Thursday, March 29, 2012

Progress report.

The Orange muscat vines are seemingly full of the joys of spring and are racing, bud first, towards their initial sulphur application of the 2012 growing season.  The vine's leaves don't look like they were damaged by the two most recent frosts in Napa.  However, frosts this time of year are an ongoing threat to winegrowers the length and breadth of the valley. Back on April 21st 2008, Napa experienced it's latest spring frost in 35 years, causing widespread losses to growers of white and red grape varieties.  Nobody wants to see a repeat of those particular climatic conditions.
I finished pruning the Syrah vines today...whoo hoo!  Like last year, the buds were already pushing which made tying the canes down a little difficult.  I still have to finish tying down the canes in the Cabernet sauvignon block and weather permitting I hope to be all finished by Sunday.  At least, that's the plan.

3 comments:

Vinomaker said...

Funny, each year we think that bud break is later than previous years, only to discover that all of them are actually within a couple of days of each other. I guess that is why those decisions should be left to the vines themselves, not the vineyard custodians!

phlegmfatale said...

It's a pretty little thing, holding the promise of delights. :)

Vinogirl said...

VM: Yes, the vines seem to know what they are doing.

Phleggmy: The buds always look so new and shiny when they first open.