Absolutely love this time of year. Snow capped peaks surround the vineyard, morning mist comes down off the mountains and flows through the vines, and you get the first good look at what this years crop may be. For somethings like crop load adjustments or soil inputs, it can take two or more seasons before you can see the effects. So in that respect, you get to see if what you did a few seasons back, worked they way you wanted it too.
Bud break was at the usual time this year dispite the cool weather right up into the second week of May. In fact some local areas got a touch of frost in the first week of May. But its been normal temperatures since then and its astonishing how quick the vines grow once the soil has warmed up. In just 1-2 week the vine can move from wooly tips to full leaf.
So we just finished the first round of shoot adjustments (removing extra shoots) to ensure we have a proper crop load. We will go at it again in in July once the vines have flowered and we have fruit set and we can further guage crop load.
As of May 24, the Marechal Foch is off to a great start and some canes are at the 5th leaf, most are around 3-4 leaves. The Ravat is similar with some at 4th leaf and most in the 2-3 leaf stage. Triompe D'Alsace and Evangeline are just getting going and are at 1-2 leaves - they are always the katest. Foch rows below;
With the heat forcast in the next few weeks those later varieties will be catching up quick and we can expect mid June flowering.
