Grape Vine Flowering

In this post Caro Feely, winegrower, author and certified wine educator, describes grape vine flowering in detail with the aid of photos.

It’s late May / early June and the trellising is filled with green foliage. The vines reach skywards, their graceful canes and spiralling tendrils dance in the breeze. The vines are erotic, the vineyard is filled with their Spring flowering excitement. It is a critical time for all winegrowers.

In the photo below you can see the flower buds are formed but not yet burst open. Each of these will explode 5 male stamens around a female stigma. You can see the lines of the 5 stamen sections in these buds.

Then in the photo below some have just started to burst -each tiny cream ‘spoke’ is a stamen.

The flowers exude aromas of honeysuckle, hops, the hint of the smell of a newborn. It is a moment of privilege and grace.

The stamens, the male parts, five in a circle around the stigma, the female part, are doing their darndest to drop pollen onto her, essential to fertilise the eggs that will become the seeds around which the fruit would form.

Each tiny, delicate, cream flower (there are many in the image above – each composed of the 5 stamens and a stigma) in the right conditions will become a grape.

The photo below is a great one to see how the cap- that is green before it pops off – goes brown after it releases (it browns since its died – it is no longer attached to the plant).

When that cap pops off the stamens fly free and are able to pollinate the stigma. In wet weather the cap can get stuck and doesn’t drop off so fertilisation doesn’t happen and grapes don’t form – as happened in 2013. In high winds the pollen is blown away and can’t do its job either… it’s a balancing act requiring fine weather.

We are celebrating the sun being out for this magical moment.

Here is a photo of a fertilised sauvignon blanc bunch taken this morning (27 May). It looks good.

God willing and with a bit of hard work we will have fine bunches that look like the one below come end August/early September.

Its all still to play for but so far 2020 flowering is looking good TG. We need it.

Explore flowering and all the steps in the journey from vine to glass with the Virtual Discovery Wine Course.  We would love to see you there.

See our photos of what the vines look like late May and going back a month or so at this post – vineyard – what a difference a month makes.

Stay safe and well. With love from a flowering vineyard.

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Order your Feely organic biodynamic wine online at our mixed case with eu shipping page or at the Feely wines online boutique where you can order by bottle then add shipping at the end or even better join the Feely family Wine Club!

Come and learn more about wine with a visit to Chateau Feely in South West France ; stay or do a multi day course or multi day tour. You can read about the story of this organic vineyard, wine school and farm – the series includes three books by Caro Feely (order online with amazon via these links or from your local bookstore)

Grape Expectations: A Family’s Vineyard Adventure in France (Caro Feely Book 1)

Saving Our Skins: Building a Vineyard Dream in France ( Caro Feely book 2 )

Glass Half Full: The Ups and Downs of Vineyard Life in France (Caro Feely Book 3)

Summersdale publishers have also made the 3 book series available as a kindle bundleCaro Feely (3 Book Series)