Little gems.

Leaf pulling in the Cabernet sauvignon vines today (and most of the week) exposing the fruit in preparation for harvest, I came across several little clusters, higher up in the canopy, that looked like little jewels.  Vinodog 2 was my companion, as usual, whilst I performed this particular vineyard op...and then we were joined by the chickens.  Very bucolic.

Vendemmia: 2020.

I spent a lot of yesterday pulling leaves in the Pinot grigio (PG) block, as harvest was scheduled for today.  It was still dark at 6.30 a.m., a bit too dark to harvest (due to marine fog mixed with wildfire smoke), so I had to time to eat breakfast before the morning's viticultural-proceedings began.  The Orange muscat grapes were also picked.  I love the feeling of being up early for harvest, I find it exciting.

Fruit looks fantastic, tastes great.  Perhaps a little less than last year (according to Vinomaker), not surprising seeing as my hungry hens have been helping themselves to the ripening berries for weeks now.  Sugar came in at 26 °Brix - a little high, but one would expect a spike in sugar due to the 107/108 °F temps we had on Sunday and Monday.  

My job is done.  Now it's up to Vinomaker to work his magic.

Tasty grapes.

I probably didn't have to get my refractometer out today and perform a sugar sample of the Pinot grigio (PG).  Nope, I really should have known that the PG grapes were very close to maturity, and thus harvest, by simply observing my chickens' behaviour of late.  Yup, my six girls are really enjoying the ripening grapes.  Rather unfortunate, that.
There is a retaining wall at the top of the PG block and Lizzie, Pansy, Maro, Annie, Rosie and Gracie seem quite content to sit there and snack away to their little hearts' content.  The rachis in the photograph is picked clean, absolutely nekkid.  Full clusters on the far side of the vine that they cannot reach are still intact.  And I thought I had problems with the wild bird population.  Hmmph.
I sampled anyway and the PG is at 23.2 °Brix; the grapes taste fabulous and, what's left of them, look great.  Now, if I could train the chickens to poop only in the vineyard I may overlook their thieving of my hard-farmed crop.

Getting lighter.

Up a little earlier than is the norm, to deal with the chicklets who have been evicted from the house because they were starting to get a bit whiffy, I saw that Far Niente (FN) were harvesting Chardonnay from the Berlenbach Vineyards.  The morning was dark; the air was cool, foggy and smoky.  It was pleasing to me to witness some floodlit grape-activity in the neighbourhood.  A touch of normality.
I can't remember if they picked this vineyard last year (I missed the entire 2019 harvest in Napa), so this may be the first harvest for these young vines.  Generally, harvest in the valley began a tad early this year, as it has been a nice, steady growing season.  I'm wondering if FN decided to get the fruit in a little earlier because of smoke from the wildfires still burning a little to the north.  I heard that a Merlot vineyard, halfway up the valley on the eastern side, was picked on Monday at 21/22 °Brix.  Seems a little premature, but perhaps the owners/growers panicked a bit.  Stay calm folks, there will be light at the end of 2020.

New chicks on the block.

I had just popped out with the sole intention of buying chicken feed for Vinoland's six breakfast-laying ladies, but I somehow came home with four new, three day old chicks.  How did that happen?  Look how adorable they are.  How could've I resisted?  Problem is, I don't know what breeds they are.  I'm hoping the brown one is a Sussex and the black one is an Australorp.  The other two?  No clue.  No matter, as long as they are all indeed female (the most important consideration).
Continuing with the theme of naming my chickens after Henry VIII's warships, meet Little Barbara (Babs), Jennet Prywin (Jennie), Magdeline (Maggie) and Katherine Bark (Katie).
Here's to fresh eggs at New Year.

Overjoyed.

Whilst working in the Pinot grigio (PG) this morning, stuffing shoots, I looked down and found an old earring of mine.  Why I looked down I do not know.  Stuffing shoots is definitely looking up through the canopy sort of work.  I am overjoyed to say the least.
I'd given up all hope of finding this earring.  I was fairly sure that it had dropped out whilst I was leaf-pulling in the PG block (almost 2 years ago).  But I had been in a vineyard that was being developed/ripped that day also, so when I noticed my earring was missing I wasn't 100% sure exactly where it had vacated my earlobe.  I looked along the rows a million times.  I contemplated buying a metal detector.  I decided the earring was a lost cause, I despaired.  They were very special earrings: Thud had bought them for me one Christmas and I wore them at my wedding to Vinomaker.  I was devastated.
Two weeks ago, I spent a whole week hoeing/hand weeding the PG block, so I had cleared a fair bit of real estate under the vines.  Didn't see a thing.  Then today, purely by chance, eureka!  None the worse for wear, just covered in Coombsville clay, I am really surprised that my filigree hoop hadn't been squashed by a tractor.  Vinomaker reckons the chickens unearthed my earring (the girls are wherever I am in the vineyard, I'm sure they think I'm the best chicken-scratcher out there).  But methinks my new guardian angel had something to do with me striking gold in the vineyard.  Thanks, mum!

Happy Hatch Day!

Hmm, I had to pick a wine today with which to fête Vinoland's feathered friends.  Yup, today is the one year anniversary of the hatching of my three original chickens; Lizzie (Lizard), Maro (Mary Rose) and Rosie (Primrose).

Just 5 weeks old when I sprang them from their cages at Rivertown Feed & Pet Country Store, they have been a constant source of amusement, and eggs, for me ever since.  I've learned a thing or two since then.  Things like, one has to be tolerant of copious amounts of poo, everywhere; and don't buy a breed of chicken that has a tendency to go broody (but if one does, be prepared for the trauma [to me] of putting a broody hen into chicken-jail).  But when all is going right, they are a joy.  And they lay breakfast, yay!

It may seem like I'm drinking a lot of value priced French wines lately (don't worry, I'm not), but this was the only wine I could find with poultry on the label.  The La Vielle Ferme, 2018 Rosé is an old supermarket-stalwart of a wine, it has been around for decades and can be usually found on the lower shelves (I paid $5.49).  The wine comes from a very reputable producer, Famille Perrin, who also own the renowned Château de Beaucastel (Châteauneuf-du-Pape).  

So how was the Hatch Day wine?  Nose - a soupçon of redcurrant maybe, not sure, rhubarb, mild hint of oregano (pronounced the English way, please) and a whiff of ozone.  Mouth - again red fruit, sour cherry this time, again rhubarb, salinity in the mid-palate and no finish.  None!   Acid?  Acceptable.  Still have to try it with food though.  Overall, a solid, uncomplicated wine.

Happy Hatch Day, girls!

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.

I'm a mother-clucker.

Speaking of babies, besides being Vinodog 2's dogmum, I recently became the mother of quadruplets - four bouncing baby chickens. Hatched on May 29th, I purchased the chicks at Rivertown Feed & Pet Country Store in Petaluma, Sonoma. (Shockingly, they're not hip Napa-chicks.)  I had a fun time driving over to the other valley.
The chicks are four different breeds; a Golden Sexlink, a Rhode Island Red, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Barred Plymouth Rock.  I named them after Henry VIII's warships, (seeing as ships are female, like hens), so I have a Mary Rose (Maro), Primrose (Rosie), Lizard (Lizzie) and Minion (Minnie).  Aren't they adorable?  I love them already.

Why did the chicken cross the crush pad?

To get to the Cabernet sauvignon, duh!
Harvest 2018 is officially over in Vinoland.  This afternoon, I assisted Vinomaker with the pressing-off of our Cabernet sauvignon (CS), but before we could proceed we had to shoo a neighbour's chicken away from the press, pump, etc.  Miss Henny Penny may have simply been being  inquisitive about the whole process, but she was still in the way.
The CS looks, smells and tastes great.  I had missed the CS harvest because I was in England, so it was important to me to participate in this final step.  The fruit came in on October 27th, its vital statistics were; 26 °Brix, a pH of 3.5 and TA at 7.2.
Harvest 2018 is done and dusted, whoo hoo!  No chickens were harmed in the making of this wine.

Fox news.

It's a slow, January news day in Vinoland.  Even this grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), that Vinodog 2 had stuck up a tree for a couple of hours until it went dark, looks bored.  Mr. Fox certainly wasn't bothered by the rather annoying, little black and white dog creating a scene some 13 feet below him.  Although I was a bit disturbed by the commotion as I tried to do complete some outdoor chores.  It's a good thing our neighbours aren't very close.
And as regards to Mr. Fox, he made a very strong statement showing up like he did in the middle of the afternoon.  It is almost like he knows I have just found a chicken coop that I like and may purchase.  Hmm.
Like I said, slow news day.

A chicken rack.

Today, Vinomaker and I attended the Napa Valley Grapegrowers, 2012 Viticulture Fair, an event that is held every other year and one that I really wouldn't like to miss.  It's an entertaining and informative trade show with lots of things to see and do; bundles of baby vines, shiny tractors, mobile wind machines and tons of miscellaneous, innovative vineyard tools and equipment.  I usually bump into people I know who are in the wine industry and so I enjoy the social aspect of attending the fair also.  I was having a great time wandering around when something truly wonderful caught my eye.  Behold, the mother of all hen-houses!
The CoopMaster Chicken Coop is made in the USA by Western Square Industries (WSI), a company who specialises in, amongst other wine industry equipment  the manufacturing of barrel racks. Really good, stainless steel barrel racks.  In fact, whilst chatting, the WSI representative, who had apparently noticed my name tag, commented that "You," she was referring to TWWIAGE,  "just bought a rather large order of stainless racks."  Yes, we did.  2012 has been a bumper vintage, so we needed more racks to put under all the extra barrels we bought.
But getting back to the rooster-residence.  I have wanted to get a small flock of Gallus gallus domesticus for quite a while, but have been putting off getting them for a number of reasons.  The main reason was waiting until I felt V2 was mature enough to not go and worry the poor things to death. Whilst I don't eat a ton of eggs, I am English and I don't know any self-respecting English person who doesn't like a good chucky egg now and again.  Fresh eggs are unbeatable.
Just as easy as stainless steel barrel racks are to maintain, this steel, powder-coated chicken coop is constructed with the discerning chicken's style, welfare and hygiene in mind.  WSI calls this hen-house The Chicken's Hilton.  I want one.  Besides, what could possibly more perfect in Vinoland than a wine industry manufactured chicken condo in Vinogirl Red?