While a second straight year of temperate fall and winter weather prompted early vine bud break in some Santa Barbara County vineyards, grape vines at other sites will only begin to emerge from dormancy this week and next, winemakers and growers say.
In addition, the consistently warmer days and nights in January and February will likely lead to another early and shorter-than-average growing season, they estimate.
On Feb. 9, Jake Lindley, owner with his wife, Francesca “Frankie” Lindley, of Lindley Wines, emailed a response to my inquiry about potential early bud break at their vineyard, located on the far western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.
The crew that manages Lindley Vineyard would prune the following week (Feb. 16), which Lindley predicted would delay any bud break by roughly 10 days.
“Our vineyard guys wait as long as possible with our vineyard in order to catch (bud break) and push it back, since pruning stunts the vines for a while,” he said.
In 2014, on the heels of the mild and dry winter and warm spring of 2013, Lindley’s vines showed their first new growth on Feb. 10 — “way early,” he said, adding that in 2013, bud break had occurred on March 20, which is closer to “average” for this climate.
He describes bud break as when “more than 50 percent of the farm shows new, green tissue.”
After the 2014 vintage was picked, warm temperatures continued into late fall, so “we had some vines that didn’t want to go dormant after harvest,” Lindley said. At his site (and some others), some vines, believing spring was nigh even though the calendar said December, produced random new green growth. However, a cold snap early this year finally “put them all to sleep,” he said.
In some respect, plants are no different than humans: After a run of spring-like weather in January or February, vines’ root systems declare, “It’s SPRING! Let’s get growing!” — in much the same way folks head to the beach in shorts, or plant tulip buds.
But, there’s that “F” word: frost. A late winter/early spring frost episode can blacken young, primary buds. Frankie Lindley aptly calls it the “lengthened metaphorical heartburn” — the potential risk of cold temperatures freezing tender green vine shoots. It’s every viticulturists’ nightmare.
And so the vineyard crew at Lindley mowed the lush cover crop that winter rains had nourished. Doing so would decrease the frost risk: While nutritionally beneficial to the soil, any tall vine-row growth can trap cold air close to the ground, increasing any frost damage.
The Lindleys’ vineyard, like many others, lacks overhead sprinklers used to wet and protect vines with a layer of ice during a freeze.
At Riverbench Vineyard & Winery in the Santa Maria Valley, where bud break started early — around Valentine’s Day — in both the chardonnay and pinot noir vines, the overhead sprinkler system has already been put to use, as frost “has already been more of an issue this year,” General Manager Laura Booras told me Monday.
In the middle of the Santa Ynez Valley, at Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard, previous vintages have suffered frost damage, most notably that of 2008, when frosts occurred both in April and October.
The vineyard, on a mesa above Alamo Pintado Road, also lacks overhead sprinklers, although it utilizes a frost-protection system that warms the air, according to winemaker Karen Steinwachs.
On Feb. 23, Steinwachs took me on a walk along the perimeter of the vineyard, where vines of cabernet franc — one of the first varietals to bud out and last to be harvested — thus face frost risk at both ends of the growth season.
Buttonwood’s vines had been pruned the prior week, she said.
That day, while none of the Buttonwood vines exhibited any new green growth, it was obvious bud break was imminent, since, as at Lindley, vine buds here were swollen and fuzzy, displaying the stage described as “popcorn.”
Although frost has not been an issue at Buttonwood so far this year, Steinwachs said her vineyard team, staying three steps ahead, mowed the flourishing grasses and legumes.
Crews had also recently irrigated: “We wet the soil to keep it and the vines’ roots cold,” tricking them into thinking it’s still winter — and not yet warm enough for bud break, she explained.
While winemaker Angela Soleno, owner of Lompoc-based Turiya Wines, does not own or farm a vineyard, she also anticipates the current season will be another “short” one based on February’s above-average temperatures.
“Ground temperatures are shaping up to be just like last year’s,” Soleno told me Feb. 4.
In 2014, Soleno, who produces Bordeaux-style reds, harvested her cabernet sauvignon grapes “at the beginning of September,” while a more quote unquote normal pick date would be mid-November, she noted.
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.