A (quite) delayed bloom begins in Columbia Valley

Bloom has begun in Columbia Valley. Lacey Lybeck at Sagemoor Vineyards reports seeing bloom in Weinbau Vineyard Chardonnay on the Wahluke Slope on June 4th. Lybeck also saw bloom in Chardonnay at Sagemoor and Bacchus vineyards in the White Bluffs on June 6th. 

Below is a look at how these dates compare with recent years. Of note, 2016 started out historically warm before cooling off somewhat in the middle and later parts of the season. In contrast, 2017 and 2019 had cooler starts to the growing season as reflected in the dates below. 2022 is considerably delayed from the prior six years due to the quite cool start to the season. 

In fact, according to Growing Degree Days, a measure of heat accumulation during the growing season, 2022 is currently tracking quite closely to 2011, which was Washington's coolest vintage on record. That said, a growing season is a book of many chapters; only the first several have currently been written for 2022.

Image and data courtesy of Lacey Lybeck, Sagemoor Vineyards. Follow Sagemoor's Instagram site here.

Growing Degree Day chart from Washington State University