by Werner Els

Spring has sprung, and on Haskell Vineyards, and the farm workers have spent months working to prepare the vines for the coming summer and harvest period.

After the pruning period, the remaining buds started to break and push out new shoots and develop flowers that will yield next years grapes. These shoots needs to be maintained to ensure that the vineyard produces the right amount of flowers which will later become the grape clusters and the amount of leaves, ideal for canopy control that will allow the grapes to be exposed to enough sunlight to ripen.
If the vineyards are not maintained during this period, the vines will keep on growing and bear up to 60 fruit clusters per vine! Overbearing will bring down the general quality of the grapes.

This is where the process of suckering comes in. The tips of the shoots are cut to prevent the vine from exerting too much energy with the growth of the shoot as oppose to development of the grapes. A skill set of eyes and hands are required for this job, since you can affect the quality of the coming year’s crop.
In the end, it is this dedication to detail that will makes the Dombeya wines enjoyable to the last drop.