Vine hardiness

Well it was a long winter, but finally towards the end of March we were able to get out, prune and assess any winter damage to the vines. In general the vines performed quite well over the winter with only a couple of losses. Using an arbitrary ranking system of 1 to 5, where 1 is the most "winter hardy" and sustained the least damage, a brief outline of our assessment is below.  For the most part the vines were pruned back to 2 buds which should provide better growth this year.

Reds:
48-05-83: low summer growth, sustained some winter damage and was pruned back to 2-buds.  Hardiness rank: 3

Labelle:  good summer growth, mainly pruned to 2 buds, but some canes were laid down for first cordon.  Hardiness rank: 2

Cab Libra: sustained winter damage to canes and was pruned back to 2-buds.  Hardiness rank: 4.5

Baco Noir: Very vigorous summer growth.  No real winter damage and some canes were laid down for first cordon.  Hardiness rank: 2

Zweigelt: Low summer growth. No real winter damage, pruned back to 2-buds.  Hardiness rank: 2

Leon Millet: good summer growth.  No real winter damage and some canes were laid down for first cordon.  Hardiness rank: 2.5

Pinot Noir (Cl. 115): Low summer growth. Some winter damage and pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank 2.5

Regent: Moderate summer growth, small amount of winter damage, mainly pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 2

Baltica: Very low summer growth.  No winter damage, pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 1

Marquette: Very low summer growth.  No winter damage, pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 1

Whites

Siegerrebbe: Good summer growth.  Some winter damage in middle cane area, pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 3

L'Acadia Blanc: Good summer growth.  Little or no winter damage, some canes laid down for first cordon.  Hardiness rank: 1

Ortega: Good summer growth.  Some winter damage in middle cane area, pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 3

Chardonnay (Cl 76): Good summer growth.  Winter damage on canes, some quite high up.  Pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 2

Oseolo Muscat: Good summer growth.  Very little winter damage.  Some canes laid down for first cordon.  Hardiness rank: 1

Auxerrois: Low summer growth. No real winter damage, but all vines pruned back to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 2

Mad Sylvaner: Good summer growth.  Some winter damage, all vines pruned to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 3

Mad Angevine: Good summer growth.  Some winter damage, all vines pruned to 2 buds.  Hardiness rank: 3

Petit Milo: Low summer growth. Some winter damage, all vines pruned to 2 buds. Hardiness rank: 2

Epicure: Good summer growth. Quite a bit of winter damage.  Hardiness rank: 4.5

48-05-49: Good summer growth. Quite a bit of winter damage.  Hardiness rank: 4.5

Two things we noted:

1) Winter damage seemed to be heavier in the low spots we have in the white rows.  The low spot provided a bit of a sink hole where the cool air accumulated and the evidence suggests it was enough to affect the vines in this area.

2) We also got hit with some powdery mildew so a heavy spray of lime sulfur was applied to kill any existing spores.

The next blog will outline some data on the stages of budding on each variety.