Veraison at Bricoleur Vineyards

Veraison Has Arrived: Tom Pierson on the Turning Point in Our Pinot Noir

It's an exciting time of year out in the estate Pinot Noir: veraison is underway. Here's winemaker Tom Pierson on what that means for the vines, and for the wine in your glass.

"This is the time of year where the vine transitions from focusing on canopy growth and leaf development into really loading sugars into the grape clusters. You can see this in our Swan clone, one of the Pinot Noir clones we farm here at the estate, and it's moving through veraison as the clusters start to turn more purple.

Up until this point, the vines have gone through bud burst, flowering, and fruit set. This vintage, the 2026 vintage, had a particularly warm March and a wet April, so we haven't had to irrigate the vines at our estate at all. During that key growth phase after flowering and fruit set, that's when the vines and grape clusters really develop the precursors that result in the flavors and colors you'll find in the finished wine.

Prior to veraison, during that phase of canopy development, flowering, and fruit set, the vine is putting out the precursors that will contribute to flavor compounds, tannins, and color. To help encourage those positive developments, we try to induce a bit of stress in the vine. That's part of why we didn't need to irrigate this vintage: we got the water we needed in April, we had healthy canopy development, and up until veraison, we want that positive stress, because we know it results in the compounds that create a lovely Pinot Noir.

Once veraison has gone through entirely in our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blocks, we may choose to irrigate depending on weather events. Now that we've hit veraison, we'll quickly see the blocks move through it, with full purple clusters in the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay shifting from dark green to a yellowish green. From here, we may irrigate simply to keep the vines healthy and strong as we head toward the finish line: our pick dates, coming in mid to late August."