Awakenings

This past winter was a mild one. There was evidence of bud swell in mid-April, which seems early. I looked at some blogposts from last year and found a May 8th posting Waiting For Budbreak that showed that the bud phenology in the vineyard this year is approximately two weeks earlier than they were last year.
For me, it is always an anxious time because when the buds are dormant, they actually look dead and we have had experience with 90% death in our vineyard.
Our spring has been on the cool side, but the vines are waking up and now showing their pretty pink tips:

Awhile back, I read about what the pink tinge meant, so this morning, I spent some time tracking down the reference, according to Markus Keller¹:
The pink tinge that occurs in the new buds and newly unfolding leaves are attributed to anthocyanin pigments in or just below the leaf epidermis that probably protects the developing photosynthetic machinery. Our vineyard is pretty in pink and protected!
Reference:
1. Markus Keller, The Science of Grapevines Anatomy and Physiology, 2010, Academic Press, pg. 57.