April Update on Our Buds

My last blog post was on April 18! On April 8th I blogged about our buds being still dormant. During the intervening time, we have been busy pruning, trying to work around the weather which has been the wettest on record in Connecticut with rain on 18 of the 27 days in April.
We were pruning as quickly as we could until we noticed after Easter Sunday that the Chardonnay was beginning to be in the budswell stage. Here are the various stages of the dormant bud:

Our Chardonnay is the farthest along with most of the vines at the Eichhorn-Lorenz "rosette of leaf tips" visible stage. The Chenin Blanc is next, but fewer of the vines are at that stage. The Auxerrois, Cabernet Franc and the Barbera are at the wooly bud stage and the Cabernet Sauvignon is still dormant.

Variety	Dormant Bud
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera

During those days when it was merely drizzling and not raining, we were laying down our canes so what we have left are 5 rows of Chenin Blanc to prune and lay down canes. However, the forecast calls for more rain! I know that April showers bring May flowers but Mother Nature is taking that saying to the absurd level!