Vintage 2023: April Budbreak

We have been busy pruning, removing cuttings and laying down this year's fruiting canes and working during these beautiful April days that Mother Nature has gifted us. We went to the land on April 17 and were shocked to find that our grape vines were in various stages of budbreak! The varieties were typical of what we see when budbreak occurs with the Chardonnay ahead of the rest of our varieties followed by the Barbera, Auxerrois, Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is without doubt the earliest that our grapes have entered budbreak. Here is how we track the various stages of growth for each season:

We attribute this early budbreak to the mild winter what we had in 2022-2023 but also to the heat spike we had on April 13 and 14 with temperatures reaching the 80+ ^oF!
On April 21, I took photos of our grape varieties in various stages of budbreak:

It's time to begin filling out the 2023 annual cycle of growth form. But also to kick our pruning into another gear. We were working as if budbreak was in May but Mother Nature always has tricks up her sleeves! It's a good thing that we have help from our friends!