During The Season
Pruning
After harvest and leaf-fall, the vines are left until dormancy before pruning commences, which will create the foundation for the next season. The Haan vineyards are predominately cane pruned to allow 30 buds per cane. The intention is to create a balanced vineyard that will produce the premium fruit sought for the next vintage.
Trellising/Plant Structure
Our vineyard trellising is mainly VSP (vertical shoot positioning) with two canes to produce a ballerina effect - 80% of the shoots are upright and 20% form the skirt.
Budburst
Depending on the seasonal conditions, bud burst will generally occur early September, beginning with bud swell and then the new season's green shoots appear. It is during the following weeks that we keep our fingers crossed and hope that there aren't any frost events to damage these tender new shoots.
Flowering
Early December we again ask the weather to be kind with no high winds or rain that will disrupt the flowers that will eventually lead to fruit set.
Veraison
This change is the beginning of the ripening process where the red varieties change colour from green to purple/magenta and the white varieties to golden and pale colours, and the internal acid converts to sugar.
Harvest
Harvest is the culmination of all our endeavors throughout the growing season, and marks the beginning of life for a bottle of wine. If the grapes are being hand picked this will usually commence early morning. If they are being machine picked this will generally occur during the night when temperatures are cooler.