A Year in the Vineyard

(Dechaunac - page 1)

On these pages you will view images of 3 grape vines from before pruning to harvest.

DeChaunac Red
A Blue/Black Grape for Red or Rose Wine

Want to make DeChaunac Wine? Click here for the DeChaunac Grape Page....


DeChaunac in row 53 before pruning	Same vine after pruning in late march 2002 (click on picture for close-up)

This dechaunac vine in row 53 is how I would like all of my vines to be. (2 trunks, a mature cordon on the top wire and spurs (I use 5 bud spurs) across the top cordon.) I use a system called "single wire cordon" pruning. There are many ways to prune and train vines but this is what works for me in a vineyard with over 20 different varieties of grapes.

I use many different things to tie the vines, twine works very good along with various plastice devices. In recent years I have used a lot of "Clip-It" ties. The top cordon has been "wraped" around the top wire (when it is still small). This keeps tying the vine to a minimun & it is sometimes called a "no tie" system (although there is still a lot of tieing involved).

This picture was taken May 6, 2001. It shows DeChaunac buds in the "bud swell" stage. The bud on the left is normal and the right one has frost damage from last April.

Frozen Grape Buds

This is DeChaunac on May 31 after a bad freeze on May 19/21.

This spring is very cold and late and even though the buds were delayed there was much damage. Most of the new shoot are supposed to be coming from the 5 bud spurs that we left on the vine. This year the majority of them are coming from the main trunk. Fortunately the DeChaunac variety is very fruitfull and I can already see small grape clusters on these vines.

Grape Flower Cluster

See the flower cluster. This will bloom and become a bunch of grapes

New Growth on a Grapevine

DeChaunac vine in mid-June

Grapevine Growing in Summer

Same vine in late June
Vine is exploding in growth!

Grapevine in Bloom

The grapes are now in bloom. See the very tiny white petals.
Click here for a series of bloom pictures.

Grapevine in Late July

Grapevine with Clusters almost Ripe

In late July this DeChaunac vine and the berry clusters (above & right pictures) are almost full size. The berries are even starting to change color slightly. DeChaunac berries tend to do this earlier than other varieties.

Dechaunac Ripe Grape Clusters

September 1, The DeChaunac clusters are ripening up.
These clusters will be ready to pick in mid September.

Grapevine after a hard frost in the fall

Freezing temperatures hit the DeChaunac vine in mid October & it quickly returns to just how it was before pruning.


Cranking up bird netting after the harvest


Installing Geneva Double Curtain cross arms late in the year.

	A hard frost in late fall has burned the leaves off of the vines and ended the season for this year. In a few days all the leaves will be gone.