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.

The old and the new.

New Cabernet sauvignon leaves, old Cabernet sauvignon tendrils.
Vinoland's grapevines are enjoying a fantastic start to the 2017 growing season.  All four grape varieties are flourishing right now; lots of vigour in the vines, so lots of shoot stuffing for me to perform.
The weather has been a bit up and down, mid 90°s last week, mid 60°s the past two days.  I hope we are not going to have another cool growing season like that of 2011.  Only time will tell.

Happy St. Valentine's Day: 2016.

There haven't been many posts on Vinsanity of late.  Why?  Well, I have been busy being busy and being sick.  But the primary reason is that I have been suffering from being short on inspiration.
Pruning is coming along slow but sure.  This Pinot grigio tendril wanted to wish everyone a wonderful St. Valentine's Day - it was being romantic.
Happy St. Valentine's Day to you all.

I saw some grapes.

I saw a lot of grapes, actually.  Of late, I have been reading in the local newspaper about the beginning of the 2015 harvest, hither and thither, in Napa vineyards.  It wasn't until my commute to TWWIAGE this morning that I witnessed several harvests for myself.  (Notably, Sauvignon blanc on the Silverado Trail - belonging to Mondavi, methinks.)  It's a fun time of year, but also the beginning of a very busy time.
This curlicue Orange muscat tendril, photographed some three weeks ago, is now a thing of the past: these vines are definitely going through veraison.  Another vintage is on the way.

Tendrils gone wild.

If any further evidence was needed to prove that a grape cluster is a modified tendril, here it is - one of several hundred morphing-into-mini-cluster-tendrils that were hanging about in the Cabernet Sauvignon canopy...y'know, flowering and stuff.  Well, they were until I cut them off in their prime. 
I spent the entire past weekend stuffing shoots under trellis wires and removing the aforementioned modified tendrils, along with any other opportunistic secondary fruit clusters (on lateral shoots).  I needed to get the vineyard whipped into shape before the rain, which was forecast for the next two days, appeared.  And rain it did, much more than I expected.  Rain this time of year is not at all detrimental to the grapevines, it really is just more of a nuisance.  And now, with all the shoots stuffed, Vinomaker can easily navigate the newly tamed rows to re-sulphur the vines and protect them from powdery mildew.

Half hitched.

This is a little bit of overkill in the tendril department, but that's Pinot grigio for you.  This particular grapevine is making a statement - it's not going anywhere!

Love me tendril.

Now that the Orange muscat vines are at enough of an advanced stage that one can discern some distinct features of the grapevine, I thought I'd take a closer look at the various goings on at the tip of the new shoots.

In botany, plant morphology is the study of the specific forms and shapes of an organism.  A tenet of plant morphology is that there are three basic components of a higher plant (those having a vascular system); stem, leaf and root - all other plant structures are modifications of this trio of fundamental building blocks. Morphologically speaking Vitaceae, the family to which the grapevine belongs, is characterised by the occurrence of tendrils and inflorescences (both homologous organs) that emerge opposite leaves. The tendril of a grapevine is in actual fact a modified leaf whilst the inflorescence (or flower cluster) is a modified tendril.
The tendrils themselves are extremely interesting structures: pressure-sensitive modified leaves that reflect the climbing habit of the grapevine and occur in a repeating pattern (two on, one off) along the entire length of a shoot...blah, blah, blah!  It is the appearance of the modified tendrils, that usually form at the second and third position on a shoot, that I am most interested in and happy to see.  The modification of a tendril into a grapevine's flower cluster, and the successful pollination of those flowers, is the little miracle that translates into a future glass of wine.
Morph on little tendrils!

Napa nest 4.

Working in the Pinot grigio vines this afternoon, I came across this little architectural masterpiece. Woven from a diminutive grass variety, and lined with what looks like Vinodog fur, the nest is too large to be a hummingbird's nest and too small to be that of a California Towhee. There is not a shred of evidence left inside, like an eggshell fragment, or a downy feather, that would help me identify the builder. I will just have to keep on guessing as to the identity of the mystery mastermind behind this marvelous construction, who was genius enough to utilise the vine's tendrils as structural anchors.

Patterns in nature.

Two very busy days in the vineyard; stuffing shoots, removing some over zealous laterals, and checking for powdery mildew...which, unfortunately, I found a couple of pockets of. Not to worry, the vines are getting a good dose of sulphur tomorrow morning. Also on the agenda for Saturday is the planting of the last of the Pinot gris bench grafts which I collected from the nursery last Thursday.
Even though I often have my head buried in the canopy, looking closely at what is going on in there, I still notice little gems that Mother Nature has seemingly, purposely placed in my path as a welcome distraction from my work. Vines are great!