Within a budding grove

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

- Anais Nin

I am not of a mind to photograph the vineyard only on blue-skied days of glory: It is one of those things that has no better days or side, even on the bleakest of winter days it is beautiful. 

On this morning it was both frigid and blustery but the sky was just remarkable, so I chose to continue my plans to show you around by photo.

I do not mind telling you -  it is no great secret -  spring cannot make a decision. One day it is a stealing young lion; the next, a cold-shouldered blowhard. We hit eighty degrees in March, dipped to forty last week, and then soared to eighty again. It's been a wild ride.

Boxwood takes a careful, conservative vineyard management position to account for spring's unreliable behaviors; we're ready for anything. We need to be: Last week the final, later-budding varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, broke open. Consequently, the 2012 vintage is officially underway, forty degree days or not. Meet Vintage 2012 taking it's first mortal stabs at our Virginia spring...

Boxwood's 2012 Cabernet Franc.

Merlot.

Malbec.

Cabernet Sauvignon.