OMG!

Orange muscat grapes, that is.
Vinomaker and I picked our Orange muscat (OM) today.  Well, what was left of it.  Looking almost like something that had escaped from my compost bin, Vinomaker had deliberately delayed harvesting the OM in the hopes of making a late harvest wine.  OM clusters are rather loose which generally reduces environmental favourablitly for Botrytis cinerea infection (unlike Pinot grigio clusters which are tight and thus susceptible to infection), so instead, dessication, as the result of an extended hang time, was the plan.  Coming in at 34.5 °Brix there is certainly plenty of sugar for Vinomaker to work with.
Although the fruit was quite unprepossessing, (OM never looks pretty as the grapes have a tendency to crack and amber as they ripen), the aromatics of orange skin and honeysuckle as we processed the fruit was absolutely delightful.  No wonder honey bees are attracted to this grape variety.

I say sultana.

A friend of a friend grows grapes that are destined to be harvested and dried, only to be reinvented as golden raisins - or sultanas as they are known in England.  I have never liked sultanas, but I do like fresh grapes and this big bunch of grapes, that arrived recently in Vinoland, were wonderful to snack on even though they were a tad under ripe.
Himrod (Vitis labrusca) is a white table grape, released in 1952 by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva.  The grape is a cross between Ontario and Thompson Seedless, it is a seedless variety and is known for ripening quickly and being very productive.  In California, most golden raisins are produced from the aforementioned Thompson Seedless (also known as the Sultana grape in other parts of the world).  For most raisin production, grapes are harvested in early autumn and are sun-dried over a three week period in the vineyards on paper trays.  Golden raisins, however, are oven-dried and treated with the preservative sulphur dioxide to retain their light colour. This form of sulphite has been used for centuries to prevent the darkening of any fruit during the drying process.  (I do like nice, apricot-coloured, dried apricots).
Funny, all of a sudden I am craving a warm, buttered scone.  But made with Zante currants.