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Thursday, May 14, 2026

Annual Cycle of Growth

This is the time of the year that I start filling out the chart for the annual cycle of growth. Although on the chart there is a specific day for the milestones that we track including budbreak, bloom, veraison and harvest, the date can have a range. We began tracking our annual cycle of growth in the vineyard beginning 2015 when we had our first small harvest of Chenin Blanc.
This is what the annual cycle of growth chart looks like:
I took pictures of all of the varieties on May 4th and what stage of development they were in at that time. Due to the cold weather than we are having, the Cabernet Sauvignon is not yet in bud break. This is what is defined as budbreak:1
The Chenin Blanc appears to be the furthest along followed by the Barbera, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Auxerrois.
I copied the Annual Cycle of Growth chart from Ed Hellman's excellent online document on Grapevine Structure and Function. It is 19 pages long and crammed with good information about grapevines.
References:
1. Ed Hellman, Grapevine Structure and Function.

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