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.

Pay attention!

With the vineyard being sprayed for the final time last Thursday, requiring a 48 hour no re-entry time (or re-entry interval, REI), and being distracted by four little feathery chickies, I hadn't noticed the onset of veraison in the Cabernet sauvignon vines.  Well, here we have it.  Whether I am paying attention or not, the grapevines will carry on doing their thing.  Thank goodness.

PG-20.

As I expected, the onset of veraison in the Pinot grigio vines was not too far behind the Syrah.  About a week earlier than in 2019, walking through the vineyard this particular cluster caught my eye due to the dramatic contrast between the deep, grey-blue and the verdant green of some adjacent grapes.
I love the randomness of the change in colour of the grape berries in a given cluster.  Of course, there are some vines that are more advanced than others (they tend to be the strongest vines in perhaps better areas/soil in the vineyard), but that doesn't make veraison's progress any more predictable.  Nope, the vines know the exact sugar accumulating-schedule they are on: it just appears to be haphazard to the casual observer.  Like me.