The vineyard in May, and "locusts"

It's been a couple of weeks now since we had that string of freezing mornings. The vines that produced new growth early were damaged by the freeze, as you can see in the second picture below. Today is the second Ice Saints day, but the weather is damp and mild. We had evening thunderstorms yesterday.

The vines that started growing later seem to be growing well. It must be a question of grape varietals. Some varieties are early bloomers, and some start growing later. I think the ones above are Sauvignon Blanc, which is the primary white grape around here. The one below obviously started too early.

All around the vineyard there are a lot of small trees that are called acacia locally, in French. They're not acacia, actually, but a false acacia that was brought in from North America. Over there, they're called "locust" or "black locust" trees. They are just starting to flower now:

The acacia/locust wood is very hard and resistant to rot. It makes good support posts for the grapevines. And the white flowers of the locust tree are good to eat. People pick the flower bunches — they are very fragrant — and cook them in crepe batter as a sweet treat.