April 16, 2018
Harvest season is in full swing for Texas wine growers. If you’ve driven through wine country in the past few weeks, you may have noticed the vines are all tied up with nets. Have you ever wondered why?
It's for the birds…
As the fruit ripens, winemakers aren’t the only ones that are on a mission to make the most of the delicious Texas-grown berries – the birds are as well. The birds like to peck at the skin which opens up the grapes and ruins the juices before winemakers even have a chance to get their hands on the clusters.
Birds tend to converge on the vineyard when grapes are just a tad under ripe, and if farmers take no action they can take out an entire year’s crop. So, our team takes proactive and preventative measures all season long to ensure birds don’t have a chance to prey on our fruit or impact the quality of our finished wines.
At Mandola Vineyard in Driftwood, Texas, Vineyard manager Evan McKibben explains how and why William Chris uses bird netting to protect our fruit until it is ready for harvest – in this case, the netting is being lifted from our block of Vermentino grapes.
