Out in our estate vineyards, the Emeritus crew has finished pruning at both ranches. Now we prepare for the much anticipated bud break! Right now vines are being tied into place (see photo for what this will look like come Spring). Soon we’ll start preparing the wire on the trellis for the coming growth. Our winter weather has been relatively warm and dry so far, which has allowed the team to stay on course in terms of pruning and other vineyard maintenance for this time of the year.
As the vines begin to wake up, we’re also keeping a close eye on weather—not just to make sure that temperatures for shipping wines are ideal, but to be prepared for frost events. There are a couple ways to protect the new buds from frost; ours involves spraying the vines with a little bit of water. It may seem counterintuitive, but the water covers the fragile buds and, since it requires lower temperatures for that amount of water to freeze, protects them from the cold.
In the meantime, we still have our fingers crossed for a little rain before winter ends, both to bolster the ground water supply and help naturally stave off frost. Once temperatures start to rise and the fragile new buds are out of danger we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Then we’ll begin preparations for our End of Frost celebration on Saturday, April 23!
