Vintage Notes: May 2017 Weather Report

May started off being cooler than normal, which was very good for planting. Our planting days began on May 7 and ended on May 10th. Although we "only" had 1500 vines to plant, the planting was made difficult by the rains that preceded the planting dates. Especially the rainfall that came on May 5th, Friday that went well into mid-morning on our first scheduled planting day, Saturday, May 6th. Needless to say, the rains made us postpone the Saturday planting because the last thing we want is to make our volunteers/friends feel unduly burned out by planting. I should be moderately fun.
Later in the day, the sun came out and my husband and I went back to the vineyard to assess how the rain had affected our pre-dug holes. I took a few pictures of the Chardonnay, before disbudding.

The days post-planting brought some rain on Mother's Day, May 14th, which was really nice for the newly planted vines. This week, we have seen temperatures soar into the high 80's on Wednesday, Thursday, and today, Friday, May 19th. What does that do to grapevines? They take off.