Overcrowded bunches of Touriga Franca - risk of decay

Very good weather conditions during the flowering (warm temperatures and slow wind) originated a high rate of fertilized berries. This situation seldom occurs because during the month of May temperatures are unstable and there’s a high probability of rain.

This year, nearly all of the flowers of our bunches were fertilized. This becomes a big issue in varietals like Touriga Franca because its small little bunches get so packed, that when the raindrops go through the berries, they may cause the decay of the insider berries. The consequence of this is that these rotted bunches can’t be harvested. We crossed our fingers, expecting a fly attack that reduced the number of berries in the bunch but this did not happen and now we have too many berries in each bunch.

During the last years no problems of decay have occurred. This year the bunch is not so well protected but we hope the weather is by our side and doesn’t rain a couple of weeks before the harvest.

Thank you Eduardo for pointing this out.

Oscar