S1 EP0006 - In the Vineyard

We are in bud break!<br/><br/>After the cold and snow and quite frankly the big scare of April 21, we spent some time assessing the impact to the vines after that real cold episode. Remember we were off to a very strong start of this growing season, with higher than average temperatures, and lots of sun. In the wake of the cold of late April, temperatures have slowly begun to increase, and it doesn&#8217;t look like there are any deep freezes currently on the horizon. Overnight lows are still in the 30s, but our daytime temperatures are beginning to reach between 50 and 60, with some 70 degree days on the horizon.&#160; May 4th was a beautiful warm day with a high in the mid 70&#8217;s, but between May 5 and May 10, we have barely accumulated any growing degree days.&#160; Down at the winery, we have stood steady for the last week or so with a growing degree day accumulation of 121.6 since April first.&#160; To put that in perspective, in a near perfect growing year like 2020, we had only accumulated 36.1 on the same date, which was actually pretty low on average. &#160; Essentially, despite a roller coaster spring, we remain on track.&#160; Truthfully, growing degree days are interesting to examine this time of year, but with so much of the growing season before us, they don&#8217;t mean very much to us quite yet.&#160; If you&#8217;re confused about all this talk of growing degree days, check out episode 4 where I break down what these numbers mean, and how to calculate them.&#160;&#160;<br/><br/>I often record these vineyard updates a few days in advance of the release of the podcast. As a result, our timeframe for these biweekly updates is pretty close to what is going on in the vineyards, but it&#8217;s not always exact as to the day of the podcast release. Since we last shared where we were in the 2021 growing season two weeks ago, budbreak has begun all across the region. When bud break occurs, the rate of development is not necessarily uniform on every vine, and different varietals have different rates of