Follow the life of a vineyard – Part 3

Ravei – week 6

A couple of days of rainfall, a couple of thunderstorms and temperatures soaring up over 27°C and Ravei has changed quite a bit in the last three weeks.

The vine growth has been excellent and the leaves are glossy and healthy and should these weather pattern continued for the early part of the summer then the young vines will be off to a very good start.

Ravei sits on a gentle slope that faces south west giving it good exposure to the afternoon sun, it is also quite sheltered, a little bit of a suntrap.As can be seen from the photograph below the vineyard is nestled between an ancient olive grove and in the foreground another vineyard.

Here can be seen the contrast between the traditional ‘pergola’ trained vines and the neat rows of trellis posts which will eventually be used to ‘train’ the vines of Ravei in rows.

The advantages to us of this ‘single Guyot’ training system are numerous, not least is the equal, well displaced exposure to the sun that each vine will receive.