I was wandering through the backyard this afternoon and noticed a few grapes here and there have turned color. With a week left in July, veraison - the French term for when grapes change color, stop growing in size and begin accumulating sugar and flavor - seems slightly early...

This morning, I found the first evidence of impending harvest: veraison . A few berries on each vine of my humble backyard Sangiovese "vineyard" (nine vines) showed a bit of pinkish red, the first color change I've noticed this summer...

This week, we're seeing the first signs of veraison in the vineyard.  This means the clock is ticking... we figure on an average of about 45 days between the end of veraison and the beginning of harvest.  (Veraison is the French term for the point at which berries begin to turn color, marking ... Syrah start veraison first, although we've seen signs of it in all our red varietals this week...

We have "veraison" in the Twin Vines vineyard. No - it's not a disease! Veraison is defined as the stage when grapes begin to gain color - red grapes that is. It happens in late summer/early fall and is a sure fire sign that harvest is not too far away. It is a sign that the internal chemistry of the grapes is turning from mostly acid to mostly sweet. As grapes develop in the vineyard, the green...

Do the clusters of grapes on the right look familiar? If you check our blog often, you might notice that those clusters are the same ones pictured in the July 27th "TLC for Sokol Blosser Vines" blog. What a change these clusters have gone through in the past two weeks! At veraison, the young green Pinot Noir berries begin to soften and turn a beautiful dull purple. All through Sokol...

Our Pinot Noir clusters are beginning to change color! This is an exciting time for us, as it is the first indicator that Harvest is drawing closer. "Veraison" is the winegrowing term for when the berry clusters turn color, berry by berry, until they are totally purple, telling us it's time to start sampling the grapes for sugar level and maturity. Alex Sokol Blosser and Winemaker Russ Rosner...

It's happened. It hadn't happened yesterday but some time between last night and this afternoon, a few of our cabernet grapes turned from green to light purple, indicating veraison (technically defined as the period of the beginning of berry ripening. The berries become soft and take on the colors characteristic of their specific varieties. From the beginning of veraison to harvest, the berries...

We have been working our tails off this growing season (which has been challenging to say the least) and in the past week we have seen changes in our babies. Veraison. The term that marks the point in development where the grapes begin to ripen. The whites are turning a golden color and the berries ... stress, fruit architecture and of course birds! M-S Cabernet at Veraison...

    All the little greenie bits are gone (mostly) so I will say that veraison is complete.  Based on a couple of notes I've seen from Dry Creek and climes in the Russian River that are known to ripen zin, I'm a week or two behind their famed power curve.  After the World Is Burning hotness of July, it's been seasonably or unseasonably mild lately. I *think* that's ok.  The sweetness of the fruit...

... to do with Veraison? Absolutely nothing, except that they kinda sound the same. And when I read an article by Elsbeth at Escafeld Vineyards about Veraison taking place in her vineyards, it occurred to me that this Veraison—the turning of grapes from green to red—is about where I find myself today...