The state of the grapes

I took some clients on a wine tour on Wednesday (June 16th) to the Ronda area. Remembering to take my camera along I took some photos of the vines to show the differences in the development of different grape varieties. The first photograph is of Merlot grapes. This is a variety that develops early and you can see that the berries are already quite well formed.

The second photograph is of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. This is a grape which develops quite a bit later than Merlot and you can see on the individual bunches some grapes are quite visible whilst others are only just starting to form. At the vineyard where the first two photographs were taken there is almost a two month difference in the harvesting of the two grape varieties

The final photograph was taken at another vineyard and is of Pinot Noir grapes. This grape is another earlier developer As you can see the bunches of grapes show good berry formation.

The two vineyards we went to are at between 800 and 900m above sea level, which means that although it gets pretty hot in the summer the night temperatures are cool, which ensures that the grapes maintain their acidity.