growth at the head of each vine. Thinning the vines, necessitated by the aggressive vine growth, helped open up the canopies to air and sun penetration, helping reduce the risk of mildew while allowing the sunlight and airflow to reach the grape clusters.
While we were working to protect and open up the vines, they were growing at an amazing rate. The canopies began linking up between rows creating a beautiful tunnel effect... beautiful to see, difficult to drive a tractor through! So, we moved on to hedging. While Tom drove the mule, Lauren stood on the vehicle platform protected by a wire cage, and was able to reach out and trim vines on both sides of the vine row. As a result our vines are very neatly trimmed and the world is again safe for tractor drivers.
 Now the vines have begun veraison. Veraison is the last growth phase of grapes; the vines stop producing green vegetative growth (shoot growth), and begin the initiation of fruit coloration. The vine is now focusing on ripening the grape clusters. Our last big job before harvest will be to go through and thin the actual crop, removing about 40% of the clusters thus greatly improving the quality and flavors of the remaining grapes. This is our last effort to balance the vine.
So begins the march to harvest and the beginning of our efforts to protect our crop from the birds... but that’s another story!
Hope to see you soon.
 Tom and Lauren Scott
www.tomscottvineyard.com
www.tomscottvineyard.com/wineshop
info@tomscottvineyard.com
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