Visual discussion of grapevine training during April bud break

The first week of April is a special time of year, when you can observe early bud break as well as the beautiful "bones" of old vine plantings, such as in this 116-year-old Zinfandel on the east side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation. Bud break and beautiful bones It’s that time of year when grapevines are bursting all over with new buds. When 2025's spring equinox arrived up this past March 20, most of Lodi wine country’s vineyards were still bereft of these tiny buds. But during the last week of the month, when temperatures finally started to warm up, the bare buds began to swell, and out popped the leaves, unfurling like sails on a ship, along with the tiny precursors of grape clusters, which eventually become the flowers from which individual berries form. Early spring and April is an interesting season because the bare “bones,” the trunks and limbs, of all the plants are still quite visible. It will be another two months or so before the canes become long enough to drape over and hide the spur positions with grapevine “canopy,” the anatomy consisting of leaves and shoots essential for the process of photosynthesis, necessary to bring plants to fruition...