Vintage 2025: Flowering

It is June. We are in the throes of shoot positiong and shoot removal, and despite all the rain that we have been having, and now a heat wave, all of our varieties are at some stage of flowering.

However, not all of the varieties are at the same stage of flowering. The Chardonnay and the Barbera are at the early stages of fruitset. The next variety to be further in bloom is the Cabernet Franc followed by the Chenin Blanc, Auxerrois and finally the Cabernet Sauvignon.
It's time to update the Annual Cycle of Growth chart.

Years of keeping the annual cycle of growth gives us some idea of when flowering and fruitset will be. The heat wave is probably accelerating flowering and fruitset, which is a good thing.
Right after fruitset, the tiny grapes are not securely attached by their pedicel so any manipulation of the shoots is not a good thing so we adjust where we work based on what stage of flowering or fruitset our varieties are at.
The heat wave is forcing us to be at the vineyard at 6 am and today we stopped working at 8 am since the feel-like temperature was 90 degrees!