Grape flowers at Armstrong Vineyard, Ribbon Ridge

Summer’s here at last. The 2011s are just about sold out (speak up if you want any – they really are just about gone). Now the focus turns to bottling the 2012s late this summer. And of course, we have the 2013 growing season in full swing.

Over on our blog elevage, we’re posting some updates on one of the most crucial points in the season – flowering, when the grape crop sets. We always want dry, mild weather without a lot of wind to allow the flowers to set quickly and perfectly – over a few days instead of a few weeks – without rain or hail or other issues that can damage the fragile little flowers.

The news? Flowering happened early this year and under mostly great conditions. A few days during the flowering period we a bit iffy, but nothing really bad for the most part. I did hear that a few isolated vineyards had some hail damage, but most years see some kind of issues. Read more over on elevage. So far we have an update about flowering on Ribbon Ridge. Coming soon, a post covering our sites in the Eola-Amity Hills [edit – posted here]. Enjoy.