Although it was a very cold and dry dormant season, since January temperatures and rainfall have been above average.
We've had 102 Cumulative Heating Degree Days through April, just slightly less than last year's early start to the season.
Although we've had only 23.9 inches of rainfall for the period since last harvest, about 10 inches below the normal, we've had two inches more than normal since January.
The net effect of these favorable weather conditions is that the vines are off to a good, strong start. As of Tuesday, we had 12 open leaves on the rapidly growing shoots. With mostly sunny weather this Spring, it doesn't look like we'll have issues with the carbon:nitrogen ratio which has adversely affected bloom in several of the recent seasons. While too early to know how bloom will go, it looks like we have slightly more shoots per vine than normal, each uniformly bearing 2 sets of inflorescences.
So at this point in time, the vines are looking early and healthy; with good prospects for a normal and well-balanced crop load....we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us.
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