All set to net.

I'd estimate that Vinoland's Pinot grigio is about 90% through veraison.  The fruit this year looks fabulous.  As yet, my little feathered friends don't seem particularly interested in the fruit, nevertheless, it is time to get out the bird-netting and install it on the vines.  It's not a particularly pleasant job, but it is a necessary one.  After months of tending to the vines I don't feel a particular need to share the grapes with the avian population, so tomorrow the nets go on.  Clothes pegs at the ready!

Meanwhile, whilst I was away...

...In the Cabernet sauvignon vines veraison is progressing.  I may have been absent from the vineyard for a while, but Mother Nature has been busy in my stead.  Veraison is always a little random in the Cabernet block and this year is no exception, the warmer and protected areas are a little more advanced than others, and I'd estimate that veraison is only about 20% complete.
Elsewhere in the valley harvest has already begun.  Mumm Napa brought in their first Pinot noir grapes on Wednesday 30th July - that's about a week earlier than last year apparently.  More bubbly, earlier...what's not to love about that?  Go little grapies!

Syrah Veraison: 2014.

And here it is: veraison in the Syrah vines.  There is a lot going on in this photograph besides veraison; a little bit of sulphur residue on the grapes, some very prominent stylar scars, there are some shot berries, a smattering of thrips damage and a couple of undetached calyptra.
I worked all day in the vineyard today, mainly in the Cabernet sauvignon vines.  I did some hedging, some leaf-pulling, some lateral-removal (especially those with second crop) and some training (and tying up) of the juvenile grapevines planted this season. 
As is usual, I was distracted by a number of things; baby towhees, grasshoppers, Vinodog 2, lizards...and the best crop of blackberries I have seen in years.  I love eating berries right off the plant.  It's not exactly like foraging for food when they simply fall into your palm because they are so ripe.  I must have eaten at least 10 ounces of delicious sun-warmed, finger-staining, purple-black berries - I just couldn't stop myself.  Yum!

Invasion².

As reported in the local newspaper, the veraison invasion of 2014 has begun (shown here in TWWIAGE's Cabernet sauvignon vines) and it seems to be about two weeks ahead of schedule.  Not that Mother Nature has a set in stone schedule, but nevertheless it's still a little earlier than average.
The British Invasion has also begun; my family arrived from England last Saturday, all 10 of them, and since then they have been keeping me quite busy.  Fun, fun, fun!