Out in the beautiful hills of El Dorado County, as the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, something important is happening in our vineyards: the vines are waking up! Tiny green shoots begin popping up – AKA bud break. This little bit of green is a big deal for all the folks making wine here in El Dorado. It signals the start of the season’s winemaking and sets the stage for everything that comes next.
So, what exactly is bud break, and why do our wineries care so much about it? Read on to learn about this exciting time for our grapes.
What’s Bud Break All About?
After the vines have rested during the cold winter, they start to feel the sunshine and warmer temperatures. The little bumps on the branches, which have been waiting all winter, start to swell up and then burst open. Out come tiny new green shoots. This is bud break – the vine saying hello to spring and getting ready to grow.
Think of it as the first sign of life in our vineyards after winter. These little green buds will eventually become the leaves and grapes, so they’re super important right from the start.
Why Bud Break is Important
For the people making wine in our El Dorado area, bud break is more than just seeing some green. It has a big impact on the wine we’ll produce (and eventually drink!). For instance, it indicates:
How Many Grapes We Might Get: The number of healthy little shoots that pop out tells us how many grapes we might have later. Things like how we trimmed the vines in winter, how healthy the vines are, and the weather leading up to bud break all play a part. If fewer good shoots come out, we might have a smaller harvest.
How Long the Grapes Have to Grow: Bud break is the real starting point of the growing season. The time between these first green shoots and when we harvest the vines is key to how the grapes develop and taste. An early bud break allows more time for the grapes to get really flavorful, while a late one means they have less time to ripen.
They’re Easy to Hurt Right Now: These new little shoots are very delicate and can be damaged by frost. If it gets cold again after bud break (something we see often in our mountain climate!), we could lose a lot of our future grapes, which would be tough for our wineries. Our winemakers often use different ways to protect these young shoots from frost.
The Real Work Starts in the Fields: Once bud break occurs, things get busy in the vineyards. The people looking after the grapes keep a close eye on the new growth, ensure the vines are growing the right way, and protect them from bugs and diseases. Keeping these first shoots healthy is super important for the vintage.
A Hint About the Wine to Come: Even though it’s early, how well the bud break goes can give us a first idea of how good the wine might be that year. Seeing lots of healthy, even growth across all our vineyards is a good sign for the future wine.
A Time of Hope and Watching Closely in Our Hills
Bud break in El Dorado County is an exciting but also a nervous time for our wineries. Seeing those first green shoots is great – it means a new year of winemaking is starting. But our winemakers also must observe the weather and make sure their young vines are healthy, ready to protect them from anything that could go wrong – like a late spring cold spell, which has been known to happen!
By now, you can see why we are making a big deal about bud break. It’s the start of a long journey to harvest and eventually to your table, with a lot of care and attention along the way.
Come see for yourself. Spring, especially during bud break, is a perfect time to visit our wineries and rekindle your memories of when you first fell in love with wines grown in our high elevation vineyards!
Photo: Windwalker Vineyard
