With the sun warming our faces and the cold brisk air reminding us of where we live, in beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country, a group of us joined together to participate in Cayuga Ridge Estate's annual Vigernon Program held March 29. As we met, we learned that some of us were old pros in the program: a few of us worked in the wine industry and two ladies were off to Italy next month.

Tom Challen, co-owner of Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery, began the program talking about the different growth stages of a grapevine, from the beginning bud stage to the fully ripened fruit, ready for harvest. Challen showed us how to check to see if a grapevine had survived the winter by checking the buds.

“Good wine must first be grown by immersing ourselves into the care of our vines,” he said.

Each bud is in fact made up of three sections: a primary bud that contains the full potential of crop, a secondary bud that has a partial crop and a tersiary bud that is only vegetative growth with no crop. The last two buds are nature's way of providing a back-up mechanism in case the primary bud is killed by severe cold.

This was definitely a hands-on seminar where we were able to take grapevines and cut away at the buds with a razor blade to check the coming year's growth potential. At first, I had cut too sheepishly and then realized more needed to be uncovered. To everyone's surprise sure enough three oval bright green shapes were revealed. The primary bud is the largest of the three with the secondary a little smaller and the tersiary portion smaller yet. This tersiary bud is so small we needed a magnifying glass to see it.

The second part of the program, pruning, took place right in the vineyard. The object of this task was to look at a gnarled trunk with many canes from last year's growth and trim enough away to leave only four canes each approximately two feet long. With sharp new trimmers, we were able to cut away less desirable shoots.

Back in the winery, we learned to make cuttings from the vines and planted these in hopes in having our own grapevines in a few weeks to take home to plant. The cuttings were from two hybrid grapes grown at the winery Cayuga White and Chancellor. Last but not least we enjoyed a wine tasting especially enjoying the winery's Chardonnay that received a respectable 85 from Wine Enthusiast Magazine, one of the highest marks you can receive.

Next month we'll be back in the vineyard tying our grapevines.

In other news:

• A Spring Winemaker's Dinner will be held Saturday, April 19, at Sheldrake Point Vineyard & Simply Red Lakeside Bistro. The tour starts at 5 p.m. with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Call (866) 743-5372.

• The 16th annual Wine & Herb Festival begins the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May, at the Cayuga Wine Trail's 16 wineries. Sample herb-prepared delicacies paired with fine wines. Souvenir wine glass and recipes are included, and participants are eligible to win a number of prizes.

• Mother's Day brunches will be held Sunday, May 11, at Knapp Winery and Vineyard Restaurant or Sheldrake Point Vineyard & Simply Red Lakeside Bistro.

Cathy Millspaugh is the executive director of the Cayuga Wine Trail. To learn more, visit www.cayugawinetrail.com