Ouch, that hurts!

This looks worse than it actually is, or at least I hope so.  The vine has not had a serious accident, although it looks like it's sporting a giant bandage. This rootstock has just been grafted to Syrah.  I tend to be a bit anthropomorphic so if I thought in the least that my poor vines felt anything during field budding I would be devastated.  The process involves using an extremely sharp knife to cut a bud from a lignified shoot of a chosen cultivar, making a corresponding cut on the rootstock, taping with a special tape, whacking off most of the rootstocks summer growth and covering the whole thing up under a mound of dirt...until April.  Yes, you have to wait a long time to see if your work was fruitful. It's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and at least this year I didn't almost cut my pinkie off!!!