There are no monkeys in Vinoland, but if there were, well, they'd be cold. Yesterday and today, the Napa Valley has experienced its first real frosts of the winter. There was one chilly day after the new year, but in no way was it cold enough to discommode any cannonballs. We have been having a good amount of rain, though.
It was a crisp 29°F when I got up, nevertheless I ventured out into the vineyard to take this photograph. I love it. My drive to work revealed that the Mayacamas and the Vaca Mountains both had a light dusting of snow, beautiful. And, at the top of the valley, Mount St. Helena was adorned with a white cape. I felt like I was in Lake Tahoe, not the Napa Valley. Very pretty.
It was freezing again this morning, but it made for a very beautiful drive to work. The Napa Valley's grapevines have mostly dropped all of their leaves by now, a result of the strong breezes we had at the end of last week. However, the leaves on the vines in the Screaming Eagle vineyard, though uniformly brown and crispy, seem to be hanging on for dear life. Or perhaps they are just competing with the fabulous autumn colours of the Bradford Pear trees (Pyrus calleryiana) that line the perimeter of the vineyard's pond.
It was a tad cold here in Vinoland this morning, a crisp 29 degrees Fahrenheit. Everywhere and everything in sight was white with a thick frost which then glistened prettily in the rays of the rising sun. This lone grapevine leaf looked, perhaps hopefully, towards the warming sun in vain: its season is done. But, Christmas is coming and the snappy temperature served as a jolly reminder that my favourite season is just around the corner.
27 degrees F out right now...this is the coldest day so far this season. My poor vines are white with frost, so much so that it almost looks like a sprinkling of snow. The vines don't mind these low temps, they are mostly dormant now. The same cannot be said for Vinomaker however. He's eating breakfast with a wooly hat on!
