August in the vineyard is an exciting time—the grapes are developing on the vine and the countdown to Harvest has officially begun! On Long Island, the grape harvest season typically begins around Labor Day. In the past few years, looking at our vineyard and the grape varietals we are growing, we typically see our first fruit being harvested the second week of September.
Over the next several weeks Ildo, our Vineyard Manager, and the entirety of our Vineyard Team will be working tirelessly across our 54-acre certified sustainable vineyard (which is spread across three different vineyard sites, two in Cutchogue and one in Southold) to ensure that the fruit continue developing into top quality grapes.
We are proud to farm 54-acres of Certified Sustainable Vineyards—we currently hold certifications through Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing and New York State Sustainable Winegrowing. Of the three vineyards, two are located in Cutchogue. The Oregon Road Vineyard, our main vineyard site, is comprised of primarily red grapes and is situated on the land surrounding our tasting room. On this vineyard site we grow Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The Bridge Lane Vineyard property is the original vineyard site of Lieb, where we have the largest contiguous planting of Pinot Blanc at 14 acres, along with 4 acres of Chardonnay, and an additional 5 acres of Merlot. And because all of that isn’t enough, we lease an additional 10 acre vineyard in Southold where we grow Terldego, Syrah, Lagrein, and Golden Muskatel.
Having multiple vineyard sites presents a number of logistical challenges but allows us the flexibility to work with a larger variety of grape varietals than we would be able to otherwise as not all varietals are best suited to every vineyard site. Want to know more about our vineyards? Checkout the Vineyards page on our website.
In the last few weeks we completed leaf pulling—the process of removing leaves in the prime fruiting zone to expose the grape clusters for better airflow and refocus the vines energy to photosynthesis in the canopy, and have lifted all of the wires on the vines ensuring that the canopy is well supported for the duration of the growing season.
Throughout the first half of the month of August, we will be assessing the need for any green harvesting and assessing our ongoing spray program to combat the persistent humidity that we have seen this summer. Green Harvesting, also known as fruit dropping, is the process of culling the clusters, or trimming off and dropping an excess of grape clusters, to ensure that the vine is focusing its energy on sending all of its photosynthesis nutrients to the correct ratio of clusters to ensure that they ripen to the desired amount ensuring the high quality of grapes and eventually wine that we always strive for. This process is essential, particularly in a cooler year. Towards the middle of the month we will start to see the grape clusters going through Veraison, when color starts to appear in the skins of the grape and we transition from the growth of the berry to the ripening of the fruit on the vine. Once veraison begins in the vineyard, the bird netting will be lifted to protect the grapes from the birds and we essentially “hurry up and wait.”
We are now entering the “calm before the storm,” July was a very busy month in the vineyard setting up the vineyard conditions to allow for the fruit to ripen the way we intend. Now as we move into August we are maintaining that same level of rigor and attention to the vines but can take a more hands off approach and let Mother Nature do her work!
This time of year at the winery it is sanitation, sanitation, sanitation! As our winemaker Russell Hearn is so fond of saying, “Winemaking is 70% Sanitation, 20% Perspiration, 9% inspiration, 1% Degustation… but only at the end of the day.” Brad, our Assistant Winemaker, along with the rest of the cellar crew are busy scrubbing the winery from top to bottom, cleaning all the harvest equipment, and preparing the winery for the arrival of fruit starting sometime around Labor Day weekend!
