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Cook Vineyard Weekly Newsletter 8.27.12

Today we officially began our harvest. Even though the majority of our wine grapes won’t be ready for a few more weeks, it’s a great practice for us to get ready for the big show.

We call the harvesting of grapes in Sonoma “The Crush”. It derived from the fact that we crush the grapes to get the juice from them to make wine. In all reality we feel crushed by the end due to all the hard work we endure, so both apply.

Harvest time is a great time of the year. We call it the ending for a new beginning. Our job in the vineyard is over for the season and we start preparing for the next year’s season, while our partner in wine making “The Winemaker” begins their journey to the final product, the bottle of wine.

So what takes place in the vineyard after the harvest?

First of all many of us plant a cover crop. This is for two reasons one being to stop soil erosion caused by the winter rains and mainly to introduce bio material (compost) for the upcoming season.

There are many different grasses we use which depend on the needs of the vineyard. Many times we will throw in some flowers for color. The concept is to plant the cover crop prior to a rain which allows it to germinate, and then in the spring we till it in the soil to create nutrients for the vines.

Many of our vineyards are not tilled, so we do not plant a cover crop in those.

If anyone wants to visit us in the vineyards to learn more about the world of viticulture, please call us at 707.490.8921. Also check our website  www.cvmgrapes.com.