Anomaly Vineyards

The weathers that be must have heard my complaint about all the rain, as the past two days have been sunny and warm. The kind of sunny and warm that makes you want to take a good book and cup a' joe to a comfortable chair under a tree and just veg out. Speaking of vegging out, our crop of vines are beginning to do just that. As vintners, it seems that as much as there is always something to get excited about in the vineyard, there is also always something to worry about (guess that's true about life in general). So now we are worrying about bud break. The vines have just begun pushing out the tiny grape leaves that will eventually form a canopy to protect the grapes from sunburn--sort of like a built in SPF 45. If we prune too early in the season, say, January, we risk the possibility of a frosty night that even the wind machines (the wind machines are another story) can't protect against, and oh, the frost damage to the vines that will ensue. This is not a good thing. Not at all. If we prune too late, then all the energy the vines have been storing over their winter hibernation goes into the shoots that will eventually be pruned. We pruned our vines in mid-March and crossed our fingers, as technically, there can still be a frost in April. So far, so good. In our other life (pre-vintner) we worried about weather so we’d know what to wear. We didn’t know worry then! Now we worry about the weather for our livelihood. Oh, and the prediction for this weekend – rain. Chantico!

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