Spring Renewal – By Barbara Lecuona. Photos by Miguel Lecuona, Hill Country Light Photography.

Learning to Understand the Estate Vineyard is a Lifelong Conversation In a New Language

“What is your favorite part about being a winemaker” is the second most often asked question I hear. For me, it’s like asking “what’s your favorite wine?”— I simply cannot narrow it down to one answer! But certainly, springtime in the vineyard is a favorite, and a great time to witness the glory of nature and the re-awakening of the vines.  Soon, I’ll make my first spring visit to the High Plains to check on our “adopted” vines, and touch base with our vineyard grower partners. However, right now, all focus is on our own Estate Merlot vineyard nestled in our limestone terraced land in the beautiful Texas Hill Country AVA (American Viticulture Area).

The Site is the Playing Field for the Vines

In the grand scheme of things, a 4 acre vineyard is not particularly noteworthy. But with each passing year, and subsequent vintage, our Estate Vineyard plays a larger and larger role in the future of Siboney. The site is beautiful as it is challenging. A limestone plateau, north-facing, with elevation across a large diagonal swath of the site, presents a varied topography, and unique growing conditions of plots literally side by side. We take this into account when we water, fertilize and treat the vineyard, sub-divided into 8 zones. A fair amount of work this spring included a full flush of the drip irrigation system so that we can drip fertilizer and vitamins on a row-by-row basis.

This season, the winery team is quite active on a daily and weekly basis, working to prepare the vines for a solid season of growth leading up to and including Harvest. It is intense and detailed work, followed by periods of calm where the vines take care of themselves and, before our very eyes, transform into the beautiful, lush and harmonious vineyard we see from the terrace and tasting room every day.

Renewal – Bud Break

You may know that the first milestone for the vine each year is bud break.  As temperatures warm, buds begin to swell and then burst – or break. Did you know that the logo on all of our Siboney Cellars wines is a photograph of bud break captured by Miguel?

Newly emerged shoots then grow rapidly for several weeks. Soon, cluster inflorescences become visible. You can see them on our Siboney vines now.  They look like the tiniest cluster of berries, but they aren’t berries – yet.  After a few weeks, inflorescences begin to swell, and soon flowers open. This is aptly called “flowering.”  It is one of the most beautiful, and susceptible times in the vineyard.  

From Bud to Flower

If you find yourself lucky enough to walk through a flowering vineyard – Breathe Deep!  Although the fragrance is subtle, It smells wonderful! But don’t pick the flowers – these are very important to the next milestone for the vines…..more on that in a minute. 

If you haven’t visited a vineyard at this time of year, especially one with many different white and red varieties, you may not know that the different varietals are in different stages of development and growth. This can be challenging for vineyard managers, since different stages require different management practices, but it is helpful to the winemaker, because we can plan for different harvest dates, and not become overwhelmed by everything ripening at once. 

Flower to Berry

After pollination, (Fun Fact – vinifera grapes are self-pollinating!) the flowers abscise, or fall away, and the newly formed teeny-tiny berries go through a rapid period of development due to cell division.  Their journey isn’t over yet!  Even while the berries are rapidly developing, the flower primordia – the fruit producing potential for the next season – begin to originate as buds, and will continue until véraison, which is the next milestone for the current season. Yes, this means that next year’s fruitfulness is being determined now.  Véraison is the time when the loose, open bunches of small berries begin to swell and close.  The berries begin to soften, and the skins start to change color from a hard green, to a lighter shades of gold or yellow for white grapes, and various hues of pink, red, purple and blue in reds. 

And More to Come…

We will return later in the season and follow the growth of the vineyard into and through Véraison … Just You Wait!