Yesterday I was driving around the vineyards - spring has sprung. Pinot Grigio and Nebbiolo vines have at least 6-8 inches of growth already and the rest of the varieties are not far behind. We had a wet winter and with spring comes wind, sun, and a remote chance of frost. A few nights ago, I had a 34.6°F reading in a couple of our vineyards.

Grapevines are growing faster than we can get the work done. The growth of our vines has already exceded last year’s full growth and we still have 60 days until harvest. Farming is controlled by Mother Nature.

Seems like we always talk about the weather.  It is definitely a major factor in farming.  This may become the earliest harvest in my 44 years in Santa Barbara County.  The drought is only partly responsible.  We are already finishing spraying and will irrigate more  but bird netting is already taking place.  We have a good chance of picking grapes mid-August instead of the usual mid-September.  So things like our late August bottling schedule will now become part of harvest.  Megan and the winery have their hands full between trying to get one harvest in the bottle and the next harvest back into the tanks.