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.

2014, already?

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to do a comparative tasting of Cabernet Sauvignons from the Oakville AVA.  Four out of the six wines included in the tasting were from the 2014 vintage: the other 2 were 2013s.  What?  That's crazy!  I'm only just getting acquainted with the 2013 vintage, which, in my opinion, is a young vintage that needs to be laid down (and forgot about) for a quite a few years yet.
My favourite of the assemblage was a Plumpjack Winery, 2014 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  With 5% Petit Verdot thrown into the blend, this Cabernet was complex and layered. Surprisingly, a dizzying 15.6% alcohol content - winemaker Aaron Miller told me the fruit hung a little long that year - was not a problem.  This wine is so balanced, fruit forward (lots of cherry - red and black), well integrated oak and with a palate-pleasing acidity, that there was no telltale burn from the high alcohol.  Just loved it.
On the home front, today I started pruning for the 2017 vintage of Vinoland's Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon.  Tee, hee!

Hail, filaree!

I spent most of the day finishing off tying down the Syrah canes.  And dodging hailstones.
Beginning with my morning perambulation with V2 (when we both had to run and take cover to avoid being peppered with hail), I was interrupted, about every six vines, by another heavy salvo. The hailstones were very tiny, but plentiful.  It was also very chilly, so the hailstones lingered in small drifts against walls, fences and tree trunks. And cupped in the leaves of weeds that grow in rosettes, e.g., dandelion, catsear, bristly oxtongue and this whitestem filaree (Erodium moschatum).  Brrr.
I didn't have a lot of fun as I worked, but I did eventually finish the Syrah, yay!  Now, on to the Cabernet Sauvignon.

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!

Mushroom crowd.

It stopped raining last night.  Today the clouds parted, the sun came out and I finished pruning the Pinot grigio vines, yay!  I even tied the canes down on one row, double yay!  It was a rather squishy affair, as I was within inches of Vinoland's overflowing creek, but I kept both of my wellies on my feet by moving as little as was humanly possible.
One consequence of all the rain, (besides all the mud, flooding, a dirty Vinodog and boredom), is that some interesting fungi have popped up around Vinoland.
The poison pie mushroom (Hebeloma crustuliniforme) is, as the name suggests, moderately toxic to humans and usually appears in the autumn. But due to the fact that winters in California are so mild, this winter the poison pie mushrooms are enjoying an extended run in Vinoland.
There is always something to distract me, sigh.

True Wine Lover 18.

Rain stopped pruning.  Sigh.  So retreat indoors I did and amused myself with a bit of light reading.
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, was an English writer and scholar. But he was also somewhat of  a wine expert who possessed a rather extensive wine collection.  Published in 1920, Notes on a Cellar-Book is really a book about an inventory; a detailed list, written in a simple exercise book, of the contents of Saintsbury's wine cellar - and the memories of all the wines, beers and spirits Saintsbury had consumed over his lifetime.  And he had consumed a lot.  Surely Saintsbury was a devoted, true lover of wine to go to all that bother of inventorying his cellar.  And his mind.
It's an interesting read, very English, very English (he rails against Prohibition in the U.S.) and indispensable to anybody who wants to know how to keep whiskey and brandy in barrels in one's own cellar. (I mean, why wouldn't one?) George Saintsbury, whilst waxing lyrical about the wonder that is wine, once remarked, "...vintage wine, one of the most perfect of nature's products".  Hear, hear!

Happy Groundhog Day.

This morning in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (in actuality, a spot called Gobbler's Knob...titter, titter), Punxsutawney Phil, the unfortunate, grudging-groundhog who is unceremoniously dragged out of his ersatz tree stump every year, saw his shadow.  I was hoping that Phil's prognostication of six more weeks of winter would perhaps be for the east coast only. But alas, the rain has returned here on the west coast.
Nevertheless, I donned my rain jacket and ventured out into the vineyard to continue with my pruning.  Surprisingly, I got quite a bit of done before the rain just got too heavy for me to carry on.  It is forecast to rain for the next 10 days, or so.  Great.  But at least it is not cold.  I am predicting that I will be experiencing a fortnight of rather soggy vineyard work.  Lovely.

Pinot prunio.

Today was my first day off in almost two weeks that it hasn't rained. Thank goodness!  So I was able to get out into the vineyard to begin pruning the Pinot grigio vines.  Yay!

It is still rather wet in the vineyard, so I was very careful about where I trod: it always amazes me how quickly a small, soggy gopher mound can turn into a fully fledged quagmire.  Vinoland's creek has almost retreated back behind its banks, but it is impossible to walk anywhere near the flood plain without having at least one wellie ripped off.  Hate when that happens.

Pruning 2017.

It may be a Friday the 13th, but I was lucky enough to be able to get out into the vineyard for a little while today.  The weather was very pleasant this afternoon which meant I was able to start pruning.  It was cold, sunny and, most importantly, dry.
As usual, I started to prune the Orange Muscat vines first.  It is the earliest date on which I have ever started to prune, but I am anticipating more rain in the coming weeks, so I thought I'd get an early start.  I love pruning, so I'm not complaining.  Prune on!