The Beginnings of the 2015 Wedding Oak Winery Vintage

It is a sure sign of spring with the leaves on our grapevines begin to emerge. It’s the start of our 2015 vintage. Those delicate green buds emerging from the dormant vine during bud break stir both excitement for the growing season and nervousness for the potential wrath of Mother Nature.

Our winemaker, Penny Adams, visited the vines in our estate vineyard, High Valley Vineyard, part of Cherokee Creek Ranch in Bend, TX to survey our 12 year old Grenache vines. In this short video, she shares her thoughts on bud break for the grapes that will go into our Terre Rouge wine.

Penny will keep a close watch on our vines as they go through each stage of growth leading to harvest. In about a month the tiny clusters now visible will flower and begin the “fruit set” process. Each flower has the potential to form a single grape berry. Frost is an even bigger enemy at this point and wind are also a concern.

Once pollinated, the flowers drop their petite petals, and tiny, green bulbs begins to grow at the end of the stem. We call that fruit set. As these little grapes grow, bunches begin to take their familiar shape. By then, frost won’t be a concern, but Penny will still be vigilant for pests and other weather challenges like hail. Once set, the grapes will begin to ripen under our hot Texas sun. We expect the mature grapes to be ready in August.

With Penny’s excellent vineyard management and plenty of help from the right kind of weather, we’ll have another excellent harvest in 2015.

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