As for most varieties, bloom came and went with the blink of an eye. Some are saying it was the quickest bloom period they've seen. Most North Coast grapes are larger than pea size and advancing rapidly. Most reds in Mendocino and the far northern coast are barely out a few inches. Solano County, being much earlier looks initially to have a pretty good crop on all fronts.
Cluster size is good and probably larger than last year.
Heavy winds have caused some shoot loss in the order of about 2-3 shoots per vine as an average in some areas. This week has been nerve racking as growers fight frost throughout the North Coast. Other cold areas like Mendocino saw little damage because shoot growth had not progressed significantly yet. White grapes were affected most by the severe cold this week. Our first reports of bud break came out of Sonoma County today as we observed Chardonnay.