Net worth.

It may be my least favourite vineyard operation, but putting on the bird netting is worth the effort if I want any grapes to harvest at the end of the growing season.  I must say, the Pinot grigio crop looks beautiful; all that rain I suffered through last winter has, admittedly, had a beneficial effect on the grapevines.
Harvest 2017 has already begun.  Mumm Napa picked their first Pinot noir grapes, from Green Island Vineyards in the Carneros AVA, on Monday the 7th of August.  The Napa Valley sparkling wine producer is expecting a slightly larger than average crop.  I'm not surprised, the crop looks bountiful in Vinoland also.  I'm just hoping that Mother Nature behaves herself between now and harvest.

Christmas Eve, 2016.

I have been baking all day.  It's been lots of fun, very Christmassy.  And the house smells great. What would Christmas be without mince pies? I don't know, because I have never had a Christmas without them - thanks to my grandmother, my mother, my sister, my brother and, now, me.  Life is good.
I'm sitting here right now, with a glass of Mumm Napa Brut Rosé, watching Father Christmas (yes, my colonial cousins, Santa) wing his way around the globe on the Norad Santa Tracker. Der Weihnactsmann, (my thoughts are with the people of Berlin), is currently on his way to Ikeq Island, Greenland: free to spread his particular variety of Christmas joyfulness. Life's really good.
Happy Christmas Eve, folks!