Pegging along.

It's that time of year again - bird netting time.  Yup, the Pinot grigio (PG) grapes are ripening as I type.  Many apologies, in advance, to my feathered friends, but we wouldn't be friends for long if you ate all my grapes.
The more than welcome warm, to hot, temperatures this month (the warmest weather all summer, actually), have ensured that the PG grapes are accumulating sugar at a steady rate.  If I've said it once I've said it a million times, installing bird netting is my least favourite vineyard operation.  Netting is a tedious task, getting way too up close and personal with creepy crawlies in the canopy is one major issue for me, but it is absolutely necessary if I want of harvest the fruits of my labour.  So, peg on Vinogirl!

New girls.

Not to let stupid Lynx rufus get the better of me, I once again drove over to Sonoma to purchase a few new chicks.  It seemed the right thing to do.  Meet my Ameracauna, Buff Orpington and, yes, another Barred Plymouth Rock.  In keeping with my, fairly new, tradition of naming chickens after Henry VIII's warships, meet Anne Gallant (Annie), Pansy (er, Pansy) and Henri Grâce à Dieu (Gracie).
Only hatched on August 8th, they are younger and a lot smaller than Vinoland's first batch of chicks.  But, guess what?  I love them already.

Sad.

These two feathers are all that remains of Minion (AKA Minnie).  In broad daylight, a despicable bobcat (Lynx rufus) nabbed my super-friendly, favourite chicken Minnie and ran off with her up the hill away from the house.  Caught in the act, the bobcat dropped Minnie and slipped through the deer fencing to safety, because if I'd caught it's scrawny, tawny ass...Minnie died in my arms.  I'm very sad.
RIP, Minnie.

Main Street Reunion 2019.

I still love this event.  Today, downtown Napa hosted the Main Street Reunion (MSR), 2019.  Once again, this year, diminished in size compared to how it once was, the MSR is still a lot of fun.  I didn't think I'd want to attend this year, but as the date neared I couldn't resist.
I'm getting quite familiar with some of the same exhibitors that show up every year (that I have attended).  And rather than becoming bored with seeing the same cars year after year, I find myself actively seeking out old favourites.  Familiarity does not breed contempt in me, rather the opposite in fact.  I wouldn't ignore an old friend.  Especially one that weighs about 4,000 lbs of vintage American steel.
Look at those flames.  Sizzle, crackle and pop!
Vroom, vroom!

CS: Veraison, 2019.

Always bringing up the rear, Vinoland's Cabernet sauvignon has deemed it the right time to begin to start the process of veraison.  Clone 4, as I may have mentioned before, was not the best clonal selection to make for a Coombsville vineyard.  It is so cool here, compared to other Napa Valley AVAs, that it is a struggle to get these darned grapes ripe every year.  Takes quite a bit of extra work with canopy management etc., but we always get there, together, in the end.  Well, we'll see what sort of ripeness this year brings.

Wouldn't be a show without Punch.

Not to be outdone, like Punch in a Punch and Judy puppet show, the Pinot grigio vines are hot on the heels of the Syrah in the veraison-department.  Of course, they will be harvested before the Syrah - lower sugar and higher acid - they will be white wine, after all.
The fruit is looking quite charming.  I'm looking forward to tasting it as the sugar accumulates over the next several weeks.  Grapevines are just wonderful plants.

Veraison days are here again...

..."The skies above are clear again, So let's sing a song of cheer again, Veraison days are here again."
Yup, it was a bit of a slow start to the 2019 growing season, with all the rain and the cool temperatures, but the Syrah (SY) grapes are beginning to ripen.  Actually, the SY probably got enthused about a week ago (and some of the vines are less advanced than the one photographed) but, as usual, I've been rather distracted.  So despite reports of delayed development, even perhaps up to two weeks for some growers, here in Vinoland Mother Nature is working here magic right on time.