Nets up

Getting in before the birds is part of growing grapes and making wine. Glenys and Barry loaned us their net applicator, Rex came to help. 32 degrees so it was a warm day. There was a bit of mucking around and sorting things out before we got underway. We had enough nets to cover 9 rows.

David drove the tractor, I stood on the back of the tractor and fed the nets out and took photos, Rex and Barry stretched the nets and made sure the mid line of the nets was on top of the vines. While this took a couple of hours, this was the easy bit. The next step was to pin the nets to the ground. Every metre, the base of the net is gathered, twisted, and then pierced by a metal peg, by hand, and by David, Richard and me. Where the ground is stoney, and a metal peg hits a stone, its is impossible to hammer the peg in. So we used rubber pegs. That sounds easy, and it is once you have the rubber pegs. We didnt have them, so
while Richard and David continued to labour, I hopped into the car and drove to Martinborough, to Glenys' house, picked up 100 rubber pegs, and drove back to Masterton. Before doing this
we had a serious discussion whether to begin again, and draw wires around the length of each end post so we could tuck the nets under. And, nail netw stretchers along on the posts to keep the nets out. Being on the edge of feeling apoplectic, in response to the time and money this option would take, gave me an indication that I wasn't in favour of neither spending the money to do this, nor doing the work.

Once we discovered the rubber pegs worked and Glenys had some we could immediately have, the sun continued to shine, and we began talking with one another again. We have naviagatd our crises of confidence in the face of the seemingly impenetrable unforgiving earth which is nuturing our vines.

By the end of the weekend we had completed three rows. On the Monday, each of us had exruciatingly sore legs from kneeling and standing over 300 times. However the grapes were safe from marauding birds, starlings, and are beginning to turn dark purple. You can see how we pulled the nets out rather than having them hanging directly down. This is because Wairarapa birds are wiley; they fly into the nets and eat the fruit. If we pull them out in this way, they don't have a chance.

What we are beginning to discover is our fruit is ripening in vastly different rates. In the first four rows, the grapes are deep purple, in the next four, they are green. We are discovering we have a mix of varieties, and the overhead canopies of some of the rows just isnt letting the sun in long enough.

Last night we walked the vines, counting how many bottles of wine we might finally get from the first row. Hmmmm, around 36! perhaps a smaller vintage in our first year. I think the word boutique applies here.