What a difference a week makes! Just seven days after the photo of our viognier vines was taken, shoot growth in our vineyards has really taken off. The weekend of April 21st saw temperatures in the low 90’s in St Helena, with a high of 82 degrees up here at Pride, ideal conditions for promoting the development of our tender young shoots. These merlot vines were barely breaking bud before the weekend, but have now reached about 5” in length, and two healthy clusters per shoot can be observed. The next week should provide sunny days with highs in the high 70’s to low 80’s, giving our vines just the boost they need to get a running start on their journey towards Harvest 2012.