Warm Winter Prompts Bud Activity

Days of record warmth leave California growers anxious

 

 
 
Despite unseasonably warm weather, Frank Bons, co-owner of Twin Oaks Valley Winery in San Marcos (shown here), says genuine budbreak is not yet happening in San Diego County.
 
San Diego County, Calif. -- In the days leading up to the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium last month, Dennis Grimes of Eagle's Nest Winery noticed something akin to budbreak toward the ends of Syrah vines in his Ramona Valley vineyard.

"The budbreak typically occurs more in the March time-frame," Grimes told Wines & Vines. "We generally have a pretty temperate, Mediterranean climate here, and we rarely have frosts. Of course, if you have buds, and you have frost, you could lose them."

Indeed, figures from the California Allied Grapegrowers indicate that winegrape crush was down to 650,000 tons last year, due in part to spring frosts across the state. But Frank Bons of Sunfresh Vineyards had another take on vine growth in January, especially when it comes to winegrape growing in San Diego County, where he co-owns and operates San Marcos and Twin Oaks Valley wineries.

"If you've pruned properly, nobody's going to have budbreak until mid-March in all regions of the county. Those that didn't prune, they're going to get budbreak on the tips of the vines," Bons said. "In my mind, as a vineyard manager, that's not budbreak. Budbreak is near the spur."

For growers who wait to prune until last year's leaves have fallen off the vine, the lack of cold weather could mean they're still waiting. "We're still pruning," said Peggy Evans of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association. "We usually look for (budbreak) at St. Patrick's Day."

Meanwhile Dr. Carmen Gispert, the University of California Cooperative Extension advisor for viticulture and pest management in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, said table grape growers in the Coachella Valley have reported budbreak in their vineyards.

Northern California

Unseasonably warm January weather also is wreaking havoc on the growing cycle more than 500 miles north in Sonoma County. The Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat reported Wednesday that some winegrape growers are witnessing vines bursting into bud, with an early start to the season not just expected but accepted by area growers.

Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission, said that during a visit Tuesday to the Russian River Valley he saw that buds there are swelling. Vines in the Sonoma Valley, he added, are lagging a bit behind.

"I don't think we have any budbreak (in Sonoma County) at all. The thing I think is possible is we might have budbreak in late February instead of early March," Frey said. "It's happened in February before, so that wouldn't be too out of the ordinary, but more typical would be March."