Wine Word of the Week: Bud break
By Kori ~ November 20th, 2012.
This week’s Wine Word of the Week is bud break.
Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Budbreak, or budburst, is a stage of annual vine development during which small shoots emerge from vine buds in the spring. This process begins the new growing season and signals the end of dormancy, their period of winter sleep. The first sign that budbreak is imminent is bleeding, when the vines begin to drip water from pruning cuts. The buds left at winter pruning begin to swell in the few weeks prior to budbreak, and budbreak itself is marked by the first signs of green in the vineyard, as the first young leaves unfold and push through the bud scales.
Layman’s terms from Kori:
Bud break, when shoot growth starts and you begin to see green, marks the beginning of the annual growth cycle of the vine.
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