The signs of spring are upon us. Most of our later budding varieties of grapes are pruned and not budding out yet. But our early bud breaking Viognier is waking up. The Viognier buds below were photographed on March 31st, 2018. These buds are apical dominance buds which we are not as concerned about since they will be pruned in a few days.
But our friend Fritz is better at explaining pruning than I am. You can read more on his website here.
Because of the risk of a late spring freeze killing the buds, we do not encourage our vines to wake up early. If the buds are killed, no fruit will develop later in the summer.
Because of our philosophy of late pruning for our early bud breakers, we have vineyards that look like this.
Some varieties of grapes are pruned and ready for spring, while some we have left rather scraggly as to not encourage their bud break. That is very intentional.
There will be work to be done to these scraggly vines in the next few days to get them ready for spring. But we will delay as long as we can.
But our vineyards reflect, that we are willing to adapt our tending of our different grape varieties, just as we have learned to adapt our teaching and training of our individual children because each is unique. Each grape variety is the same in ways, needing fertilizer, water, and sun, but each are unique in those needs. We appreciate the wonders in God’s variety in His creation.
But with persistence in honoring those wonders, we will be able to bring you more award-winning wines for you to enjoy.
So, this Easter take some time to wonder on the covenants and creations of God.
Blessings,
Betty
