Yea, the final bud burst today!

I've been walking the vineyard daily, sometimes twice daily, on the lookout for bud burst among the Albarino vines, the last holdouts. Given that the Rondo burst on the 5th of April, and the Chardonnay 5 days ago, I was getting a bit anxious. Now, the buds are quite small and not all the vines made it through their first year, but there's plenty to be hopeful about. Multiple buds on multiple vines all showed signs of waking up. I am jazzed. 

One vine lost in year one. One other iffy. 

And, of course, I had an escort or two. 

And just for good measure, here are some bees. 

Vineyard cats

Her Ghostliness getting a better view. 

Every day, Ghost and I visit the vineyard to see what has come alive. We are eagerly awaiting bud burst of the final varietal, Albarino. Sometimes, Cinco and or Louise come along as well, meandering through the tall grass. 

So far, the bud burst has been remarkably early compared with last year. Here's the score:

• CHARDONNAY: 13/4/2021
• SOLARIS: 9/4/2021
• PINOT NOIR: 7/4/2021
• RONDO: 5/4/2021

I've been dutifully reporting it on the UK Vineyards Report only to learn that they are not tracking it this year. Oh well. 

Louise and Ghost on patrol

Cinco likes to just hang out

Today, Solaris has burst

 

Today, multiple buds on multiple Solaris vines have burst into action. I do not understand it as it's been quite cold. What is it that triggers bud burst if not temperature? I hope we don't have to resort to frost mitigation. 

No sign of activity on Chardonnay or Albarino vines yet. And the albarino has the tiniest of buds. 

Still waiting for Albarino bud burst

Maybe we'll try tequila next

We have been growing agaves indoors and some have become huge. One I left outside over the winter this year as I was getting tired of lugging it in and out and it was just getting too big, like 'little shop of horrors'. Alex's mom had a giant one in the greenhouse which we donated to one of the gardeners at Bloom last year. I had not realised that tequila or mezcal are made from the agave plant or I wouldn't have been giving them away. 

So now that the agave has been planted in the garden, and I have several potted plants with many babies, perhaps climate change will mean we can harvest the heart of the agaves we grow and make tequila, too. Just saying. No waste!

And there are more in the greenhouse. How many agaves does it take to make a bottle of tequila? Looks like I have some morning learning to do. 

Pinot Noir second to burst

 

Alex took a photo of our first bud burst among the Pinot Noir vines yesterday. It's not leafy yet and given that it's a cold week, I'm really surprised. Curiously, last year we had bud burst on all the varietals on the same day. This year not so. I think the Pinot will do well for us. 

I reported the bud burst to the UK Vineyard Report and noticed that they want reports at every stage. We only reported bud burst last year. This year, I'll have to record and report bud burst, frost, flowering, veraison, harvest and end of season. My little contribution to monitoring climate change. 

Weather yesterday 7-4-21

Station             Rain Max     Min Sun Wind

Newport Furnace 2.1 12.7     2.7 6.2 (11)

Bud burst

Rondo bud burst

I've been checking daily as our weather has been extraordinary for the past week. Yet today, it was bitterly cold, with sleet and hail showers every time I tried to go outside. I finally managed to get out when the wind died down a bit. Lo and behold, the Rondo has bud burst. That's 11 days earlier than last year, at least for the Rondo. 

Unlike last year, when all the varietals had bud burst on the same day, this year it's only one. The Solaris is close and the others still have a way to go. The good news is that, although the buds are tiny on the Albarino vines, all but 2 or 3 plants have buds and are alive. Halleluja!

Solaris is close - only one bud that I noticed this advanced.

Chardonnay not there yet

Pinot noir getting ready

Bitterly cold today

Wine tasting

 
For Easter, Alex uncorked one of our precious bottles of nectar from the Rondo vines. There was quite a bit of sediment, but we don't mind having grown up on French wines. The clarity was good, the colour was deep, the nose was fragrant and so we dared to sip. Blackberries! Not too sweet, high alcohol content, fruity nose -- altogether drinkable. Our first attempt was not toxic. We were both pleasantly surprised. 

The wine actually paired well with the first course of devil-dipped quail eggs, main course of lamb and dessert of apple cake. It actually wasn't that different from a premium Rioja I had uncorked before I knew what Alex was up to. It's almost exactly 6 months since we bottled. With more time, it might mellow even more. But for two novices to have created a wine that we didn't have to spit out was a major accomplishment. 

Happy Easter!