Learning from the past, crafting the future

by Babich Wines November 17, 2021

Wine is something of a time machine. When you drink it, it’s a celebration of the present, but the wine is also an encapsulation of the past – it tells the story of the summer when the grapes grew, what it was like in the vineyard back then, the heat and the sunlight on the vine leaves, how the grape bunches grew to juicy ripeness.

When we make wine, we take that knowledge of what went before – over a century of winemaking expertise – and project it into the future. This is not science fiction, it’s good winegrowing!

If you go down to our vineyards today, you’ll see people walking between the rows, counting the floret clusters on the vines. The reason we want to know how many there are is that each of these floret clusters will develop into a bunch of grapes in the coming months…

Of course, we still don’t know how big those bunches will be. The weather over the summer, especially in December, will determine that. But by understanding the amount of floret clusters we’ll begin to understand how to apply the lessons of the past to most effectively tend the vines in the future.

For instance, if we’ll need to thin the bunches to optimise the concentration and depth of flavour. And if we do, by how much. This type of vine management regulates how much energy the plant is able to put into each grape, its flavour profile, and ultimately the quality of wine in the glass.

Over the coming months, we’ll be watching, waiting, and working in earnest. Because what happens next will determine exactly how many of those floret clusters will turn into juicy, flavourful grape bunches, and how much delicious wine from vintage 2022 we’ll be able to deliver to your glass.

Now that’s something to look forward to!

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