Don't let the Syrah catch you crying.

Don't be fooled by the sunniness of this photograph - the sun was only out long enough for me to take this snap.  And that was it, in the blink of an aperture it was gone again.
I hadn't once thought about panicking this pruning-season, until yesterday that is.  All day, nonstop rain had me near tears (well, sort of) because things out in the vineyard are progressing whether I am out there pruning or not.  Since last week, the Syrah vines have decided to swell their little buds to almost breaking point, so frustrating.  I had considered just putting waterproofs on and pruning in the rain, but the constant downpour was just too torrential.  February had been so nice, I thought I had started to prune early enough to give myself plenty of time to prune all of Vinoland's grapevines.  Wrong!
I had just over 3 hours (according to the weather forecast on my iPhone) to prune as much as I could this afternoon.  (There was one, very heavy, five minute shower, but Vinodog 2 and I just sat in the back of the barn and waited for it to pass by.)  Amazingly, I did fairly well: I pruned like a Vinogirl possessed.  I just have one short, experimental row of cordon trained vines to go, but I am determined to also get all of the canes tied down before the end of the weekend. Rain, rain go away...

Orange you glad it's budbreak?

It was a busy day in the neighbourhood, well, this morning at least, then rain stopped play. And it rained hard all afternoon.  I did not manage to get anything pruned today and the forecast for the weekend is less than favourable for that particular vineyard activity.
The Far Niente vineyard crew have been pruning up a storm since Monday and thankfully, for them, it looks like they finished early this afternoon.  Interestingly, they did not pre-prune (aka double pruning or delayed pruning) this year, instead they pruned all the way down to two bud spurs to finish the job.  Probably the reason why they have been pruning in the one vineyard all week.
The general viticultural-consensus has it that pre-pruning can help stave off infection from Eutypa lata, a fungal disease of the grapevine. This year, the vineyard manager at TWWIAGE has also decided to forego pre-pruning in favour of a quick application of a fungicide, at pruning, that will hopefully prevent new infection in spurs and cordons.
It did stay dry long enough this morning for me to notice that budbreak has well and truly begun in the Orange Muscat vines (slightly later than last year), and bud swell in the Pinot grigio.  I need to get my skates on. Or, perhaps, a pair of water skis.