We all know that before the wine reaches our palates, a whole process has to be carried out in which every detail of the vine and grape is carefully taken care of, until it is time to harvest the grapes and we can reap the rich fruits that we have been harvesting for a whole year.
To do so, the vine lives a whole vegetative and annual cycle, which we are going to share with you in the following post.
The cycle of the vine
As we have just mentioned, the vine undergoes an annual cycle in which a series of processes take place that give rise to the final grape that we remove once the harvest arrives.
The different stages that form part of the biological cycle of the vine are chronologically the following: budding, foliage, flowering, fertilisation and fruiting, veraison, ripening, harvest and stop.
If you are curious about what happens in each of these phases, here are some brief details:
1. Budbreak
We can consider this stage as the phase in which the vine is born. It takes place in March, coinciding with the beginning of spring, the moment when the first green shoots begin to appear, which start the annual cycle of the vine and which will grow until they become leaves.
2. Leaf Growth
During foliation, in the months of April and May, the first leaves of the vine begin to appear. This is a fundamental moment for the plant, as it is at this stage that the sugar and acid molecules are formed in the vine leaves, which will determine the flavour of the grape and, therefore, of the wine.
A very common practice during this period (in the month of May) is "removing suckers", whereby only the shoots that are going to be necessary are left on the pruning thumbs, thus favouring their growth.
3. Flowering
Between the end of May and the beginning of June, the vines start to flower. This is the time when the flower embryos appear, which will later give rise to the grape berries that will form the clusters.
As with most plants, special attention must be paid to weather conditions at this stage. In this sense, we must try to protect the vine from the rain and make sure that it gets enough sun to feed and grow.
In case you didn't know, the flowering of the vine will mark the beginning of the harvest and also the volume of the crop. For example, if the vines flower early, we will have an early harvest.
4. Flowering and Fruit set
Towards the end of June and beginning of July, the flowers mentioned in the previous stage begin to bear fruit, fruit of a very green colour due to their chlorophyll content. If the vine is considered to be very full, what is known as green harvesting can be carried out, which consists of removing part of the young bunches.
5. Veraison
This takes place throughout the summer and is the time when the grapes change colour until they reach their final shade . In white grapes, the colour changes from green to yellowish and in red grapes, they acquire a pinkish colour that will gradually darken.
It should be noted that in August another thinning is carried out to even out the level of ripeness for the grape harvest.
6. Berry ripenning
Ripening takes place between August and October (when the grapes are harvested). During this phase, the grape acquires a sweeter taste. This is due to the fact that during photosynthesis the acids in the leaves decrease and their sugar content increases.
7. Harvest
This is the end of the cycle, that is to say, this is the "culmination" of the vine cycle. In this final process, different controls are carried out to check the degree of ripeness of the grapes and to ensure that this is the most suitable before the harvest begins.
8. Winter Dormancy
Once the grape harvest is over, we can say that the vine enters a process of vegetative standstill, a period of latency, of lethargy. We could say that the vine sleeps from November to March.
During the months of January and February, pruning takes place and all the shoots are cleaned before the cycle starts again.
September and October are the months when the grape harvest takes place. This is the time when the cycle of the vine culminates and we take advantage of its peak before it goes back to sleep to be able to offer us its best side. If you want to experience the grape harvest like never before, we invite you to discover our special grape harvest activities, which will start in October. You can discover all of them here.
