Vintage 2023: March --- Time for Pruning

We have just experienced a month of really wacky weather in February which saw temperatures that dipped into minus territory and then soared into the 70's. During the month of February, with help from our daugher and her family, we took in all of the branch locks (brand name Agfast) that we use to keep the growing shoots from crossing each other. We do this so that the growing grapes are separated and air flow through the canopy is optimal.
I keep a spreadsheet of all of the work we do in the vineyard and in 2022, we removed the last of Agfast from the vineyard on April 5. It's a puzzle to me why it took us so long to do that task.
This year, because all of the Agfast have been removed, we can focus on cutting the wire that holds last year's canes and cut all of the tendrils that hold last year's growth to the trellis wires. This year, our strategy is for my husband to begin the pruning and for me to cut the tendrils ahead of him.
Our vineyard layout looks like this:

We will begin pruning from the Auxerrois which is planted furthest west in the vineyard and work our way to the east. We have 5 rows of Auxerrois, followed by 17 rows of Chenin Blanc, 8 rows of Chardonnay, 2 rows of Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 rows of Cabernet Franc and 2 rows of Barbera.
In previous years, we assumed that our Chenin Blanc was the last variety to bud break so we left off pruning this variety to the end. However, it is really the Cabernet Sauvignon that is the last to enter budbreak so we will work from west to east this year and hope that pruning will be done before our estimated budbreak which typically occurs during the first week of May.
It's time for pruning!