Jeff’s Corner

Two days ago, Chelsea posted a nice pic of our vines going through bud break and bursting into life for the 2019 vintage. Here’s a bit more info, and I thought you might enjoy a closer look at a snap I took March 26, 2015, almost exactly 4 years ago.

Bud break begins the annual growth cycle of the vines, and is pretty much right on schedule. It happens when average daytime temperatures rise to about 50 degrees, typically in mid to late March.  

All winter, while the vines were dormant, they fed themselves on carbohydrates stored in the roots during the fall. As temperatures rise, increasing pressure from the sap in the vines force those fuzzy buds to break out and scream “Free at last!”

Growth is slow at this point, but once leaves start to develop they begin to produce new energy through photosynthesis and the shoots can grow as much as an inch per day. In 4-5 months, we’ll harvest.