(NVR) - With the combination of warm temperatures and relatively little recent rain, bud break has begun in Napa Valley, marking the beginning of the winegrape growing season.

“Buds on chardonnay have begun swelling and bursting on a few vines. With this warm weather and no real rain or cold weather in the near forecast, it shouldn’t be long before everything takes off,” said Brittany Pederson, viticulturist at Silverado Farming Company and a member of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.

“From what we are seeing throughout the valley, in comparison to last year, we are anticipating possibly about five days to a week ahead of schedule with bud break.”

Matt Reid, winemaker at Benessere Vineyards, agreed. “This is much earlier than normal for us, even earlier than last year. I’d say we’re a good week to 10 days ahead of last year and about 17-21 days ahead of normal.”

As spring approaches and mustard blooms throughout Napa Valley, grapegrowers have been working to prepare the vineyards for the 2016 growing season.

“Our cover crop is doing nicely," Reid said. "We are using a mix of oats, fescue, peas and favas, and we have a lot of volunteer mustard providing lovely color. We have no bud break yet, though apical buds are in the 'popcorn' stage, which usually proceeds bud break by a handful of days. Pruning has also been underway throughout much of the valley and grapegrowers are keeping a close eye on bud development, as they work to complete this year’s pruning efforts.

As temperatures warm and soil becomes drier, vines emerge from dormancy and begin to push water up from their root systems. Miniature buds on the vine, developed during the prior year, begin to swell eventually producing shoots from the bud. These shoots will then spring tiny leaves that help accelerate growth, especially as temperatures continue to increase.