In normal years, we expect to have veraison going on in Bordeaux varieties here in Sonoma County by the end of July. This year we’re a couple of weeks behind normal, but I did find evidence of a tiny bit of color change in the Cabernet vineyard near the winery in Geyserville.

Veraison is the term we use to describe the phase in grape berry development when the berries start to turn from green to red (in the case of red varieties), or where they start to soften (in the case of whites). Hereafter, the berry starts to mature toward ripeness. There is no further division of skin cells, so berry size is set. In Cab, we can expect that we have about 60 days on average until harvest — it’s right around the corner