Saturday, March 28, 2009

Even more budbreak.

As I was pruning our Cabernet sauvignon today I noticed that the Pinot grigio vines have woken up from their long winters nap. Everything is getting off to a good start. Even our table grapes are experiencing budbreak. The Cab, hopefully, is another two weeks away from pushing out it's little, fuzzy buds. Which is just as well as I am only half way through pruning. We have a few baby Cab vines that were put in last season and they are actually ahead of their older siblings. They were replanted for a number of reasons; gopher root-attacks, poor graft unions, Vinodog 2 blight, etc.
Cab pruning is hard work. There are so many tendrils, it is taking me forever to get last years wood off the trellis wires. I definitely prefer pruning Syrah.
Of course I stop what I am doing, now and then, to play tug of war with V2 as she tries to abscond with a cane. I stand still and watch the antics of the dozens of ladybirds that seemed to have populated the vineyard in the past few days. I pause, now and again, to observe the migration of Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui.) They flutter, from the south-east corner of the property to the north-west looking, for all the world, like a convoy of dancing flowers. I last witnessed this phenomenon about two years ago and they look so pretty I just have to delay my pruning to admire them.
I'm not usually so easily distracted, but there really are just so many good things to amuse me. The Cab will all be pruned eventually. Honest, Vinomaker.

2 comments:

Weston said...

Working hard eh? hah

Thud said...

Ger crackin!