All the grapevines in Vinoland have pretty much shut down. In fact, driving through the valley, there aren't many leaves on vines to be seen anywhere - except for some apparently virused vines that are hanging onto their bright red leaves a little longer. This particular node that I photographed, although it's a very nice node - nice bud, nice abscission scar, nice tendril - seems to be having a little trouble shutting down, as some of the tissue on this vine has not fully lignified. The wood of this shoot is still slightly green and soft. This vine also has quite a few petioles that are still clinging onto their shoot for dear life having abscised their individual leaf blades (the petiole usually separates with the leaf blade still attached).
Now I'm not an expert, and if there is anyone out there that can enlighten me further please feel free to chime in, but I do know that poor lignification of grapevine tissue can be due to a number of factors, among them; virus infection, water stress, deficiency of nutrients (as well as an oversupply) and differing levels of phytohormones such as auxins and cytokinins.
It's just one grapevine so I'm not unduly worried, but it does give me pause for thought. And something else to research about the life and growing habits of these fascinating plants.
