The process of hilling and unhilling (covering and uncovering vines with dirt to protect them from the temperature) is only performed in cold climate viticulture areas, making it an extra task during the busy start of the season. If the weather chooses not to cooperate by dropping a lot of rain, it can make getting early season tasks completed quite challenging. We did receive a lot of rain in the beginning of the month but now it is finally drying up so we are able to get tractors down the aisles. We use two different implements to pull back the dirt we used to protect the vines; one is a frame with disc gangs on the front and finger tines on the back and the other is a side mounted blade we angle toward the tractor to pull dirt back away from the base of the vine.
    Next task is pruning and tying down.