Well, a week ago, we were experiencing temperatures in the 60's and now there's a foot of snow on the ground. It's beautiful watching the snow fall gracefully to ground (and I wonder how many of the other wine regions in California experience anything like this!). Truly, though, we've been waiting for this type of weather for the entire winter. Our winter has been very warm, much warmer than we wanted or ever expected.
So, as a farmer, where does this put us right now. Well, the vines are thinking it's the beginning of spring as they have been for the last few weeks. (See the Views from the Vineyards blurb below.) The weather this week has been wet and cold, and getting colder (with hard freezes tonight and tomorrow night). And with relatively "normal" cool temperatures for the start of next week (with rain), maybe there's a glimmer of hope in all this for our crop this year.
The best case scenario is that this cold weather and snow "convinces" the vines that it is not spring and they go back to being dormant. It would then take more warmer weather to get the fluids running in the phloem of the plants again. Maybe this weather can be a reset, gaining us a month or more of time before budding out.
However more realistically, the cold is not a reset but instead it just slows the vines down a bit until the warmth comes back. Maybe this will buy us a couple more weeks before the vineyards start to bud out (allowing us to finish pruning) and at least getting us into March. But there's always the possibility the vines are on the move and this change in weather really doesn't matter as they continue to push forward. And then there's the chance that some buds are out far enough to be damaged by the hard freeze coming.
Regardless, this cold weather is something we really needed, for our crops and especially for the snow pack in the Sierras. The storm had already brought some 5 feet of snow as of yesterday up in the higher elevations, and even more today. We all benefit from this. Such a blessing when we really needed it!
So I'll sit back this evening with a glass of Cabernet watching the snow while wondering about plowing the roads. But plowing is a tomorrow issue as the winery is closed today for a "Snow Day"! Cheers!