The blushing bud.

I may have missed budbreak in the Syrah vines this year, but my buddies in the Cabernet Sauvignon block waited for me to get back to Vinoland before doing their thing.  Thanks pals, much appreciated.
I just love spring.  The vernal equinox, which occurred this year as I was winging my way over the Atlantic, conventionally heralds the beginning of spring.  As a child, it also meant that my birthday was the next day (GMT-ish).  What is there not to like about spring and the rebirth, rejuvenation and regrowth of...every weed in Vinoland?  Yup, did quite a bit of weeding this afternoon (and planted my first tomato plant), but I barely made a dent in the lushness that is Vinoland right now.  Oh well, keeps me busy and out of trouble.

Piles of prunings.

I finished pruning and tying down Vinoland's Pinot grigio vines today.  The vines are all seemingly healthy and robust, so there was a lot of wood to prune off.  The pruned wood is now neatly piled, at each end of the rows, awaiting Vinomaker and his chipper.
I'm always filled with a moderate sense of accomplishment when I am finished with one varietal, especially when I've had a relatively straight forward time of it.  And happy that I didn't even get a blister.  Phew!
Now on to the Syrah vines...

PG snips.

I started pruning Vinoland's Pinot grigio vines today.  After two days of rain it was pretty soggy out in the vineyard, and chilly, so I had to talk myself into getting started.  But once I got started, I was immediately reminded of how much I enjoy pruning; it's just me, the grapevines and my trusty Felco 6s.  Oh, and the little black and white dog that couldn't stop barking at a possum, cat, skunk, or something, hunkered down in a drainage pipe, that was trying to avoid her.  Prune on!

And so it begins.

Pruning has started in Vinoland.  This afternoon, taking advantage of the sunny, but chilly, dry weather I began to prune Vinoland's Orange muscat vines.  I didn't get very far; failing light, and a mouthy little dog who wanted to go for a walk, curtailed my progress.  But I did get started and that is all that counts.  Roll on vintage 2018.

A fortnight later.

It has been two whole weeks since I finished pruning in Vinoland, but today, finally, I noticed budbreak in the Cabernet Sauvignon vines.  It's not that budbreak is behind this year, it's just that I have a very definite schedule of my own this spring.  The vines are all behaving well. Well, perhaps all except the Orange Muscat vines which have about 8-9 inches of growth already - the little whippersnappers!  Growing season 2017 is definitely upon us.

Don't rain on my Syrah.

A fine first day of spring this turned out to be: the rain is back.  It seems that I really did finish pruning in the nick of time.
At breakfast this morning, as I sleepily gazed out of the window, I thought I noticed a little fuzz of green in the Syrah vines.  Sure enough, this evening, upon closer inspection, in the rain, with V2 in tow (who had the expectation of going for a walk when I got home from TWWIAGE, not looking at some upright twigs in a downpour), I can confirm that budbreak is happening in the Syrah.  I am happy that the vines are having a great start to growing-season 2017, but they do look a little forlorn and soggy.

Tied and tired.

I'm done!  I achieved the goal I set for myself and pruning is finished for 2017.  It took a lot of effort, I ignored a lot of other stuff I could've been doing and my hands are sore, but all the vines are pruned and the canes are tied down.  It feels great to be finished.  Whoo hoo!
Meanwhile, one week later, the Orange Muscat vines seem to be growing before my very eyes. The baby shoots have lengthened about 3 inches in the past six days.  The nascent inflorescence are now clearly visible.  I love this time of year, but I'm just a bit tired to enjoy it right now.

Budbreak: PG-style.

I had my suspicions.  When I drove past the Pinot Grigio vines on my way to work yesterday, I thought there was something afoot.  And I was right. Seems the Pinot Grigio vines have been enjoying the spell of warm weather, as have I. We haven't missed the rain one bit.
The weather started to cool down Wednesday and it was forecast to rain last night, but it didn't, so I got a good day of pruning the Cabernet Sauvignon vines in.  I had set myself the goal of finishing pruning everything by this Sunday, the 19th of March.  Even though I have to work at TWWIAGE tomorrow, I think I am still on target.  Fingers crossed.

Evolution and the missing (internet) link.

This is what happens when one gets 4 days of mid 70° F temperatures, but doesn't have any internet access to document it sooner.  Not just budbreak, but fully fledged leaves.  The Orange Muscat grapevines are enthused, nature is taking its course.
Of course, the grapevines don't care if I have internet access or not. Then again, perhaps they do: I had 50 extra hours with nothing better to do than prune and preen the little miscreants.

Ready, steady, bud!

And there you have it - Orange Muscat budbreak, 2017.  Ever so slightly behind last year (not surprising seeing as Vinoland had just experienced 8 days of frosty mornings), the Orange Muscat vines are waking up from their long winter nap.  As expected, it is the apical buds that are the most enthused.  Go little buddies, but stay warm.
Meanwhile, I am frantically pruning the Syrah vines.  With rain forecast for the next two days, it means I will be pruning the vines with my waterproofs on.  Prune hearty!

Suspicious activity.

Yikes!  Bud swell has been spotted in the Orange Muscat (OM) vines. Today, I happened to glance at the OM when I was passing them by, gathering my things in order to start pruning the Syrah, and wasn't sure that what I was seeing was actually the expanding OM buds rupturing their scales.  Suspicious, that something was afoot, I went and had a look-see.  Yup, on closer inspection I discovered that the OM are indeed enthused and ready to get on with vintage 2017. Early pruning will do that, sigh.
In reality, the OM are only about a week earlier than last year, and they are even a little behind schedule when compared with the 2015 vintage. Bud swell just seems early to me this year.  It is probably because, due to the rain, I feel that I am a little behind.  Prune on, Vinogirl!

Tie down time.

Finished pruning the Syrah today, well, the actual cutting bit.  I still have a lot of canes to tie down in the Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the Syrah. Nevertheless, I am relieved to be almost finished, as some of the Syrah vines already have small leaves, not just budbreak.  I will have to enlist the help of Vinomaker to tie down the canes that have leaves, as I think double teaming those particular canes is the only way to make sure that none, or at least very few, of the buds are knocked off.  No buds, no fruit, no wine.  

The twain shall meet, sometimes.

It is rather gratifying, at least to this vine geek it is, when the pruned 8 bud canes, on neighbouring vines, meet perfectly in the middle of the fruiting wire.  Sometimes they do.  Sometimes they don't.  I just like it when they do.
When cane pruning, an angled cut, through the node following the last selected bud on a fruiting cane, effectively terminates apical growth on that cane.  The flared shape this cut produces aids in the tying down of the cane to the fruiting wire and ensures that a simple twist-tie can hold it in place.  In this photograph the 9th bud, on either of these new canes, sports the ever so convenient vestige of an old tendril which helps to exaggerate the flared shape and guarantees that the cane will stay put - until it's time to prune again next year.
I finished pruning both of Vinoland's white grape varieties today. Reds next.

Spur of the moment.

Displaying almost perfect form, this Orange Muscat vine was the first vine to be pruned in Vinoland for 2013.  Phew!  I'm always relieved to be finally started with this particular vineyard operation: pruning is the single, most important thing that you can do to a vine.
The pruned piece of wood in the foreground was last year's cane. This year's cane is on the right and grew last year from the uppermost bud of a two bud spur.  This year's two bud spur is on the left and it is the pruning unit that will grow this season and produce next year's cane and two bud spur.  And so on, and so forth.  Get it?  It's easier to grasp in person, I promise.
I'm not totally chuffed with the position of the lower bud, on the new spur, as it's facing too much toward the head of the vine.  But the upper bud, which will be next year's cane, is faultlessly facing along the fruiting wire.  I love pruning.

The trouble with...

...cordon-training grapevines is the number of cuts, wounds really, that are inflicted upon the vine every year at pruning time. Potentially, each cut is indeed a wound through which any of a number of pathogens could enter into the vine e.g. the fungal disease Eutypa lata.

In the best possible scenario, for the cordon-trained vine in the above photograph, the vine has a minimum of 20 pruning wounds; one to remove one of last year's shoots and one to form this year's new 2 bud spur in each of its ten different positions. In comparison, the head-trained/cane-pruned vines in Vinoland have a mere 6 wounds; one to remove last years cane, one at the end of the new cane and one to form this year's 2 bud spur. The less wounds, the less chance of infection.

However, sometimes large wounds are unavoidable and that's why I have been known to daub Dreft on large cuts. You can see two really large wounds in the photo but on the bright side, this particular vine now has two brand new spurs on this one cordon alone.

Of course, there are many other considerations for choosing one style of training over another, but I personally think vine health is one of the, if not the, most important.

Anyhow...congratulations to the folks at Far Niente on the budbreak of their 2011 Chardonnay vintage.

One snip at a time.

In stark contrast to the old vine in my last post, Vinoland's young Orange muscat vines are mere whippersnappers. However, just like the gnarly up-valley vine, this photograph shows a head-trained vine - on it's way to being, well, gnarly.
I started pruning today. The weather has been so nice I just had to find something to do outdoors so, accompanied by the Vinodogs, I decided to kick start the 2011 growing season by commencing with the white grape varieties. I had quite a few decisions to make in the OM block as many of the vines had been damaged by deer last year. I carefully selected this year's spur and cane positions, and took a little extra time to make sure I left enough buds so that the vine remembers it is in the business of producing a crop, not just vegetation. I didn't get much done, but it is a start.
If anyone needs to find me, over the next 6 weeks, I'll be in the vineyard.

Gnarly head.

As a rule, I do not like commuting. In the past, I have always had the good fortune to find employment in relatively close proximity to any place I have called home. Unfortunately, my current commute is 15 miles north from Vinoland, but it is one of the prettiest commutes anybody could wish for.
I drive past a lot of vineyards on my way to work, but perhaps my favourite is one located in the Stags Leap District AVA which contains within it some of the gnarliest, head trained vines to be found on the east side of the valley. I'm not really sure which winery the vineyard belongs to (nor even what grape variety it is planted to), I just love the seemingly character-riddled old vines who quietly do their thing year, after year.
The vineyard was pruned a day or two after I took this photo last week. The vines, with their new haircuts, are now patiently awaiting budbreak.

Veni, vidi...

Happy first day of spring!
I had a bit of a sleep in this morning but I was out pruning before the sun came up over the eastern Napa hills.  I pruned for most of the day, accompanied by the Vinodogs, and I am happy to say the Syrah is done. All the Syrah, that is, except for a few odd vines that need special attention.
The vines in Vinoland are head trained and cane pruned - meaning a 2 bud renewal spur and an 8 bud fruiting cane on each side - although there is one, short experimental row of Syrah that is cordon pruned. Cane-pruning is a slightly more labour intensive way of pruning but in the long run it makes for better fruit.  Ergo, good wine.