The growing season has officially begun. With the back and forth transition from Winter to Spring, we weren’t sure when to expect to see the first buds in the vineyard. Returning home from the Elkin Farmer’s Market yesterday, I caught the first glimpse of buds in the Petit Manseng

Petit Manseng

and looking around the block noticed that there were quite a few buds pushing out. After sharing the news with Crista (and the world via Instagram), I took a ride through the vineyard to check on the rest of the blocks.

There was some bud break in the Merlot but it took some effort to find it. The Petit Verdot had a lot of buds that were fuzzy looking and on the verge of breaking, but I wasn’t able to find any that had broken yet. The Traminette had more buds towards the top of the block where it borders Golden Road. The Tannat, similar to the Petit Manseng, had quite a few buds emerging.

We are excited entering our first growing season at Golden Road Vineyards and are looking forward to a busy growing season! Bordeaux and Malbec have been informed that they need to tighten up their pest patrols…

Merlot

Petit Verdot

Traminette

Tannat