Oh no!

Oh yes!  The Syrah is awakening.  Sigh.
I finished pruning Vinoland's Cabernet sauvignon vines last Sunday, the 1st of March.  Pruning is complete that is, I have not yet tied down the canes (best done as a separate vineyard operation).  I was very busy last weekend and I'm going to be very busy this weekend too.  I started to prune the Syrah vines today, apparently not a moment too soon.
Not quite as advanced as when I started to prune the Syrah last year (although close), bud swell/budbreak is indeed happening in a few random vines, not all of them.  But enough to make me wonder if I should start to think about panicking, or just get stuck in and prune like there's no tomorrow.  I'll resurface Monday.

Now, I'm panicking!

I spoke too soon, because I have started to panic.  Why I hadn't bothered to look at the Syrah vines before today is beyond me, so when I did make the effort to go and have a peek at what the vines were up to I was horrified.  I discovered that bud-swell (and lots of budbreak), is much further along than I would have liked.  Drat! 
I had to abandon pruning in the Cabernet vines because the Syrah vines simply cannot wait.  I did, with Vinomaker's help in removing last year's growth from the trellising, get quite a bit pruned.  It makes it very difficult to prune when the buds are so advanced, as even the simple act of pulling the old growth away from the trellis wires can easily knock off adjacent buds - never mind the fiddly process of wrapping and tying down the new canes.
I will get everything pruned eventually, even with my day-job paring into my pruning time, but I will have to accept the loss of some crop.  At least the Orange Muscat and Pinot grigio pruning went smoothly this season.