I was debating whether “Bud Break” for the vine is Christmas or Easter and thinking about it, it is clearly Easter. First of all Easter and bud break occur at roughly the same time and secondly for the vine it is a re-birth and thanks to Mother Nature she never disappoints us, except perhaps when it comes to timing.

Timing is not everything, it is the only thing!

Take last year for instance, a year that for us was a disaster. We had a warm winter and by this time last year the buds had broken and the shoots were two to three inches in length. In contrast, this year the buds are barely swelling. A vineyard is not a uniform thing, not only in terms of the soil types, but also in elevations and aspects. (The aspect is whether the site is looking north, south, east or west.) In addition, different grape varieties have different time schedules in that white grapes tend to break bud first. Chardonnay is usually followed by Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier, each variety overlapping with reds usually Merlot followed Cabernet Franc.

The usual temperature requirement is five consecutive days with an evening temperature above 55 degrees Fahrenheit and then those little puppies (buds) start to swell and burst forth in emerald glory.

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That sequence is the same for each vine/grape variety and the earlier this process occurs in the spring, the bigger is the risk that the fledgling shoots can be damaged by frost.

Let’s Talk About Frost Damage

The buds are most vulnerable starting on April 15^th and, just like Tax Day, it comes around every year. The high risk period generally lasts for one month. Last year, it lasted from March 29^th through May 10^th. In that time last year we were hit twice by severe frosts; the shoots did not stand a chance. A typical bud has three chances of surviving:

1. The first bud to come out is the primary bud. That one was hit on April 19^th.
2. The second bud that gives rise to the secondary shoot was frosted on Mother’s Day, May 10^th last year.

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We were nuked. It was the worst combination frosts we have had in 20 years.

The vines survived thanks to the third, tertiary bud, the final chance for the vine to survive. Unfortunately, the tertiary buds do not have capacity to produce fruit.

The good news, our frost exposure is much less this year as 95% of the vineyard has not broken bud and it looks like the buds will really start popping over the next week or so.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed!