We definitely went through bud break this month, though depending on the varietal the vines vary in how far along they have progressed. Chardonnay is probably the most advanced with Riesling just peaking out. These pictures were taken today. Can you believe the weather, it is beautiful here today.
I love these pictures of convincing a chardonnay vine we really would like to to grow this way not that way!
In the winery it has been business as usual, topping, checking ML's, I still have a few lagging barrels in both pinot and chardonnay, and now checking SO2 levels in the wines which are done with ML. This is an interesting time to be tasting the barrels because they change so much from week to week, smoothing out rough edges, integrating oak, starting to show some of their potential. We are a long way from a finished wine though I must say.
I also had the fun job of setting up a spiked aroma trial for this weekend's pick-up party for our cellar club. I spiked a base wine, both a red and a white, with various spices, vegetables, fruits, etc so that our customers can begin to train their noses and their memories about what different aromas smell like in wine. It was fun to set up and begin to see the differences even between Mary and I in our own sensitivities to the various compounds. If you are interested in doing this at home let me know and I give you a few pointers.
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