July 19 - First sign of color in Floodgate Pinot Noir in the Russian River Valley - Pictures
Today we just happened to wander into the vineyard at Floodgate scouting locations for an upcoming dinner party and saw the very first signs of Veraison. The process is signaled by the grapes turning red and the vine begins to shift from growing the berry size to producing sugar and viable seeds. It's a bit difficult to appreciate at this magnified level but these berries are very small. so this bodes well for concentration and color this year. There were only a couple clusters turning in a hilltop section of Pinot Noir clone 667. The picture below is of the Pinot 777 clone vines. The clusters have slightly larger berries and tighter clusters than the 667 block. It'll be another week or so before the 777 vines hit veraison.
