Véraison Has Begun: Watching the Vines Turn

Walk our vineyards right now and you’ll catch something remarkable happening in real time: véraison. It’s the moment each grape cluster shifts from hard, green berries into the deep reds and purples we associate with wine, and it’s happening on the vine as we speak.

Véraison (vair-ay-zohn) marks the turning point of the growing season. Up until now, the berries have spent months growing through simple cell division, staying green, firm, and tart. Once véraison begins, that growth stops. The berries start to soften, sugar starts to climb, acidity starts to drop, and for our red varieties, pigments kick in that turn the skins from green to red to a deep, inky purple.

It doesn’t happen all at once. Look closely at a single cluster, like the ones in these photos, and you’ll see berries in every stage side by side: some still green, some blushing, some already fully colored. That unevenness is normal. Véraison typically ripples through a vineyard block over a week or two before the whole crop is in sync.

For us, véraison is the unofficial six-to-eight week countdown to harvest. It’s when we start walking the rows more often, watching sugar levels, and thinking hard about picking dates. It’s also one of our favorite times of year in the vineyard: there’s a real sense that the wine to come is starting to take shape, right there on the vine.

If you want to taste what all that ripening eventually becomes, we’d love to have you at The Saint. Our tastings walk you through the story of each vintage, from vineyard to glass, in our 1905 bank vault in downtown St. Helena.