Exceptional wine begins in the vineyard, and at Dablon Vineyards, we strive to produce exceptional grapes. Our vineyard practices focus on growing high-quality, full flavor grapes that will become distinctive, elegant wines. Our soil, composed of rocks, minerals, clay, sand and gravel provide the perfect foundation for growing our grapes. Balancing the right amount of green growth – leaves and shoots - with the amount of fruit per shoot and clusters per vine is crucial for grape quality. Throughout the growing season, we work with the vines - training the shoots, removing leaves, and thinning clusters in order to achieve the proper balance.
Our vines are planted in rows spaced 8 feet apart with the plants at 3-foot spacing. This close spacing allows us to plant 1815 vines per acre. Our vines are trained using vertical shoot positioning on a four-wire trellis system. We grow two canes from the ground to the first wire where we wrap them horizontally on the wire. The canes produce shoots which get positioned vertically through the remaining 3 catch wires. The grapes grow on the vertical shoots. We chose this training method because it allows us to control the canopy, as well as the sun exposure throughout the day. We are then able to balance the proper amount of green growth with the amount of fruit for exceptional quality.
