Grape Shatter: Dealing with Circumstances Beyond our Control
My heart sank to see dense fog hugging the ground and obscuring the view as we approached Rockpile Ridge Vineyards. I’d been hoping for a clear, sunny day to do a spring photo shoot. But as we drove through the gate and began the descent on the dirt road, a thick, white wall of moisture made it impossible to tell how steep the drop was on the right as we made the hairpin turn. I was grateful to be following the owner’s truck, as she knew the way. When we arrived at a wide spot above Jack’s Cabin Vineyard, we parked facing what might have been a stunning view of Lake Sonoma, but we could barely see halfway down the hill.
I was so disappointed. I had done everything in my power to set us up for success. I had hired the best production team, chosen the picture-perfect location, rallied amazing volunteer actors, and even picked what I thought would be the best date on the calendar for sun. Instead, the vines and the surrounding hills were shrouded in mist. Every tiny leaf was dripping with moisture. The previous day had been gorgeous and warm. I sighed and said out loud, “Well, I guess you can’t control the weather,” and like a winegrower, I gathered my team and shifted our strategy. We turned around, followed a short path to the port vineyard and focused on close-up shots.
Much like my recent experience with pea-soup fog for a photo shoot, grape shatter in the vineyard illustrates the impact weather can have on an entire harvest of grapes and the importance of quickly creating a pivot plan to deal with the unexpected. Grape shatter, or “coulure” (pronounced coo-LYUR) in French, is when a grape flower fails to properly pollinate. Shortly after bud break, tiny inflorescences, which have been pushed out with itty-bitty leaves, pop open into delicate flowers. Once pollinated, the flowers become berries which eventually turn into fruit. The time between flowering and fruit set is when winegrowers pray for goldilocks weather – not too hot and not too cold, not too dry and not too wet, and just the right amount of breeze. Grapes are self-pollinating, which means the pollen from one miniscule flower needs to be gently moved from flower to flower without the help of bees. If there is an untimely hard freeze, a vineyard can lose much of its crop, especially if the winegrower doesn't have a good strategy for mitigating the low temperatures. Likewise, if there is a hard rain or blustery day, a certain percentage of the flowers will be lost.
Over the next few weeks here in Sonoma County, tender green shoots on every vine will be growing quickly. If you keep your eyes on a vine and look away for even a second, you’ll swear it grew an inch! Flowers will be joyfully appearing, and every winegrower will be paying close attention to the spring weather. It could possibly affect their plan for harvest!
Fragile flowers bursting out of inflorescences.
As I was grieving the foggy weather for the photo shoot, I realized we would have to make the best of the circumstances, and we began to plan for a different outcome than we had expected. In the end, we were able to get some gorgeous footage in the misty vineyard. Bonus, after a couple of hours, the fog lifted enough so we could see the lake at the bottom of the vineyard.
When circumstances beyond our control shatter our exuberant, even strategic plans for the future, we must learn to navigate the damage and mitigate where we can, making the best of a new reality. The loss is real, and we ought to take a moment to grieve. But then, it’s time to pivot.
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
These are the kinds of issues we discuss during a Conversations in the Vineyard Spring retreat. We ask questions like:
What can we learn from grape shatter that informs our own decisions about flourishing in the midst of challenging circumstances that swirl around us?
Let’s work through challenges together! Join us in person on our Spring Retreat or online at a Vineyard + Leadership Webinar. Schedule a call or simply send me an email.
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As always, I’m with you on the journey through the seasons.
Susie