Vintage 2024: April is Here!

It is April! We began pruning in March and are really into the thick of pruning. Our weather forecaster has informed us that this past March has been the second rainiest March since records were kept. We can believe that.
This year, we are doing a few of our tasks in parallel. In previous years, we went through the entire vineyard removing the black Agfast which kept our young shoots upright and in the trellis wire. We followed that up with cutting the wire that held last year's fruiting canes to the trellis wire and cutting the tendrils. Then we trimmed the top half of the canes and then came the final pruning. This year, we are trimming the top of the canes, removing the Agfast, and cutting last year's canes from the fruiting wire simultaneously before the final pruning.
Here is what the vineyard looks like with the netting at the lowest position on the line post and the canes laid down for this season. At this time, we have done approximately 1/4th of the vineyard. The nice thing is, the buds are still very much dormant.

We are in for a few days of rain this week which will put a halt to our pruning activities. Here is hoping for better weather to come!