(TFP) - “It’s been a great season so far,” says Paul Goldberg, vineyard manager of Bettinelli Vineyards, Napa, Calif. “Coming off of two really good seasons, we’re all crossing our fingers for a third one. This year’s crop looks to be fairly normal in size. But there is still a lot of summer left.”

By mid-June the stage had been set for a good balance of proper grape ripening and adequate yields this year in the vineyards of Napa Valley.

Ample rain in late winter and continuing into the spring helped fill most of the reservoirs used for irrigating the vines later in the season. Favorable weather warmed up the soils early, prompting buds to break open about one to two weeks sooner than usual and encouraging strong, early vine growth. No extreme high or low temperatures and no unusual insect pressure to stress the vines. Plus, at least in his case, a good set with only a little shatter in isolated areas offered the potential for most of this year’s crop to be fairly normal in size.

“It’s been a great season so far,” says Paul Goldberg, vineyard manager of Bettinelli Vineyards, Napa, Calif. “Coming off of two really good seasons, we’re all crossing our fingers for a third one. This year’s crop looks to be fairly normal in size. But there is still a lot of summer left.”

With healthy vines and decent-sized canopies as the summer solstice approached, Goldberg’s crews were continuing to pull laterals and starting to remove basal leaves around clusters. This was to balance exposure to dappled sunlight and air movement, enhancing quality of the developing berries and minimizing any threat of powdery mildew threat.