January to March is the winter pruning time whilst the vines are resting. It is often a struggle to get them pruned in time before they awaken in early Spring. The vines are spur pruned to leave each plant with 12-15 buds. this ensures healthy new growth which is vital as vines only produce grapes on the new growth. From March to June the vines bud and then sprout fairly feeble looking 2-3 leaf clusters. Each year I can't believe that they will produce the huge amounts of foliage that they will later. June to September is all about fruit set and 'jungle' control. The flowering is usually from the third week of June and stable dry conditions make for a good set. We have all had Russian vine in the garden and these Vitis Vinifera are related. We have to leave enough leaf to ripen the sugars in the grapes but not so much that the plant puts all its efforts into the leaf and ignores the fruit. We usually trim back the foliage and remove excess fruit to allow the rest a better chance of ripening about mid to late August. September to December is the ripening and picking season. "Veraison" as the French say (when the fruit ripens and matures) seems to happen fairly quickly, but even after the colour of the grapes has changed a further period of ripening is allowed to raise the sugars and lower the acids to a perfect balance. Good airflow is important among the vines to reduce the prevalence of fungal diseases, which can mean hand-picking leaves from in front of the bunches to let the sun reach the grapes! We pick the early ripening Ortega in about the third week of September and have to wait till the second or third week of October for the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, praying for no frost! The latest we have picked is the 5th November.