Last friday we picked syrah at Martha Clara. Just to refresh your memories - at Martha Clara Vineyards we have a trial with 4 treatments: glyphosate only, seeded clover only, a low growing mix of fescues called "no mow" and a mix of clover and no mow. The three vegetative treatments were seeded directly under the vine row in the spring of 2011. The idea behind these treatments is that growers are looking for a way to eliminate herbicide but not have to mow either. Throughout 2011 and 2012 we have been taking data on vine growth to determine if these under trellis covers will impact vine health. At harvest last week we were able to take data on the crop from the 2012 season. The week before we had taken 100 berry samples to measure berry weights, total acidity, brix and pH. These are basic parameters to help gauge ripeness of fruit. We then picked each vine individually, counting the number of clusters and weighing them, to determine crop weights in the different treatments. Finally, we counted berries on 10 clusters from each treatment and rep. This is to determine differences in fruit set.

Here is a picture of the crew counting berries after harvesting the trial.

I also took some shots of the cover crops. This shows the height of the clover and no mow in the fall. The clover had died back a little bit in the heat of the summer. The vines were irrigated once. Part of each treatment was mowed this fall. As the row middles were mowed they did come into the vine row a bit on each side.  Where we had a 2 ft area of cover crop, a half a foot was mowed on either side - giving the treatments the appearance of a mohawk. But it grew back quickly.

Here are the vines after picking.

In the next couple weeks we will be picking the Merlot trial at the research vineyard. Then we will start the process all over again with pruning over the winter.