It's that blooming time of year Date: June 27, 2001 Grape blooms aren't exactly a crowd stopping sight. Tiny round green buds briefly show some even tinier white anthers and then become tiny grapes in waiting. A magnifying glass isn't essential, but it doesn't hurt either. Unless you are a grape grower, its hard to get thrilled. Right now, bloom is finished on the early and mid-season varieties, and is nearly complete on the laggard Cabernet Franc. The year slowed down a bit after an extremely early start. We are currently running almost a week ahead of where we were a year ago. Fortunately, we appear to have avoided the major problem that afflicted us last year -- a long cool wet period during bloom that set the stage for major powdery mildew infections across the peninsula. The slow-to-awake Cabernet Franc is still relatively lethargic. Reports from across the peninsula are that the late ripening varieties such as Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and even Vidal exhausted themselves trying to put sugar into the grapes right into November and didn't get sufficient chance to restore their energy reserves for winter. As a consequence, many of them are taking a bit of a vacation this year. Everything else looks pretty good at this point. We have seen some more shoot damage than normal from high winds at an inopportune time. Most affected has been Chardonnay. No real impact on crop size, but there are going to be some very messy vines to prune next winter. Current hot, dry weather has been great for the vines, but tough on the grape grower. An update without a complaint wouldn't be an update! Don Eastman TOP of page | previous diary entry