Foggy Morning View
There’s nothing like having your head in the clouds. These views don’t get old.
Wine Grape Update
Most of our vineyards are on the cusp of veraison - getting ready to be ready, so to speak. They’re looking good…
Harvest Time 2020 Vintage
2020 is proving challenging in more and more ways. We were happy to kick off the harvest season with a successful early morning harvest this week. Thanks to everyone who worked hard and got the job done. Cheers!
Vineyard Falcon Kite
Once the grapes begin to ripen in the vineyard, we aren’t the only ones that get excited. The birds know it too, and they’re not waiting for a perfect combination of sugars and acidity to ferment into age-worthy wines. In those vineyards with the most issues with birds, we often net the fruit-baring area/zone of the vines. In this case, we also installed a falcon kite which soars above the vines with wind to ward off hungry beaks.
Good Fruit
Seeing the fruit grow in the vineyard never gets old. It’s a product of good pruning and tending of the vines. It’s the anticipation of what they will become, and an acknowledgement of the vines’ demands and measure of time based only on sunlight/weather.
Here are some photos from this week. Old vine fruit and grape vine shoots.
Weed Whacking
Benefits of weed whacking your property.
Weed whacking - cutting grass and weeds in places that are difficult to reach. Sometimes this means carefully going around the grape vines. Sometimes this means traversing a hillside.
Reasons for keeping your property clean:
It looks nice! There’s a pretty high standard in wine country and plenty of iconic shots with beautiful rows. A well-tended vineyard is obvious. The grape vines and the rows between are neat.
It’s safer for those around. A clean vineyard means less hiding places for critters - in particular rattlesnakes. Seriously. It’s safer for workers and for anyone living close to the vineyard. Check out this article (SF Gate) - rattlesnakes mated earlier this year and we can expect to see baby snakes in the next few weeks.
Fire safety. As we all know, we’ve been experiencing more intense fire seasons over the past few years. And this year our area is already on fire. We’ve have fires in Vacaville, Solano County; Petaluma in Sonoma County, and Contra Costa County. There is also an active fire in Yorkville in Mendocino County. We don’t want to add fuel to the fire - literally, so cutting back grasses is part of the prevention. It helps create your defensible space zone.
‘Tis the season. Here’s to keeping the vineyard clean! Some photos from weed whacking in the vineyard:
Hot Air Balloons
Note - this post was originally published 08.05.2014
One of our favorite things about Napa Valley in the summer, is the chance to watch hot air balloons pass over head early in the morning. Beautiful colors gliding over the vineyards. One of these days we'll be the people in the balloon at dawn's early light, but for now we're the ones in the vineyard, looking up and enjoying the view.
Mountain View
Note - this post was originally published 05.15.2014
For one reason or another we traveled over multiple mountain ranges this week. Luckily for us, vineyards stretch out in every direction. This photo was one of our favorite views on the north end of Napa Valley, well no longer in the valley but up the side of the slope that hugs the valley at over 1000ft in elevation.
Tractor Work
Note - this post was originally published 05.01.2014
The biggest news has probably been the weather. We had a couple chilly, rainy days which gave a lot of people a much needed break/weekend. Then summer roared and we've got a little heat wave with highs in the 90s. Happy first day of May!
Our photo from this week is from our tractor work. Keeping everything clean. There is a wonderfully satisfying feeling of taking care of a vineyard, being stewards of the land, and turning around after a hard day's work and seeing the beautiful, maintained vines.
Napa Valley
Note - this post was originally published 04.16.2014
Why is it we rarely play tourist in our own back yard? It seems it's only when we receive visitors from out of town and want to show them the highlights of the area that we stop to see the sights and take a break from all those other things that keep us busy.
A few photos from Napa Valley this week:
