Ripening Grapes

There are all kinds of ways to tell when wine grapes are ready to be picked...sugar or Brix levels being the one most commonly used. But I think the birds know...hence this little vineyard in our neighborhood has been covered with bird netting. Some of these grapes are still in veraison (turning from green to red) while others appear to be quite ripe. The time between veraison and harvest can vary greatly even within a single vineyard so deciding when harvest should be is quite an art. It's probably another two weeks before we see the harvest and it will still vary from one part of the county to another.

Another worry for some vintners is the fire (dubbed the Prickett fire) which is burning here. Although its southern border is only about ten miles from us as the crow flies, the only reason we know that it is still burning is the steady stream of planes flying over our house from the Sonoma county airport to dump water and fire retardant. Smoke taint however, is another thing for the vinemakers to worry about. Many studies have been done on this and a couple of wineries even tried producing a 'smokey' wine. I never did hear how that worked out but I haven't seen any....

We've had another very slow day.  It was cooler this morning, but it's still pretty warm out this afternoon. John's shoulder is better, but we're both feeling very low on energy and are currently trying to conserve what little
we can muster for a neighborhood gathering shortly.  I made a tomato/cucumber/peach salad and some coleslaw and John took a nap.
It should be much cooler in Cindy and Bruce's backyard by the creek than it is for us perched on top of the hill.