We have been racing here since March. With the good weather, the vines were 3 weeks ahead but it is not so easy for humans to go so quickly. We had to work extra hard to finish bending the vine, then find the right niche to plant our grafts, and without rest we started debudding two weeks ago when usually we start mid-May.
The weather is not helping us. After the too-hot weather, which made the vines grow too quickly, we had frost. Phew–not too much damage, and now there is a lot of rain with treatments earlier than usual when we manage to pass in a tractor and grass that invades us 🙂
But the vines are beautiful and there are already some nice bunches of grapes coming out. “[The photo above is of one of Agathe & Clément’s–Thierry’s daughter and son-in-law–parcels with its thriving cover crops. The photo was taken on May 1.]
Agathe Merlin
Thierry Merlin Cherrier
Bué, Sancerre