Wine games.

With a particular bottle of wine in mind, I headed into Vinoland's wine cellar for a look-see.  Yikes!  I didn't realise that there is so much crappy, old wine in there.  There's a lot of good stuff, but there is a fair percentage of wine that needs to disappear - down the toilet if necessary.  Then, I had a thought.  I should select a bottle a week, taste the wine and post about it even if the wine is awful and undrinkable.
I remembered that I like doing series/themes of posts.  Amongst some in the past, there have been; Winery Christmas Lights (WCL), Napa Valley's American Viticultural Area Signs (AVA Sign), Wines of the World (WOTW) and, Thud's personal favourite, Week of Weeds (WOW).  Titter, Titter.  (To see all posts related to these series, click on respective labels below.)
As my search continued, dodging cobwebs (some with spiders in them), stubbing my toes on cases and almost triggering a small avalance of teetering bottles, I had fun trying to recall the provenance of individual bottles I espied.  Where did I buy this bottle?  Was it a gift?  Have I been to this winery?  Memories, mental images and single words popped into my head like a game of word association.  Or rather, in this instance, wine word association (WWA).  A ha!  A new idea for yet another (short) series formed in my mind.  One wine, one word.  I grabbed five random (local) wines with which to start.
Never did find the original bottle of wine that I was looking for.
Stay tuned.

Week of weeds: Day 7.

And here I am on the last day of my week of weeds.  I have decided to end my weed series with a gorgeous little wildflower.  This pretty, purple bloom has eluded me for several years; I first noticed this weed back in 2011 and I haven't seen it since, but it's blooming now.  And yes, it is on the slope above the house.

It took me a quite a bit of detective work to positively identify the Elegant Brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans).  Initially I confused this little gem with Blue-eyed Grass, but then I came across its true identity, just when I was about to give up, in an old Audubon guide to California. My mystery weed no more.  A native of California, and a member of the lily family, the brodiaea is a very elegant weed, indeed.

Week of weeds: Day 6.

This weed was really easy for me to identify, as it is possibly my favourite weed from when I was a child, (a close tie with Shepard's-purse, perhaps). I loved the feel of the densely composed, egg-shaped flowers of the pineapple weed, it's feathery leaves and, of course, the slight pineapple scent whenever I crushed those leaves between my fingers.
In Vinoland, pineappleweed (Matricaria discoidea) does not grow on the slope above the house, but instead calls a gravel driveway home. This weed also grows abundantly at the dog park that I frequent with Vinodog 2 where it seems to thrive on the very compacted pathways. In fact, I think that it's amazing that anything could grow in the poor soil at the dog park. But then, that's the wonder of weeds.  Wow!

Week of weeds: Day 5.

Finding the identity of this weed proved to be a little problematic.  

I have a wonderful book that I use for weed identification, it is called 'Weeds of California and Other Western States' and is published by the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR).  (If anyone is interested, it is Publication 3488.)  The book is actually two volumes; Vol. 1 covers Aizoaceae - Fabaceae and Vol. 2 covers Geraniaceae - Zygophyllaceae.  All fabulous stuff, but although extensive in its coverage of California weeds it would be impossible for a single reference book to include every weed - as is the case with my weed of the day, purple sanicle (Sanicula bipinnatifidia).  A member of the same family as parsley, purple sanicle is native to the west coast of North America so it surprises me that it was overlooked in the ANR book.  

I just love this little weed, whose deep-red orbs just seem to float above all the other surrounding vegetation.  It is a rather elusive weed and only grows in one area of Vinoland. Yes, again, that would be on the slope above the house.

Week of weeds: Day 4.

Yet again, just when I thought I had exhausted finding every blue/purple weed growing in Vinoland I discovered the diminutive Field madder (Sherardia arvensis).  I don't know much about this little weed except that it is very cute, it is related to Catchweed Bedstraw (a nemesis of mine) and it is often found in vineyards and orchards etc.  And in this instance, the field madder is growing all around the Pinot grigio block and, surprise, surprise, not on the slope above the house.

Week of weeds: Day 3.

Rose clover (Trifolium hirtum) is an annual herb that is often included in cover crop mixtures for vineyards, not in the least because as a legume it has the ability to fix nitrogen.  With a tap root that can extend up to 78 inches in depth, rose clover is a valuable cover crop to sew in hillside vineyards that have problems with soil erosion. A native of Europe, rose clover often out-competes native clovers, however, it seems to be happily growing alongside a lot of hop clover, white clover and a tiny bit of crimson clover in Vinoland.
I don't think I have ever seen as much rose clover as I have seen this spring, it's everywhere. And not just on the slope above the homestead.

Week of weeds: Day 2.

Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), or just yarrow, is generally a very pleasant plant to have around either in a vineyard or as an ornamental. A drought resistant perennial, and tolerant of poor soils, yarrow can be a valuable component of vineyard cover crops as it attracts many beneficial, predatory insects, including; ladybirds, parasitic wasps and tachinid flies.
In Vinoland the yarrow is not growing near the vines, but is instead flourishing on a slope above the house.  In fact, most of the interesting wildflowers in Vinoland grow together on the same slope (currently covered in hop clover, rose clover and wild hyacinth).  Yarrow has a large taproot which could really benefit the poor soil in some parts of the vineyard.  If only I could coax this winsome plant to move downhill.

Week of weeds: Day 1.

Yes, a whole week of weeds (WOW).  Yes, wow! The initial spring-flurry of wildflowers and attractive weeds is almost at an end, but there are still plenty of others doing their thing.  So many that I decided to dedicate a whole week of posts to weeds.  Whoo hoo!

There has always been a lot of creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata) in Vinoland, a happy looking weed with shamrock-like leaves and bright yellow flowers, but this year there is more of the purple leafed variety than the green leafed, (although both green and purple varieties can be found growing right next to each other.) Woodsorrel grows in a prostrate manner and is very competitive with other weeds and this year it seems to be, well, creeping farther afield.  This weed is a major nuisance in lawns and landscaping, but it's not bothering anything here, least of all the vineyard, so I just let it be. It is amazing how this weed appears, and thrives, in a any plant pots I have around the house and deck, it just gets everywhere.  

Stay tuned for day 2 of WOW.