Vintage 2018: Budbreak

We have been busy pruning our vines in a race against budbreak. We did have a little breather after we finished pruning our last vine on April 29th and were waiting for budbreak. While we were waiting, we got in a round of mowing and we are now weeding in the vine rows.
I never take budbreak for granted and look for signs of life, but this spring has been unusually cold, windy and rainy which delayed budbreak in our vineyard.
Everything happens all at once! We have budbreak! Here is what the various varieties are doing at the moment. The red varieties are behind the white varieties, with the Cabernet Sauvignon 412 being the slowest. For the whites, typically Chardonnay is the first to reach budbreak and the Auxerrois is typically the laggard. In this photo of Chenin Blanc, I can just begin to see the inflorescence (flowers). Exciting!