Out and about in the hills of the Layon yesterday we saw that the vineyards now have budburst. As you can see from the pictures, they are still at the woolly bud stage ie there is little or no green to see quite yet. The French would called this ‘dans le coton’ as the buds surface resembles cotton growing on a plant.
Budburst in the Layon
Chenin Blanc coming back to life after the winter
This marks the beginning of the growing season
Budburst appears to be around 3 weeks later than last year, although last year it was earlier than usual. On balance I would estimate that it is around 2 weeks later than normal. Not a problem for growers as any delay of budburst can avoid a night of possible frost damage.
