Vineyard Canopy Management for High-End Napa Valley Cabernet

The thought process for "leafing" pulling leaves and lateral shoots on a Cabernet vine. Light is important to develop fruit flavors and burn off green flavors that will be extracted into the final wine.

[@lukepaugh162]

I'm going to be planting a small vineyard this spring. And one of your podcasts about pesticides and organic growing got me considering how to manage powdery mildew and frost instead of spraying. I know some greenhouses will build a cinder block wall and paint it black as a means of passive solar heating. My idea is to build pathways using the same cinder blocks between some rows. Black to the center of the row and white closer to the Vines. The black will absorb and store heat further warming the soil for longer and the white will reflect some of the light up under the canopy. With higher posts you could also fix mirrors above the canopy to focus more light on the black blocks.